President Joe Biden arrived on California’s Central Coast on Thursday to meet with several communities hit by weeks of heavy rains, some of the heaviest in the state’s history.
Biden said the disaster was a clear display of climate change and showed how severe weather can occur in a warmer climate.
“If anyone doubts the climate is changing, they’ve been asleep for the past few years,” the president said Thursday from Aptos’ Seacliff State Beach, where recent storms have lowered half of the pier into the sea, damaged seawalls and caused damage about $30 million.
Damage from the storm has been recorded in 41 of the country’s 58 districts, with nine atmospheric rivers since the end of December toppling mountain slopes, bringing down large trees, breaking embankments, clearing roads, cutting power, forcing evacuations and flooding.
“Extreme weather caused by climate change means stronger and more frequent storms, more intense droughts, longer fire seasons — all of which threaten communities in California,” Biden said. “So we need to invest in stronger infrastructure to reduce the impact of these disasters because they are cumulative, in a way.”
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Thousands of homes may be marked uninhabitable, officials told The Associated Press this week. As of Thursday, the storm had claimed 21 lives, and 5,000 people were still without power.
Although the country has reprieve from heavy rain in recent days, light rain in the forecast is still a serious threat in such saturated land.
Coastal communities, like the one Biden visited today, are among the hardest hit. Some of the roads there take weeks to clear and months to fully repair. In Santa Cruz County, where Biden spoke Thursday, roads were washed out into the ocean, and residents said the waves that came ashore were some of the biggest they had ever seen. The cost of the damage in the county is now estimated at $55 million.
The federal government has pledged to cover 100% of debris removal costs and other emergency costs, such as sheltering people and paying first responders for overtime work, for the next 60 days, Biden warned the crowd in Aptos on Thursday.
Farmers and ranchers who saw their crops and livestock wiped out by the storm are also eligible for low-interest loans and funds to rebuild, Biden said.
Biden and California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who spoke before the president, said they hoped search and rescue teams would be able to find and save 5-year-old Kyle Doan, who was swept away by floods in San Miguel while walking to school with his mother 10 days ago. .
After Biden’s remarks, environmental activists said they wanted greater climate commitments from his administration.
“How many more lives must be lost? How many more homes must President Biden and Governor Newsom visit? We are living in a climate emergency, and our elected leaders must act to protect our communities,” Caroline Henderson, Greenpeace senior climate campaigner, said in a statement on Thursday, adding: “Last year, President Biden said that he would address the climate emergency, but we have seen very little action. It is time for him to put his words into action by declaring a climate emergency.”