WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - President Barack Obama on Wednesday toured the state of New Jersey to personally asses the damages caused by superstorm Sandy, and reassured the state's population of all possible federal support to tackle the aftermath of the storm.
Soon after arrival in southern New Jersey from Washington, Obama and the state's Republican Governor Chris Christie boarded the presidential Marine One helicopter for an aerial survey of the storm-hit region. They were accompanied by Craig Fugate, chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
The President and Christie later met with emergency workers and residents in Atlantic City. Sandy made landfall close to Atlantic City on Monday night, and lashed the mid-Atlantic coastline with heavy rains and fierce winds for two days.
Addressing a joint press conference with Christie after the aerial tour, Obama said: 'We are here for you and we will not forget. We will follow up to make sure you get all the help you need until you rebuild.'
The President said he had set a '15-minute rule' for the federal government for responding to federal assistance sought by Governors and Mayors, adding: 'We are not going to tolerate red tape; we're not going to tolerate bureaucracy.'
Obama also praised Christie for his 'extraordinary' leadership in the wake of the crisis, saying: 'Governor Christie, throughout this process, has been responsive, he has been aggressive in making sure that the state got out in front of this incredible storm.'
Christie, who has been a strong Obama critic in the run-up to the upcoming presidential elections, was also very liberal in his praise for Obama, saying 'he has worked incredibly closely with me since before the storm hit. I think this is our sixth conversation since the weekend.'
'It's been a great working relationship to make sure that we're doing the jobs that people elected us to do. I cannot thank the President enough for his personal concern and compassion for our state and for the people of our state,' the Republican added.
The areas hit by the storm also included heavy population centers like New York City, Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia. New York City was among the worst-affected, with its subway system sustaining severe damages in its 108-year history.
Trading at New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ remained suspended on Monday and Tuesday, marking the first time the exchanges have been closed for two straight days due to weather since 1888. Nevertheless, the exchanges resumed trading on Wednesday despite significant travel challenges in and around Lower Manhattan.
Obama had earlier declared Sandy a 'major disaster' that affected millions of people with damages worth billions of dollars. He also declared emergencies in Washington, Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Rhode Island, Delaware and New Jersey, making those states eligible for federal aid to supplement their response efforts to meet the emergency conditions.
Economic damages have been estimated between $10 to $20 billion besides insured losses of $5 to $10 billion in the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, higher than the damages recorded after Hurricane Irene last year, and in the league of Hurricane Ike that hit Texas in 2008. The storm also caused power outages across the East Coast, and officials now say that it may take two to three days to restore supplies in the region.
Incidentally, the storm had forced Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney to cancel several of their campaign events for the upcoming presidential polls. Obama now plans to resume campaigning on Thursday, while Romney has already resumed electioneering in the state of Florida.
Sandy is currently moving towards Canada, leaving a trail of deaths and destruction across the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. In addition to killing at least 63 people, the storm has left several million people without electricity and destroyed several thousand houses in the affected region.
The storm has since lost its destructive strength and weather conditions are slowly returning back to normal as the monster low pressure system continues to weaken. In its final Public Advisory issued on Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Sandy now posed only lesser threats of storm surge, flooding, and strong winds as it moves into Canada.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX