Trump Stumped by Category 5 Storm Bearing Down on East Coast
Three Category 5 hurricanes have hit the mainland U.S. or U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico, since Trump was inaugurated.
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump expressed surprise as Hurricane Dorian slammed the Bahamas on Sunday and headed for the U.S. East Coast, hours after being updated to a Category Five storm.
“I’m not sure that I’ve ever even heard of a Category Five,” Trump said during a televised briefing at Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington.
“I’ve seen some Category Fours, you don’t even see them that much,” he said. “But a Category Five is something that, I don’t know that I’ve ever even heard the term, other than I know it’s there. That’s the ultimate and that’s what we have, unfortunately.”
Three Category 5 hurricanes have hit the mainland U.S. or U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico, since Trump was inaugurated: Irma and Maria in 2017, and Michael in 2018. Between them, the storms caused about $165 billion in damage.
Trump made a similar comment in 2017, saying of Hurricane Irma at the White House Historical Association dinner that “I never even knew a Category 5 existed.”
‘Catastrophic Damage’
Since 2000 there have been more than a dozen of powerful storms measuring the highest on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. The National Hurricane Center says storms of that magnitude cause “catastrophic damage” and render the affected area uninhabitable for weeks or months.
While at FEMA Trump toured the agency’s national response coordination center and commended the efforts of Federal and state personnel, the U.S. military and others for their work on preparedness for Dorian.
The president returned to Washington on Sunday from Camp David, Maryland, where he’d been for two nights after canceling a trip to Poland so he could better monitor preparations for the hurricane. Vice President Mike Pence went to Poland in Trump’s place.
Trump spent several hours Saturday at his private golf club in Northern Virginia, flying in by helicopter from the rustic presidential retreat. While there he received hourly updates on the approach of Dorian, according to the White House. He also had a briefing on the storm late Saturday afternoon.
The White House doesn’t routinely confirm Trump’s golf games although it sometimes releases the names of his playing partners. Photos of Trump golfing will appear on social media from time to time. The presidential press pool, which wasn’t at Camp David, spent much of Saturday at a location near the golf club.
Other tweets by Trump on Sunday include one about actress Debra Messing, who recently has said those in Hollywood who attend the president’s fundraisers should be named.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ros Krasny in Washington at rkrasny1@bloomberg.net;Josh Wingrove in Washington at jwingrove4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Matthew G. Miller at mmiller144@bloomberg.net, Ian Fisher
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