President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. held separate calls today with Mayor Jane Castor of Tampa, Mayor Ken Welch of St. Petersburg, and Mayor Frank Hibbard of Clearwater to discuss preparations for the potential impacts from Hurricane Ian. Hurricane Ian is expected to make landfall on the Gulf Coast of Florida as a Major Hurricane as soon as Thursday morning. The President spoke with the Mayors about the potential impacts of Ian and ongoing efforts Federal, State and local governments are taking to pre-position resources and continue to initiate evacuation operations, including the resources made available through the Federal Emergency Declaration President Biden approved over the weekend. President Biden said that he has directed FEMA Administrator Criswell to ensure that all available federal support is surged to prepare in advance and to respond in the aftermath of the storm to augment state and local emergency response efforts, and emphasized the importance of encouraging families to heed evacuation orders.

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