President Obama will travel to New Jersey in an effort to gauge damage sustained by Hurricane Irene, White House officials said Wednesday.
Mr. Obama’s trip follows visits from Cabinet officials throughout the East, which was hit by the storm over the weekend. Irene made landfall in North Carolina on Saturday as a Category 1 hurricane and traveled up the East Coast as a tropical storm.
The president’s visit comes just days after federal officials spent time touring states hit by Hurricane Irene. New Jersey governor Chris Christie is meeting with Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate. It remains unclear whether Mr. Christie will join Mr. Obama on the trip.
The White House said that Ms. Napolitano and Mr. Fugate traveled to New York and New Jersey to check response and recovery efforts on Wednesday.
Wide swathes of New Jersey, upstate New York and Vermont saw the worst flooding in decades after the storm, and while many disaster areas began to see waters recede other rivers had not yet crested, the Geological Survey said.
At least 178,000 people in New Jersey remain without power, and advisories to boil drinking water remain in effect for at least eight municipal systems. About 10,000 people who heeded warnings to evacuate are still out of their homes.
