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Biden asks Floridians to evacuate: “It’s a matter of life or death”

The president delays his trip to Germany due to the advance of the cyclone towards Florida

The president of the United States, Joe Biden, has urged this Tuesday the citizens of Florida who live in areas threatened by the imminent arrival of hurricane ‘Milton’ to heed the recommendations of the authorities and evacuate as soon as possible, since “it is a matter of life or death.”

The American president, who on Monday already spoke with the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, has warned that ‘Milton’ is advancing with a “devastating” potential and has urged the population to evacuate “now, now, now.” He fears that it could be the most damaging storm of the last century.

‘Milton’, which will ultimately not impact eastern Mexico, is advancing towards Florida with maximum sustained winds of 230 kilometers per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center. It is considered a category four hurricane – on Monday it reached level five, the maximum – and is located about 880 kilometers from the town of Tampa.

Faced with this emergency, the White House has confirmed that Biden has decided to “delay” the trip he had planned to begin to Germany and Angola, also with a view to being able to supervise the recovery work after the ravages recently caused in the southeast of the country by cyclone ‘Helene’.

This was announced by the White House spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, in a statement in which she did not give other details of the possible effects of these changes on the international agenda of the president, the main promoter of a meeting on Saturday of the Contact Group for Ukraine that, for the first time, was to be held at the level of leaders at the Ramstein military base.

Biden has explained in statements to the media that he plans to fulfill the promised trips at another time and that he will speak throughout the day with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz. A spokesman for the German government, Steffan Hebestreit, confirmed that the White House informed them of the changes before making them public and that Berlin understands the situation, according to the DPA agency.

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