AP/The Huffington Post
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney launched the final leg
of his quest for the White House by visiting storm-battered Louisiana on
Friday. He drove through a town that was flooded by Hurricane Isaac in
part because it's still outside the vast flooding protection system
built with federal funds after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.
Romney and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) spent close to an hour
meeting with first responders and local officials. Romney shook hands
with National Guardsmen outside the U.S. Post Office and talked with a
local resident, Jodie Chiarello, 42, who lost her home in Isaac's
flooding.
"He just told me to, um, there's assistance out there," Chiarello
said of her conversation with Romney. "He said, go home and call 211."
That's a public service number offered in many states.
Chiarello said she will likely seek some other shelter because her
home was submerged in the flooding. She expressed frustration about the
town's lack of flood protection.
"We live outside the levee protection that's why we get all this
water because they close the floodgates up front and all they're doing
is flooding us out down here," she said. "It's very frustrating, very.
We go through Katrina and Rita and now we're going through Cindy, Lee
and now Isaac."
Romney's last-minute visit, announced less than 12 hours after he
became the Republican nominee, took him to the disaster area ahead of
his Democratic rival, President Barack Obama. The president was
following with his own visit to Louisiana on Monday, the White House
announced.
Romney went at Jindal's invitation, his campaign said. Jindal, a
Republican, told reporters Romney had been in touch several days ago to
ask how he could help with storm relief and Jindal suggested Romney come
down and see the damage for himself. He said he had extended an
invitation to Obama as well.
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