Trump promises all-out hurricane response effort

President Donald Trump on Tuesday (September 11) said the federal government would spare no expense in responding to the likely damage from Hurricane Florence, which is forecast to hit the Carolina coast later this week.

"Any amounts of money, whatever it takes, we’re going to do," Trump told reporters at the White House as he met with top aides and federal disaster officials.

In remarks aimed at Americans who could find themselves in harm’s way, the president noted that experts were predicting a storm the likes of which the East Coast of the United States has not seen in decades.

"We’ve never seen anything quite like this, on the East Coast at least," he said. "I would say everybody should get out. ... It’s going to be really, really bad along the coast."

Federal forecasters expect the storm to make landfall on Friday with 130 mile-per-hour (215 kph) winds and massive waves, with rains taking a heavy toll inland.

The government’s top emergency response official, Federal Emergency Management Agency head Brock Long, told reporters that residents in the areas likely to be affected should not under-estimate the threat from the hurricane.