As Tropical storm Henri made landfall in Rhode Island on Sunday, US President Joe Biden provided an update on the administration’s response to the situation. Speaking from the White House, Biden said that the federal government was taking the storm’s potential impact “seriously” because of its size, the storm’s surge, and the rainfall it’s producing.

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The storm was downgraded from a hurricane. 

“We don’t know the full extent of the storm’s impacts, but we’re acting to prepare for, and prevent damage as much as possible,” Biden said.

The 46th President, earlier in the day, had authorized an emergency declaration for New York, permitting the Federal Emergency Management Agency to “provide emergency protective measures.”

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The president said FEMA had already prepositioned resources in the region ahead of the storm including food, water, and generators.

“Preparations are in place to address significant power outages, and resources and support is staged at the edge of this storm to be able to move quickly in to help,” Biden said.

Biden said he also approved emergency declarations requested by Connecticut and Rhode Island.

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The president on Sunday said FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell was already familiar with the needs of the region, having served as commissioner of New York City Emergency Management.

 Henri hit the coast, packing high winds that knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes and bands of rain that led to flash flooding from New Jersey to Massachusetts. The storm was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm, and made landfall near Westerly, R.I., Sunday afternoon with sustained winds of about 60 mph and gusts of up to 70 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. Henri has since weakened and now has sustained winds of 50 mph as it moves inland.

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There were few early reports of major damage due to wind or surf, but officials warned of the danger of spot flooding in inland areas over the next few days.

Millions in southern New England and New York braced for the possibility of toppled trees, extended power outages and flooding from a storm system that threatened to linger over the region well into Monday.

National Grid reported 74,000 customers without power in Rhode Island and over 28,000 customers were affected by outages in Connecticut.