New Jersey Governor Chris Christie canceled campaign events in New Hampshire on Friday, announcing that he would be in his state to prepare for the looming threat posed by Hurricane Joaquin.
“We are preparing for the worst but I’m not standing up here today saying that Joaquin is going to be Sandy, we have absolutely no way of knowing that at this point,” he said during a press conference in New Jersey today.
Christie declared a State of Emergency in New Jersey, although he added it was too soon to effectively predict whether the storm was a direct disaster threat to the residents.
“We are not quite yet sure about whether this is going to be a single punch or a double punch,” he said. “There’s no question that there’s going to be a single punch that is going to start this evening.”
Evacuations, he said, were not underway, but added that as the storm predictions grew more accurate, he would order it if he felt it was necessary.
Christie says the devastation from Hurricane Sandy left residents more worried about hurricanes than ever, but said the current threat was not predicted to be as devastating as the storm three years ago. He described Sandy as a storm that was the second-worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.
“I’m not here to tell people Sandy 2 is coming,” he said. “I have no way of knowing that. But what I want people to know is that if it did, we’re as prepared as you could be to deal with it.”
In spite of the storm threat, Christie is expected to attend a fundraiser for his campaign tonight in Boston before returning to New Jersey, according to the campaign. He is then expected to remain in New Jersey until Tuesday.
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