A powerful Santa Ana windstorm forced a change of plans for President Biden's visit to Southern California.
Biden's scheduled trip from Los Angeles to Riverside County was cancelled due to the windstorm, which could bring gusts of 60 mph to 80 mph in some areas.
Biden's remarks on the creation of a pair of national monuments in California will instead be delivered next week.
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“Today’s event will be rescheduled for next week at the White House so that key stakeholders can attend,” the White House said in a statement.
Biden arrived in Los Angeles with the first lady Monday night.
Biden, who had already gotten into a vehicle in a planned motorcade in the West Los Angeles/Santa Monica area for the planned trip to Thermal, later returned to his hotel. It was unclear when he would be leaving the Los Angeles area.
Details of that announcement have not yet been released. The Washington Post on Thursday reported that Biden was preparing to sign a proclamation that would establish a Chuckwalla National Monument south of Joshua Tree National Park. The move would make drilling, mining and other energy- and industrial-related activity illegal in the area.
The Post reported that Biden will also make a similar proclamation for land surrounding the Sáttítla National Monument in Northern California.
Strong winds are expected to continue into Thursday throughout Southern California, where red flag warnings were in effects. A wind-driven brush fire burned hundreds of acres Tuesday in the coastal Los Angeles County community of Pacific Palisades.
