President Joe Biden makes a stop in Mountain View before heading to Santa Cruz County to survey storm damage

President Joe Biden touched down aboard Air Force One at Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View just before noon on Thursday, Jan. 19. It was the president’s first stop on a packed schedule of visiting Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties to survey storm-damaged areas.

Air Force One landed around 11:41 a.m. on Thursday, and Biden emerged about 10 minutes later, wearing his signature black aviator sunglasses. Once on the ground, he was joined by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto.

Biden and Newsom spoke as the president walked toward a hover of helicopters. Biden boarded a green U.S. Marine Corps chopper just after noon, and took off at 12:08 p.m.

Biden’s next stop was the Watsonville Municipal Airport, where he was expected to land around 12:50 p.m. At 1:50 p.m., the president is slated to arrive at the Capitola Pier to meet with business owners and local residents impacted by the devastation from recent storms, according to a schedule released by the White House.

The president will then make his way to Seacliff State Park in Aptos at 2:35 p.m. to meet with first responders, as well as state and local officials, to survey recovery efforts underway after the storms.

At 4 p.m., Biden will depart from the Watsonville Airport and head back to Moffett Airfield. He’s slated to leave Mountain View at 4:35 p.m.

San Mateo County 5th District Supervisor David Canepa said in a statement about Biden’s visit that storm recovery in the Bay Area will require a “massive federal response.”

“These storms have wreaked havoc on the entire Bay Area including the massive sink hole we have here in San Mateo County on Highway 92 and the massive boulder that dropped on the Tom Lantos Tunnels at Devil’s Slide,” Canepa said. “… We need Congress to start prioritizing protecting us because we are an economic engine for the entire nation and even the world.”