Vice President Biden Tours Georgia Flooding

While President Obama tended to foreign policy at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, Vice President Biden toured flood-damaged Marietta, Georgia and met with displaced residents at a Red Cross shelter. The trip comes a day after the president declared a major disaster in the state and ordered federal aid to fund recovery efforts.

Mr. Biden announced today that three more counties have qualified for government assistance, which can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, loans to cover property loss, and help for small business owners.

In his brief remarks outside the Cobb County Civic Center the vice president called it "destabilizing" for people to lose a home. "This is more than a physical loss, it's tough stuff psychological loss. This is tough stuff... for someone who has lost their home it IS Katrina," he said.

Republican Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson praised the Obama administration for its quick response and thanked the vice president for taking the time to talk to families who have been affected.

Nine people have died as a result of the floods, and damage is estimated to be $250 million.