President Biden promises help in a loudspeaker call to the mayor of Los Angeles

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was midway through a press conference Monday evening, updating residents on the storm ravaging Los Angeles, when she suddenly stepped away from the microphone to take a call — from President Biden.

A reporter had asked about efforts to rescue a man who had jumped into the raging Los Angeles river to save his dog, when an aide pulled the mayor aside.

A few minutes later, after Fire Chief Kristin Crowley answered the question, Mayor Bass returned to the podium.

“I asked the president if he wanted to give Angelenos a message. Mr. President?” she shouted as she held her phone up to the microphone.

“Yes,” he replied.

“If you would just say one word, I know Angelenos would really appreciate hearing it,” the mayor said.

“Look, first of all, I think you guys are having a great operation here,” Mr. Biden said, adding that he had just called Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The president continued, “We'll have help along the way as soon as you ask for it, so let me know. That's why I'm calling.”

The sudden call came as Los Angeles city officials provided an update on record-breaking rainfall that caused more than 120 mudslides and damaged 25 structures after an atmospheric river flooded large parts of the state.

Lindsey Horvath, a Los Angeles County supervisor, said the region avoided the kind of extreme flooding that emergency workers and rescuers had prepared for. Instead, she said at the news conference, “the damage has been more like a thousand cuts — sinkholes, fallen trees, areas of erosion.”

But Ariel Cohen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Los Angeles, noted that the danger had not passed, and he warned Angelenos to remain vigilant as the rain continued.

“The ground is extremely saturated – super saturated,” he said, adding: “It won't take much rain before there are more landslides, rockslides and mudslides.”