Meet the Press interviews during 2018: on Environment

Stacey Abrams: Hurricane recovery is a 10-month process, not 10 days

ABRAMS: I've gone through a hurricane. It's a devastating process. And it takes months for recovery to happen.

Q: What's your message to residents of the area? You could be elected governor in a couple weeks.

ABRAMS: Number one, I've been through this myself. I understand that it's not just the physical plant that's a problem. It's making sure that people have access to the resources they need. And often when the cameras turn off and when people go home and stop volunteering, that's when the real trouble starts. I will leverage the responsibility of the governor, the ability to connect with state and local officials and federal officials to make certain that resources don't just end when the memory of the storm passes for the average person. And I think that's what you need. Someone who's thinking about this not as a three-day or three-week return but really as a 10-month, 12-month recovery period.