U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will journey on Wednesday to North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia to evaluate the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene within the southeastern U.S. which has killed at the very least 140 individuals.
Whereas Biden visits North and South Carolina, Harris will journey Wednesday to Georgia and to North Carolina within the coming days.
The journeys come as former president Donald Trump, who’s working towards Harris on this 12 months’s presidential election, falsely claimed that Biden, a Democrat, has been unresponsive to the hurricane’s destruction.
Biden will take part in an aerial tour of Greenville, South Carolina, earlier than receiving an operational briefing in Raleigh, North Carolina, as rescuers scour the state’s mountains for survivors.
He’ll journey to Georgia and Florida quickly, he beforehand mentioned.
North Carolina and Georgia are amongst seven key battleground states on this 12 months’s election, which is anticipated to be gained by skinny margins.
Harris presently leads Trump by 2.6 proportion factors in nationwide polls, in line with aggregator FiveThirtyEight.
North Carolina election officers are scrambling to ensure the state’s over 7 million registered voters can solid a poll within the upcoming presidential election.
Trump visited Georgia earlier this week.
Presidents and presidential candidates normally don’t go to a storm-hit area instantly due to fears they are going to distract from rescue efforts and drain assets from native legislation enforcement officers and emergency responders.
Hurricane Helene slammed into Florida on Thursday as a robust Class 4 hurricane earlier than tearing a harmful path via southeastern states for a number of days.
Biden rapidly made main catastrophe declarations in a number of states, which permits survivors to use for federal help.
The White Home additionally has referred to as lots of of officers throughout North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.
Biden could ask Congress to return to Washington for a particular session to move supplemental assist funding, he mentioned earlier this week, whereas greater than 3,500 federal employees are concerned with response efforts in affected states, in line with the White Home.
The method of rebuilding after Hurricane Helene shall be extraordinarily pricey and take years, U.S. Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas mentioned on Tuesday.
