By Trevor Hunnicutt and Stephanie Kelly
GREER, South Carolina (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris traveled on Wednesday to South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia to evaluate the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene within the U.S. Southeast, which has killed greater than 160 individuals.
Biden landed on Wednesday afternoon in Greer, South Carolina, the place he was met by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, amongst others. The president had what gave the impression to be an intense dialog with the group on the tarmac, then boarded a helicopter for an aerial tour.
Earlier than leaving Washington, Biden directed as much as 1,000 active-duty troops to right away deploy to help with response and restoration efforts. Search-and-rescue groups have performed practically 1,500 structural evaluations and tons of of rescues and evacuations, stated Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Former President Donald Trump, a Republican operating towards Harris on this 12 months’s presidential election, falsely claimed that Biden, a Democrat, has been unresponsive to the hurricane’s destruction, an allegation native officers deny.
Harris arrived in Georgia on Wednesday and can head to North Carolina within the coming days.
Biden will likely be briefed in Raleigh, North Carolina, in a while Wednesday as rescuers scour the state’s mountains for survivors, then head to Georgia and Florida on Thursday, White Home spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre stated.
Greater than $10 million has been supplied on to these affected by the storm, Helene, Jean-Pierre stated.
Over 4,800 personnel from throughout the federal workforce have been deployed to assist in restoration efforts, together with 8.8 million meals, greater than 7.4 million liters of water and 150 emergency energy turbines, stated Mayorkas.
Nonetheless, the Homeland Safety secretary stated federal funding is probably not sufficient ought to one other hurricane hit.
“We are meeting the moment, but that doesn’t speak about the future,” Mayorkas stated. “We are expecting another hurricane hitting. … FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season.”
POTENTIAL ELECTION EFFECTS
North Carolina and Georgia are amongst seven key battleground states within the Nov. 5 election, which is anticipated to be gained by skinny margins. Harris now leads Trump by 2.6 share factors in nationwide opinion 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 in federal, state and native elections.
Earlier this week, Trump visited Georgia. Presidents and presidential candidates often don’t go to a storm-hit area instantly due to fears they are going to distract from rescue efforts and divert sources 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 damaging path via Southeastern states for a number of days.
Biden shortly made main catastrophe declarations in a number of states, permitting survivors to use for federal help. The White Home additionally contacted tons 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 stated earlier this week.
The method of rebuilding after Hurricane Helene will likely be extraordinarily expensive and take years, Mayorkas stated.
