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 assess the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene in the U.S. Southeast, which has killed more than 160 people.
Biden landed on Wednesday afternoon in Greer, South Carolina, where he was met by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, among others. The president had what appeared to be an intense conversation with the group on the tarmac, then boarded a helicopter for an aerial tour.
Before leaving Washington, Biden directed up to 1,000 active-duty troops to immediately deploy to assist with response and recovery efforts. Search-and-rescue teams have conducted nearly 1,500 structural evaluations and hundreds of rescues and evacuations, said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Former President Donald Trump, a Republican running against Harris in this year’s presidential election, falsely claimed that Biden, a Democrat, has been unresponsive to the hurricane’s destruction, an allegation local officials deny.
Harris arrived in Georgia on Wednesday and will head to North Carolina in the coming days.
Biden will be briefed in Raleigh, North Carolina, later on Wednesday as rescuers scour the state’s mountains for survivors, then head to Georgia and Florida on Thursday, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said.
More than $10 million has been provided directly to those affected by the storm, Helene, Jean-Pierre said.
Over 4,800 personnel from across the federal workforce have been deployed to help in recovery efforts, along with 8.8 million meals, more than 7.4 million liters of water and 150 emergency power generators, said Mayorkas.
Still, the Homeland Security secretary said federal funding may not be enough should another hurricane hit.
“We are meeting the moment, but that doesn’t speak about the future,” Mayorkas said. “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 among seven key battleground states in the Nov. 5 election, which is expected to be won by thin margins. Harris now leads Trump by 2.6 percentage points in national opinion polls, according to aggregator FiveThirtyEight.
North Carolina election officials are scrambling to make sure the state’s over 7 million registered voters can cast a ballot in federal, state and local elections.
Earlier this week, Trump visited Georgia. Presidents and presidential candidates usually do not visit a storm-hit region immediately because of fears they will distract from rescue efforts and divert resources from local law enforcement officials and emergency responders.
Hurricane Helene slammed into Florida on Thursday as a powerful Category 4 hurricane before tearing a destructive path through Southeastern states for several days.
Biden quickly made major disaster declarations in several states, allowing survivors to apply for federal assistance. The White House also contacted hundreds of officials across North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.
Biden may ask Congress to return to Washington for a special session to pass supplemental aid funding, he said earlier this week.
The process of rebuilding after Hurricane Helene will be extremely costly and take years, Mayorkas said.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicut, Stephanie Kelly and Katharine Jackson; Editing by Heather Timmons, Shri Navaratnam and Jonathan Oatis)
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