By Trevor Hunnicutt, Jeff Mason and Stephanie Kelly
GREER, South Carolina (Reuters) -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 at least 160.
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, before boarding Marine One for an aerial tour of the region.
From the helicopter, which traveled north-by-northeast, Biden could see the grim devastation brought to North Carolina locations, including Asheville and Chimney Rock. Over the Asheville metropolitan area, homes were smashed to bits, with damage greatest near rivers, reporters in a trailing helicopter observed.
Many of the people living in the area remained cut off from contact with the outside world, even as the American president passed over their heads.
In Asheville’s River Arts District, set alongside the French Broad River, the receding floodwaters had left behind only chaos. Trees had been ripped into dark twigs and buildings scattered aside.
Harris, meanwhile, was briefed in Augusta, Georgia, and will travel to North Carolina in the coming days.
“These are very difficult times,” she said on Wednesday. “I’m here to thank you and to listen.”
FEMA, NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYED
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.
Before leaving Washington, Biden directed up to 1,000 active-duty troops to help with response and recovery efforts. Almost 6,000 members of the National Guard are deployed across the six states affected by the storm, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said.
Search-and-rescue teams have conducted nearly 1,500 structural evaluations and hundreds of rescues and evacuations, Mayorkas said.
Biden will be briefed in Raleigh, North Carolina, later on Wednesday as rescuers continue to 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, 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 in Greer, South Carolina, Jeff Mason in Augusta, Georgia, Stephanie Kelly in New York and Katharine Jackson in Washington; Editing by Heather Timmons, Shri Navaratnam and Jonathan Oatis)
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