Biden visits Carolinas, Harris goes to Georgia to view Hurricane Helene damage

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took separate tours on Wednesday of the catastrophic damage resulting from Hurricane Helene, from which at least 175 people have died.

Biden visited North Carolina and South Carolina days after the storm swept through Florida and traveled north, causing damage as far north as Tennessee and Virginia. He is also expected to travel to Georgia and Florida on Thursday.

Harris on Wednesday traveled to Georgia, which former President Donald Trump toured Monday and where he criticized the Biden administration for its response to the hurricane. Harris visited Augusta, a city near the South Carolina border, where she viewed the storm damage, provided updates on federal efforts to support the state, passed out food and took pictures. A White House official said Harris will also travel to North Carolina in the coming days.

Biden first landed in Greenville, South Carolina, where he took off for an aerial tour of places in North Carolina, including Asheville, Swannanoa, Black Mountain, Chimney Rock and Lake Lure. The White House press pool traveling with him said destruction was visible from the air, including flattened buildings, fallen trees and homes still underwater. Biden is also expected to be briefed at an emergency operations center.

The storm caused severe damage in Asheville, in western North Carolina, and many residents have been without running water, electricity and access to cell service and internet.

Biden announced Wednesday that he is deploying 1,000 active-duty troops from the Defense Department to help with the delivery of food, water and other critical commodities. The federal government has been helping states reopen roads, remove debris, restore power, support search-and-rescue efforts and get cell networks back online, Biden said Monday during a virtual meeting with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“I want you to know the administration is going to be there … until we finish the job. It’s going to take a hell of a long time and a serious amount of assets,” Biden said Monday.

Cooper said the federal government is assisting with disseminating medical resources, as well as helicopters for land bridges and search-and-rescue operations.

Biden said in remarks at a briefing in North Carolina that he approved Cooper’s request for the federal government to cover 100% of the costs for debris removal and emergency protective measures for the next six months.

He emphasized the importance of not involving politics in storm recovery.

“In a moment like this, we put politics aside, at least we should put it all aside. We have here,” Biden said. “There are no Democrats, Republicans, only Americans, and our job is to help as many people as we can, as quickly as we can and as thoroughly as we can.”

Biden also took a swing at people who deny the “climate crisis,” saying: “Nobody can deny the impact of the climate crisis anymore. At least I hope they don’t. They must be brain-dead if they do.”

Criswell has been based in North Carolina’s Appalachia region since Biden directed her to stay there for the foreseeable future Monday. As of Tuesday, more than 1,200 FEMA and other agency personnel were in North Carolina, according to the White House, which said at least 25 trailer loads of meals and 60 trailer loads of water were delivered to the state.

During her visit to Augusta, Georgia, Harris thanked first responders and volunteers at the city’s emergency operations center.

“You all are doing God’s work right now,” said Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee. “And I know many of the people in this room, you are members of this community.”

“And as I was saying to a group earlier, I know what that means,” she continued. “You all leave home, you leave family members who are in need of help and support to go and help people who are perfect strangers to you, and you do this work in these moments of crisis, around the clock, with an intention and with a level of care and love for community that is unmatched.”

Speaking to reporters afterward, she said she went to Augusta to “personally take a look at the devastation, which is extraordinary.” She said it’s devastating because of the “loss of life,” as well as the “loss of normalcy” and “loss of critical resources.”

Harris said that 60% of the residents don’t have power and that many have been without running water for a few days.

“There has been real pain and trauma that has resulted because of this hurricane and the aftermath of it,” Harris said.

She said that just as he did for North Carolina, Biden approved Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s request for 100% federal reimbursement of local costs.

“I was speaking with one of the residents of the community who needs that big tree removed so she can actually get to work and make sure that her child is able to get to school when the school is reopened,” Harris said. “So this is a very big part of the recovery process — that money of the federal reimbursement will also help with emergency services that are now being provided by the state so that they can be reimbursed and then have the resources to keep providing those emergency services.”

Trump on Monday visited Valdosta, Georgia, where he falsely claimed . Kemp hadn’t been able to reach Biden. He had also said in an interview recorded before he visited Georgia that the Biden-Harris administration was “going out of their way to hurt” rural Trump voters by avoiding offering assistance to Republican areas of the state.

“He is lying,” Biden said Monday when he was asked to respond to Trump’s accusations that he is ignoring the disaster. “Let me get this straight: He’s lying, and the governor told him he was lying. The governor told him he was lying.”

Biden said FEMA pre-positioned a lot of material from Florida to Tennessee before the storm, so “the idea that we weren’t prepared — the question is no one knew exactly how devastating it would be. We knew it would be significant, and we’ve got a lot already in place, but there’s more.”