Vice President Kamala Harris handed out meals, embraced a shaken household, and surveyed Hurricane Helene’s “extraordinary” path of destruction by means of Georgia on Wednesday as she left the marketing campaign path to pledge federal assist and personally absorb scenes of toppled timber, broken houses, and lives upended.
She visited Augusta, the place energy strains stretched alongside the sidewalk and utility poles lay cracked and damaged. The vice chairman spoke from a lectern erected in entrance of a home with a fallen tree teetering on its roof, acknowledging those that had died within the catastrophe whereas additionally making an attempt to venture a tone of unity and hope for communities now dealing with lengthy and costly rebuilds.
Harris and President Joe Biden, who visited the Carolinas on Wednesday, have been in search of to exhibit dedication and competence in serving to devastated communities after Republican former President Donald Trump’s false claims about their administration’s response.
Harris stated she wished to “personally take a look at the devastation, which is extraordinary.” She expressed admiration for a way “persons are coming collectively. Persons are serving to good strangers.”
The Democratic presidential nominee stated that exhibits ”the overwhelming majority of us have a lot extra in frequent than what separates us,” an echo of a line she incessantly makes use of on the marketing campaign path.
Earlier than delivering her remarks, Harris may very well be seen embracing and huddling with a household of 5 grappling with the storm’s aftermath.
“We’re right here for the lengthy haul,” she stated.
Harris additionally toured a Pink Cross reduction middle and acquired a briefing from native officers, praising these working to “meet the wants of people that should be seen and should be heard.”
“I am now listening,” she stated.
Brittany Smith, an Augusta resident, walked away from the distribution middle with Styrofoam bins of meals and a few fruit cups, beaming that she bought a photograph with the vice chairman. She stated there is a gap in her roof and he or she needed to ship her children elsewhere to stay as a result of it wasn’t secure.
Vice President Kamala Harris poses for a photograph as she helps distribute meals with the American Pink Cross in Augusta, Georgia, on Wednesday.
Harris’ go to, she stated, “made it better” regardless of the hardship.
Smith stated she was inspired that Harris traveled to the city as an alternative of simply showing on tv. “She’s a person. She’s not just a voice.”
About 200 miles north within the Carolinas, Biden was additionally surveying the storm’s aftermath. With most of the space’s roads inaccessible, he flew by helicopter over toppled timber, twisted steel, and towering piles of particles within the usually tourist-friendly downtown of Asheville.
From the air, Biden noticed flooded roads, piles of shredded lumber and displaced sandbags, emergency vehicles, and downed energy strains. In a single space, houses have been partly underwater, and it was exhausting to differentiate between lake and land.
Visits to catastrophe zones are a well-known duty for Biden, who has incessantly been referred to as on to survey harm and luxury victims after tornadoes, wildfires, and tropical storms. However this was Harris’ first go to to a catastrophe space as vice chairman.
Due to the destruction the place Biden was on Wednesday, he was unable to stroll round and personally consolation individuals as Harris did in Georgia.
President Joe Biden and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper greet first responders after touring areas impacted by Hurricane Helene in Greenville, South Carolina, on Wednesday.
Biden wore a vest and boots and, earlier than his air tour, he hugged and grabbed the hand of Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer, who was on the airport in Greenville, South Carolina, to fulfill him. The mayor, with seen emotion. stated they might not shut down the world’s one operable highway for Biden’s motorcade.
Biden might be again within the area Thursday to go to Florida and Georgia, and Harris plans her personal North Carolina journey in coming days—as Helene’s aftermath continues to pose a political and humanitarian take a look at for the administration.
Earlier than leaving Washington, Biden made a degree of mentioning how an ongoing dockworkers strike might make getting provides to hard-hit areas tougher.
“Natural disasters are incredibly consequential. The last thing we need on top of that is a man-made disaster that’s going on at the ports,” he stated. “We’re getting pushback already, we’re hearing from the folks regionally that they’re having trouble getting product that they need because of the port strike.”
Harris is being particularly watched as her bid for the White Home enters its closing stretch, and Helene’s path included the battleground states of Georgia and North Carolina.
The vice chairman final visited scenes of pure disasters as a California senator, together with when she went to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017 and when she walked by means of charred wreckage in Paradise, California, after the Camp Hearth in 2018.
Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Harris’ marketing campaign supervisor and former state director in her Senate workplace, stated the vice chairman makes use of her expertise consoling victims as a courtroom prosecutor to attach with individuals after tragedies.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks as she excursions an space impacted by Hurricane Helene in Augusta, Georgia, on Wednesday.
She stated the journey to Georgia was an opportunity for Harris “to proceed to point out her management and her means to get issues achieved, versus Donald Trump and JD Vance who wish to dismantle the essential companies and the position that the federal government ought to play.”
Trump, the Republican nominee, traveled to Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday with a Christian charity group that introduced vehicles of gas, meals, water, and different provides. The previous president accused Biden of “sleeping” and never responding to calls from Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. Nevertheless, Kemp had spoken with Biden the day past, and the governor stated the state was getting the whole lot it wanted.
Biden was infuriated by Trump’s declare, saying Trump was “lying, and the governor told him he was lying.”
The storm’s demise toll climbed to at the very least 178 individuals, and energy, operating water, and mobile service remained unavailable in some locations. Later Wednesday, Biden flew to Raleigh, North Carolina, for a briefing with officers and referred to as Helene a “storm of historic proportions.”
“The nation has your back,” Biden stated.
When Trump was president, Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria, which killed 3,000 individuals. His administration waited till fall 2020, simply weeks earlier than the presidential election, to launch $13 billion in help for Puerto Rico’s restoration. A federal authorities watchdog additionally discovered that Trump administration officers hampered an investigation into delays within the assist supply.
