President Joe Biden said Monday that he plans to visit North Carolina on Wednesday to survey the damage from Hurricane Helene.
More than 100 people have died as a result of the hurricane, according to an NBC News tally. At least 40 people died in Western North Carolina’s Buncombe County, where the city of Asheville is located. Many people are reported to have no running water, electricity or cellphone or internet service.
Biden had said Sunday that the storm damage was “tragic” and his administration was trying to determine the number of victims.
“There’s a distinction between the numbers that FEMA’s used and the ones that are used by the locals. So it really is amazing. You saw the photographs. It’s stunning,” he said.
The White House said Sunday that Biden advised FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell that “as soon as it will not disrupt emergency response operations, he intends to travel this week to impacted communities.”
Biden was briefed by Criswell and Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall on the hurricane’s impacts in the states that were significantly affected: Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Virginia. Biden approved emergency disaster declaration requests for most of those states ahead of the storm.
Criswell was scheduled to visit North Carolina on Monday after she surveyed damage over the weekend in Florida and Georgia.
Former President Donald Trump lambasted Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at his rally in Erie, Pennsylvania Sunday for their response to the hurricane and not visiting the areas with storm damage. Trump visited parts of Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday.
“So [Biden’s] at home sleeping in one of his many estates, and [Harris is] in San Francisco, which she destroyed, trying to raise more money,” Trump said.
Raquel Coronell Uribe contributed.
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