Augusta, Ga. (AP) – Vice President Kamala Harris He gave food and examined the shaken family Hurricane Helen He left a trail of “extraordinary” destruction in Georgia on Wednesday, pledging federal aid and taking personal shots of downed trees, damaged homes and upended lives.
She visited Augusta, where power lines stretched across sidewalks and utility poles were cracked and broken. The vice president spoke from a lectern set up in front of a house whose roof had fallen trees, acknowledging those who died in the disaster while trying to strike a tone of unity and hope for communities facing a long and expensive rebuilding process.
Harris and President Joe Biden, who visited the Carolinas on Wednesday, sought to demonstrate commitment and competence in helping devastated communities after Republican former President Donald Trump made false claims about his administration’s response.
Harris said he wanted to “see the extraordinary disaster in person.” “People are coming together,” he praised. People help perfect strangers.
The Democratic presidential candidate has shown that “most of us have more in common than divides us,” an echo of a line he often uses on the campaign trail.
Before delivering his remarks, Harris is seen hugging and cuddling with a family of five struggling with the aftermath of the storm.
“We’re here for the long haul,” he said.
Harris also visited a Red Cross relief center and received a briefing from local officials, praising those working to “meet the needs of people who need to be seen and heard.”
“I’m listening now,” she said.
Augusta resident Brittany Smith said she left the distribution center with Styrofoam food boxes and some fruit cups and posed for a photo with the deputy. She said there was a hole in the roof and she had to send her children elsewhere because it was not safe.
Harris’ visit, he said, “made it better” despite the hardships.
Smith said it was encouraging that Harris went to town instead of appearing on television. “She’s a person. She’s not just a voice.
About 200 miles north in the Carolinas, Biden was surveying the storm’s aftermath. With many of the area’s roads impassable, he flew a helicopter over fallen trees, twisted metal and towering piles of debris in the normally tourist-friendly town of Asheville.
From the air, Biden saw flooded roads, shredded logs and displaced sandbags, emergency trucks and downed power lines. In one area, houses were partially underwater and it was difficult to distinguish between lake and land.
Visits to Disaster Areas a Familiar liability f Or Biden, who is often called upon to survey the damage and comfort victims after hurricanes, wildfires and tropical storms. But this was Harris’ first trip to a disaster area as vice president.
Because of the devastation at Biden’s location on Wednesday, he was unable to walk around and personally comfort people as Harris did in Georgia.
Biden wore a dress and shoes, and before his flight, he hugged and held the hand of Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer at the airport in Greenville, South Carolina. Mayor, with visible emotion. He said he couldn’t close a drivable road in the area for Biden’s motorcade.
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Biden will return to the region Thursday to visit Florida and Georgia, and Harris plans his own trip to North Carolina in the coming days — as the aftermath of Helen continues to be a political and humanitarian test for the administration.
Before leaving Washington, Biden mentioned one thing Continued dock workers strike Getting supplies to hard-hit areas may be difficult.
“Natural disasters are incredible consequences, and the last thing we need is a man-made disaster at the ports,” he said. “We’re already getting pushback and we’re hearing from people in the region that they’re having trouble getting the products they need because of the port strike.”
Harris is being watched in particular as her bid for the White House enters its final stages, and Helen’s path includes the battleground states of Georgia and North Carolina.
Cindy White looks at the destruction inside her home from Hurricane Helen, as torrential rains flooded the nearby Catawba River, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in Morganton, NC. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
The vice president last visited scenes of natural disasters as a California senator, including when he visited Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017 and walked through the charred ruins of Paradise, California, after the Camp Fire in 2018.
Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Harris’ campaign manager and former state director in her Senate office, said the vice president is using her experience as a courtroom lawyer comforting victims to connect with people after tragedies.
He said the trip to Georgia is an opportunity for Harris to “continue to show his leadership and his ability to get things done against Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, who want to eliminate basic services and the role that government should play.”
Republican candidate Trump Traveled to Valdosta, Georgia on Monday Along with a Christian charity, trucks brought in fuel, food, water and other supplies. The former president accused Biden of “sleeping” and not returning Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp’s calls. However, Kemp had spoken with Biden earlier in the day, and the governor said he was getting everything the state needed.
Biden was outraged by Trump’s claim, saying Trump was “lying, and the governor told him he was lying.”
The storm’s death toll rose to at least 178, and power, running water and cellular service were out in some places. Later Wednesday, Biden flew to Raleigh, North Carolina, for a briefing with officials and called Helen a “storm of historic proportions.”
“The nation has your back,” Biden said.
The tone of both Harris and Biden is very different from that of Trump, who has made unsubstantiated claims that Democratic leaders are helping Republican constituencies. He recently threatened to cut off wildfire aid from California because of differences with Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
When Trump was presidentPuerto Rico devastated by Hurricane Maria Killed 3,000 people. His administration waited until the fall of 2020, weeks before the presidential election, to release $13 billion in aid for Puerto Rico’s recovery. The federal watchdog also found that Trump administration officials obstructed an investigation into aid delays.
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Weissert reported from Washington.
