As the death toll and damage from Hurricane Helen soars in the Southeast, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump pose Monday as the devastating storm hits in the midst of a five-strong White House race. We have received explanations from authorities. Only a few weeks left until Election Day.
President Trump stopped in Valdosta, Georgia, where he was briefed on the devastation, helped distribute relief supplies, gave a speech, and took several questions from reporters.
“I came to Valdosta in a large semi-truck, many filled with relief supplies: a tank truck full of gasoline and several large tank trucks with gasoline that is currently unavailable. We will do our best to distribute it,” President Trump said.
Harris returned to Washington, D.C., on Monday morning, cutting short her campaign campaign in the West. The White House said that upon arrival in the nation's capital, the vice president will visit the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be briefed on the impact of the hurricane and the federal government's response to support rescue and recovery efforts.
Click here for the latest FOX News report on the Helen mess.
A van gets stuck in flooding near the Village of Biltmore as a result of Hurricane Helen on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helen made landfall in Big Bend, Florida on Thursday night with winds up to 160 mph. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
Since then, more than 120 people have been killed by Helen. hurricane It made landfall in Florida late Thursday, carving a path of destruction through the interior Southeast. The storm barreled through the southern Appalachians and into the Tennessee Valley, causing millions of power outages and billions of dollars in property damage.
A view of the path of storm destruction
Among the hardest-hit states were North Carolina and Georgia, two of the key battleground states that narrowly decided President Biden's 2020 election victory over Trump and his 2024 election victory. It is expected to determine the outcome of the showdown between Harris and Trump.
At a Sunday rally in battleground Pennsylvania, Trump criticized the administration and Harris over the storm, accusing the president of “sleeping” at his Delaware beach house as the storm battered the Southeast.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks outside the She Watt furniture store during a visit to Hurricane Helen-ravaged Valdosta, Georgia, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
After arriving in Valdosta, the former president told reporters, “The federal government is not responding.''
Trump received briefings from FEMA as well as state and local officials. He then visited a furniture store that was severely damaged by the storm.
But minutes earlier, after criticizing the federal government's response to the storm, President Trump had said in remarks to a large crowd gathered that “this is a crisis in which our fellow citizens are crying out for help. “We're not talking about politics right now. We're not talking about politics right now.” We all need to come together and solve this problem. ”
Biden returned to the nation's capital on Sunday afternoon to oversee the federal government's relief efforts.
The White House said more than 3,300 federal employees were deployed to support storm response efforts in affected states, and at least 50,000 people from across the U.S. and Canada were responding to widespread power outages in affected areas. said.
Biden told reporters that the federal government is providing “everything we can” to states to help respond to the storm and that “we will not withdraw until the mission is accomplished.”
Check out the latest FOX News poll on Harris vs. Trump
Biden said he would tour storm-ravaged areas later this week, as long as being on the ground does not impede rescue and recovery efforts.
“I am trying to get to the affected areas as soon as possible, but I have been told that if I go now it will cause chaos. “We don't have the assets we need to deal with this crisis,” he told reporters on Monday.
At a rally Sunday, President Trump criticized Harris for attending a “fundraising event with crazy radical left-wing donors” in California this weekend. He argued that Harris “should remain in the area” where the storm caused destruction.
On Monday, President Trump repeatedly said, “Vice President, she's campaigning somewhere for money.”
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a rally in Las Vegas on Sunday, September 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Custer)
The White House said Harris met with the governors of Florida, Georgia and North Carolina on Sunday, and that “the vice president intends to visit affected areas as soon as possible without disrupting emergency response efforts.” .
Harris said in a statement Saturday that she and the president “remain committed to ensuring that no community or state has to respond to this disaster alone.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
An elected official's response to a natural disaster can have a significant impact on their political fortunes in the campaign.
President Trump faced criticism early in his White House tenure as Puerto Rico struggled to recover from the powerful storm. The then-president was criticized for throwing paper towels at a crowd during a visit to the island during a storm-affected relief center.
Get the latest on the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more with Fox News Digital's Election Hub.
