Vice President Harris traveled to North Carolina on Saturday to meet with local officials and get an update on the response to Hurricane Helen, which killed dozens of people amid devastating flooding in the state.
Harris will be joined by North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (D), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator DeAnne Criswell, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles (D), and Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer (D). I had a meeting with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein also attended Harris' visit.
“The work being done here that is impacting so many people in a positive way is important to us when we mobilize resources at the federal, state and local level and leverage the kind of cohesive power that produces results. This is the best example of what we can do,” Harris said during a briefing with local officials on storm response.
Harris announced that the Biden administration has added Mecklenburg County, North Carolina's second most populous county, to its post-hurricane major disaster declaration. The move will free up additional resources to help residents receive assistance with things like home repairs and purchasing generators.
The vice president praised local officials and residents for “helping each other and providing support to people in all areas of need: shelter, food, friendship and companionship.”
“I think moments of crisis like this bring out the best in humanity and who we are,” she said.
At least 68 people died as a result of the storm, Cooper said at a briefing Saturday. The total death toll from Helen, which hit Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, exceeded 200.
Harris visited Georgia earlier in the week, and President Biden has visited all four states.
To date, FEMA has provided more than $26 million in housing and other assistance to North Carolina, and transported more than 5 million meals and 6 million liters of water to the state, according to the White House.
The agency has more than 700 employees on the ground, and President Biden earlier this week directed the Department of Defense to send up to 1,000 active-duty soldiers to the state to help allocate resources.
The White House has also aggressively pushed back against false claims by former President Trump and the Republican Party that FEMA funding has been depleted as they allocate resources to aid migrants.
Biden called on Congress to pass additional disaster relief funding, warning that government funding could run out with weeks of hurricane season left.
