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US President Joe Biden pledged 1,000 active duty troops will be sent to North Carolina to support disaster relief efforts in the wake of the deadly Hurricane Helene. The president and Vice President Kamala Harris are set to travel separately to the worst-hit areas Wednesday.
The storm has killed at least 160 people with hundreds more still unaccounted throughout the southeast US. More than a million households are without power, and the cost of the damage has been estimated at $30 billion.
The storm — and the response — are a “political flashpoint,” CNN noted, with just weeks to go before the Nov. presidential election.
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Among the most affected states, Georgia and North Carolina could prove critical to the outcome of the Nov. presidential election. Biden and Harris have said they timed and limited their visit to the disaster zone in order to let relief efforts continue unimpeded, while Trump, in a visit to Georgia Monday, falsely suggested Biden had ignored calls from state governors asking for help.
For Trump in particular, his criticism could backfire: As president, Trump notably delayed relief to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria hit in 2017 and diverted federal disaster funding toward deporting undocumented migrants, The Associated Press noted, which could invite unwanted comparisons from Democrats in the final run-up to the election.