Joe Biden said entire communities have been “wiped out” by the “catastrophic” impact of Hurricane Helene which has left about 600 people missing or unaccounted for, according to White House estimates.

In a video clip of Biden speaking with North Carolina governor, Roy Cooper, the US president said thousands of federal personnel are being deployed to help support search and rescue missions and remove debris from collapsed buildings.

The other priorities are getting cell networks back online and power restoration, Biden said, adding that recovery is “going to take a while” as the destruction of roads poses a huge logistical challenge to relief efforts.

He said:

I want to express condolences to all the families, to all the families whose loved ones have died or are missing.

Matter of fact, it’s almost equally as bad missing, not knowing whether or not your brother or sister, husband, wife, son or daughter are alive.

And to the survivors, I want you to know the administration is going to be there til we finish the job.

Helene made landfall last Thursday in Florida’s Big Bend region as a category 4 hurricane. Even though it weakened to a tropical storm before moving through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, the storm’s winds, rainfall, storm surge and flooding ravaged entire communities in its path and has left over 1 million Americans without power. More than 120 people are reported to have been killed across several states.

The Biden administration and local officials have struggled to deliver support to the most heavily impacted states areas, where many survivors have been stranded with no electricity or running water.

Biden will visit North Carolina, where the western part of the state has been devastated by flooding, tomorrow. Presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have expressed condolences to those impacted by the hurricane and are receiving recovery briefings from Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).

Good morning, US politics readers.

It’s the day of the vice-presidential debate and Tim Walz and JD Vance are preparing to go head to head in New York City.

The debate will start at 9pm ET and, like the Harris-Trump debate, it will be held in a studio without an audience. Unlike the main presidential debate, the candidates’ microphones will not be muted when it is not their turn to speak – but moderators can mute mics throughout the event.

To practice before Tuesday’s VP debate, Walz has used Pete Buttigieg, transportation secretary and frequent TV news interviewee, as a Vance stand-in – both Buttigieg and Vance are Ivy Leaguers from the midwest and roughly the same age.

Vance has been preparing for the debate with Minnesota Republican congressman Tom Emmer as a stand-in for Walz. On Monday, Emmer gave an insight into how debate practice has been going, telling reporters about portraying Walz: “Quite frankly it’s tough because he is really good on the debate stage.”

Republicans are seeking to frame Walz, the folksy Minnesota governor who has proved to be the most popular figure in the presidential race, as a mean-spirited, ogreish figure. Emmer, who ran unsuccessfully for Minnesota governor in 2010, said: “[Walz] is going to stand there and he lies with conviction, and he has these little mannerisms where he’s just, hey, I’m the nice guy, but he’s not nice at all.”