LIVE: Harris visits North Carolina to survey Helene’s damage, provide update on relief

WASHINGTON – Vice President Kamala Harris arrived in North Carolina on Saturday to survey the catastrophic damage wrought by Hurricane Helene and console communities amid ongoing recovery efforts.

“I’ve been seeing and hearing the stories from here in North Carolina about strangers who are helping each other out, giving people assistance in every way that they need, including shelter, food and friendship and fellowship,” Harris said during a briefing at the North Carolina Air National Guard, according to a White House pool report.

Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, met with officials Saturday where she received updates on recovery efforts for the area and announced that Mecklenburg County, home to the battleground state’s largest city, Charlotte, had been added to the federal disaster declaration. 

The vice president on her tour of the state is expected to meet with residents impacted by the Category 4 storm – which has killed more than 200 people and left thousands without power or drinkable water since it made landfall along Florida’s Big Bend region on Sept. 26. Harris is also scheduled to provide updates on the federal emergency response efforts in North Carolina and other states in the Southeast.

Her visit comes exactly one month ahead of the 2024 presidential election, in which she is locked in a tight race against former President Donald Trump. North Carolina is viewed as a pivotal swing state, and the speed and effectiveness of Biden administration’s response efforts could have ramifications on the race.  

Trump has also visited disaster-struck regions in Georgia, Florida and North Carolina over the last few days.  

Upon arriving to Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Harris was greeted on the tarmac by North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Attorney General and gubernatorial hopeful Josh Stein, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, Rep. Alma Adams, D-N.C., Rep. Jeff Jackson, D-N.C., and Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles.

Catch up with the USA TODAY Network’s latest updates. 

President Joe Biden urged members of Congress to replenish critical disaster relief programs that have run out of money, or that soon could run out.

In a Friday night letter to congressional leaders, Biden warned that the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program is set to run out of funds in a matter of weeks. He also said the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief funds could face a shortfall by the end of the year. Biden called on Congress to restore funding and provide FEMA with additional resources.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has suggested Congress can wait until after the election to pass Hurricane relief measures.

– Karissa Waddick

As search and rescue teams continue to examine stream beds and debris piles across North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee, the toll of lives lost in Helene’s horrific flooding mounts daily. At least 214 people have died as a result of the storm. Hundreds are still missing and officials expect the number to rise.

But already Helene is the fourth deadliest landfalling hurricane in the mainland U.S. since 1950. It ranks behind Hurricane’s Katrina (2005), Audrey (1957 and Camille (1969).

– Dinah Voyles Pulver

Donald Trump is expected to hold a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday. The former president will return to the venue where he first survived an assassination attempt in July.

Trump held a campaign rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina on Friday evening.

– Karissa Waddick

Disaster politics are a staple of presidential elections, and this year is no different. With just a month to go until the election, Donald Trump has sought to make Biden and Harris’ Hurricane Helene a focus of the campaign.

“There’s nobody that’s handled a hurricane or storm worse than what they’re doing right now,” Trump said to supporters Thursday night in Saginaw, Michigan.

Trump’s indictment has included falsehoods – he claimed that federal disaster money went to migrants and that Georgia GOP Gov. Brian Kemp had trouble reaching Biden, but neither were the case – and the 2024 Republican nominee for the White House has been accused of playing politics with disaster relief during his presidency.

– David Jackson

Kamala Harris pledged “long lasting” federal support to get residents and neighborhoods battered by flooding from Helene “back up and running” during a visit to Augusta, Georgia earlier this week.

“We’re here for the long haul,” Harris said.

The Biden administration has so far approved requests from Georgia, Florida and North Carolina for the federal government to fully cover the state and local costs of debris removal, search and rescue efforts, mass-feeding and other hurricane-related emergency response activities.

– Joey Garrison