Southeast
Biden to visit North Carolina days after Helene's path of destruction leaves many devastated
President Biden announced on Monday that he will visit North Carolina on Wednesday after Hurricane Helene ravaged the state.
The president’s announcement comes after critics slammed him for a lack of leadership after the monster storm’s devastating impact on the southeastern portion of the country.
More than 120 people have been killed by Helene since the hurricane made landfall in Florida late Thursday before tearing a path of destruction through the interior Southeast.
The storm caused millions of power outages and billions in property damage as it smashed through the southern Appalachian Mountains and into the Tennessee Valley.
ASHEVILLE RESIDENTS BATTLING ‘APOCALYPTIC’ AFTERMATH OF HURRICANE HELENE AFTER DEADLY FLOODING, LANDSLIDES
While days have passed since the storm struck the region, Biden has not visited the area nor had plans to until now.
“On Wednesday, I’ll travel to North Carolina for a briefing at the State Emergency Operations Center and to participate in an aerial tour of Asheville,” Biden said in a post on X. “I’ve ensured my travel will not disrupt the ongoing response. I plan to travel to Georgia and Florida as soon as possible.”
But the president’s announcement was followed by harsh criticism from the public, with one person writing, “Joe Biden’s visit is too little, too late.”
Another person wrote, “Don’t come to Florida we got hit ground zero. The governor is covering it,” referring to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Still, several people wrote that Biden is only visiting because former President Trump had already gone to areas damaged by Helene.
BIDEN GETS DEFENSIVE WHEN PUSHED ON WHO’S ‘COMMANDING’ HURRICANE HELENE RESPONSE
Trump stopped in Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday where he was briefed on the devastation left by the storm, but he also assisted with relief distribution and delivered remarks.
“I’ve come to Valdosta with large semitrucks, many of them filled with relief aid. A tanker truck filled up with gasoline, a couple of big tanker trucks filled up with gasoline, which they can’t get now. And we’ll be working to distribute it throughout the day,” Trump said.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for more information about the president’s visit to North Carolina this week.
HARRIS-TRUMP SHOWDOWN: HURRICANE HELENE IN EYE OF THE CAMPAIGN STORM
During a press conference about the federal response to Hurricane Helene on Monday, Biden vowed to visit some of the most devastated areas.
At the end of the press conference, he got defensive when a reporter pressed him about who was in command over the weekend to direct hurricane response as he spent the weekend at his Delaware beach home.
The reporter yelled as the president walked out of the Roosevelt Room, “Mr. President, why weren’t you and Vice President Harris here in Washington commanding this this weekend?”
BIDEN ADMIN’S FEMA ‘EQUITY’ PLAN FACES BACKLASH AMID HISTORIC HURRICANE DAMAGE: ‘WHAT AN EMBARRASSMENT’
In response, Biden said he was commanding it, explaining he was on the phone for “at least two hours” on Sunday and the day before.
North Carolina and Georgia were among the hardest-hit states. They are also two of the seven key battleground states where razor-thin margins decided Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory over Trump and are expected to determine the outcome of the 2024 showdown between Harris, the Democrat nominee, and Trump.
At the start of his remarks during the press briefing earlier in the day, Biden assured that he and his team were “in constant contact with governors, mayors and local leaders” regarding Hurricane Helene.
The president noted that Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell was on the ground in North Carolina and would remain in the Asheville area.
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Southeast
'Immediately reconvene': Scott urges Schumer to recall Senate amid Helene's devastation
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer needs to “immediately reconvene” the upper chamber so it can consider measures to approve FEMA funding in the wake of Hurricane Helene’s devastation, Sen. Rick Scott said in a statement today.
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Southeast
Rev. Franklin Graham and Samaritan's Purse help those suffering from Hurricane Helene
Rev. Franklin Graham, CEO of both Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, on Monday spent time in Valdosta, Georgia, together with former president Donald Trump, to offer assistance and comfort to those impacted by Hurricane Helene’s devastation.
While the official death toll as of Monday afternoon is over 125, hundreds more people could be deceased, according to officials on Monday afternoon, Fox News reported.
Roads, bridges, homes and businesses have been destroyed while many of those who are stranded await supplies.
FOX CORPORATION LAUNCHES DONATION DRIVE FOR AMERICAN RED CROSS HURRICANE HELENE RELIEF EFFORTS
Samaritan’s Purse is responding in the states of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee, the organization shared with Fox News Digital on Monday.
“This building behind us represents hundreds of thousands of people that have lost homes, businesses, friends, loved ones,” said Rev. Graham on Monday in remarks.
“It is going to take an army of volunteers and people to respond, and at Samaritan’s Purse we want to always respond in Jesus’ name. We want people to know that God loves them, that God cares for them.”
Samaritan’s Purse disaster relief specialists arrived on Friday afternoon to begin assessments.
He added, “Sometimes when a storm like this comes, people think, ‘Well, maybe God is mad at us, maybe this is His judgment?’ No. God loves us. How do I know that? Because the Bible tells us that God loves us and cares for us.”
Graham also said, as shared with Fox News Digital, “Yes, there are storms in life, but God will take us through those storms if we put our faith and trust in His Son, Jesus Christ.”
He thanked the former president “for coming and helping to put a spotlight on this city, this state and this region that has lost so much.”
Samaritan’s Purse disaster relief specialists arrived on Friday afternoon to begin their assessments, the organization told Fox News Digital.
Crews are continuing the work to clear debris, restore power and get supplies to areas affected by the storm.
Two disaster relief units — tractor-trailers stocked with tools and equipment — also departed on Friday from North Carolina, where Samaritan’s Purse is headquartered, to serve as a base of operations for volunteer teams, the group said.
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Also, the organization is responding in western North Carolina through disaster relief.
It is setting up a field hospital unit in the parking lot of the Watauga Medical Center, it said, to provide oxygen for patients who have no power at home.
Crews are continuing the work to clear debris, restore power and get supplies to areas affected by the storm.
The category 4 hurricane made landfall along Florida’s Big Bend region late on Thursday night, FOX Weather reported, with winds of 140 mph and a devastating storm surge.
As the storm traveled across the U.S., Helene left behind widespread destruction from the Sunshine State through Georgia into the Carolinas and Tennessee Valley.
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Southeast
Hurricane Helene: FOX Weather meteorologist rescues woman from car during live shot as floodwaters rise
FOX Weather meteorologist Bob Van Dillen is being praised as a hero after rescuing a woman from her car as Hurricane Helene floodwaters rapidly rose during a live shot outside Atlanta on Friday.
Van Dillen joined “Fox & Friends” to explain why he couldn’t sit around and wait for first responders to help when he saw a woman in danger as the deadly storm wreaked havoc.
“I know that we’re swamped here with all of the 911 calls, because there are so many high-water rescues that we’ve already documented so far… [she] called 911 and, five minutes, 10 minutes, and you could hear screaming, right? You could hear through my live shot, real loud” Van Dillen told Steve Doocy.
TRACKING HELENE: LIVE MAPS, POWER OUTAGES, WIND PROJECTIONS AND MORE
“That’s her car right there,” Van Dillen added with a car that was almost completely submerged in the background. “So I just said, ‘You know what? I realize I’m with you guys on the air, but I can’t let it go.’”
The FOX Weather meteorologist “dropped everything” to help the woman get out of the situation safely.
“I took my wallet out of my pants, and I went in there, waded in, got chest deep,” Van Dillen said as he was told by Janice Dean not to be humble about the heroic effort.
“You know how it is. I was concerned that one, maybe there was a nice swift current, but the current really wasn’t that bad. But, the water temperature I was afraid of, too. The water temperature is probably about 80 [degrees]. So, all of those things were working pretty nicely, so, that being said, the water came up to about my chest,” Van Dillen added.
“She was in there, she was still strapped into her car and the water was actually rising and getting up into the car itself, so she was about, almost neck deep submerged in her own car.”
Dean then asked what would have happened if Van Dillen didn’t step up.
“She would have drowned,” Dean said.
“You know, I don’t know,” Van Dillen humbly said. “I told her ‘OK, undo your seatbelt,’ she undid her seatbelt. I said, ‘Let me have your phone, let me have your bags,’ then put [her] on my back and we walked in… she’s fine, she was in shock,” Van Dillen said.
“She was cold, shivering, so I gave her one of my shirts and she was in our car, just warming up, about 20 minutes later the fire department came, saw that we were OK and went on to the next rescue, wherever they’re going,” he continued. “Her husband just picked her up about five minutes ago.”
VIDEOS: HURRICANE HELENE PRODUCES RECORD STORM SURGE ALONG FLORIDA’S GULF COAST
“It was a good deed for the day,” Doocy said.
Helene made landfall about 10 miles west-southwest of Perry, Florida, at 11:10 p.m. ET Thursday, and impacts have been felt across the Southeast and into portions of the mid-Atlantic as the monster storm pushed farther inland and began to weaken.
While wind does remain a concern, the greatest threat from Helene continues to be the flash flooding as torrential rain falls across the region, sending rivers and streams out of their banks, onto roads and into communities, trapping residents.
The flash flood threat stretches from the Southeast into the mid-Atlantic, where multiple Flash Flood Emergencies were issued early Friday morning, including the first-ever Flash Flood Emergency issued for Atlanta.
FOX Weather contributed to this report.
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