The president’s planned visit on Thursday follows a day in the Carolinas, where he sought to reassure the hurricane’s victims that the federal government would support recovery efforts.
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Marine One, with President Joe Biden aboard, flew over damage from Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina, near Asheville, on Wednesday. Afterward, he said he was struck by “just imagining what it must have been like” during the height of the storm.
President Biden plans to travel to Florida and Georgia on Thursday to survey damage from Hurricane Helene, the second full day that the president will devote to demonstrating his administration’s concern about the loss of life and physical destruction caused by the storm.
White House officials said Mr. Biden would tour areas affected by the Category 4 storm after it slammed into Florida’s west coast and then traveled up the eastern United States, killing at least 183 people. He will also get briefings from local and federal emergency officials who are confronting widespread power outages, water shortages and communications failures.
“In a moment like this, we put politics aside,” Mr. Biden said on Wednesday during a visit to the Carolinas, where the storm wreaked havoc on numerous communities. He added, “Our job is to help as many people as we can, as quickly as we can.”
Officials said he would deliver a similar message to the people of Florida and Georgia on Thursday in an effort to reassure them that the federal government would support their efforts to recover in the short term and rebuild over the long term.
Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have effectively dropped everything to schedule visits with the victims of the storm despite having just 34 days left to campaign against former President Donald J. Trump. Ms. Harris was in Augusta, Ga., on Wednesday after receiving a briefing from the Federal Emergency Management Agency earlier in the week.
The reason is clear: Helping the nation heal from major disasters is part of the presidency, and candidates who are seen as brushing off recovery are often rebuked by angry voters who expect politicians to do everything in their power to help affected communities.
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Source: nytimes.com
