Donald Trump sought to turn a storm that killed more than 100 people and caused destructive flooding across the US southeast into a major presidential election issue Monday, as he hurried to the impact zone and the White House refuted criticism of its emergency response.
With the death toll rising and hundreds of people still unaccounted for, rescuers searched for survivors across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, where torrential rains brought by Hurricane Helene brought widespread havoc.
Georgia and North Carolina were epicenters of the destruction — and are among the key swing states where the US election will be decided in just five weeks’ time.
At least 108 people were killed by the storm and associated flooding — 39 in North Carolina, 25 in South Carolina, 25 in Georgia, 14 in Florida, four in Tennessee and one in Virginia, according to tallies from local authorities compiled by AFP.
That total was expected to rise, authorities warned, with cell phone service knocked out across much of the region and up to 600 people still unaccounted for.
Trump arrived in Valdosta, Georgia, vowing to “bring lots of relief material, including fuel, equipment, water, and other things” to those in need.
Without providing evidence, he claimed his Republican Party supporters were being denied help.
“The federal government is not being responsive,” he told reporters. “The vice president, she’s out someplace, campaigning, looking for money,” he said, referring to his election rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
“We’re not talking about politics now,” he said later, wearing a bright red “Make America Great Again” hat while standing in the rubble of a furniture store.
Democrat Harris canceled campaign events to return to Washington for a briefing on the federal response, and will visit the region after the first wave of emergency operations.
President Joe Biden pointedly said that he would also not visit immediately, saying “it’d be disruptive.”
“We will not do that if we are diverting or delaying any of the response assets needed to deal with this crisis,” he said.
The White House rejected criticism by Trump that Biden and Harris did not respond to the disaster quickly enough.
Harris was on a campaign trip in California over the weekend, while Biden was at his beach house in Delaware and returned to the White House on Sunday afternoon.
Trump accused Biden of “sleeping” instead of dealing with the storm damage.
“I was commanding, I was on the phone for at least two hours yesterday, and the day before as well,” the president said Monday when asked about the criticisms.
When a major natural disaster hits the United States, the federal government responds at the request of states. A president’s role is usually to oversee and coordinate aid, including funding.
Scientists say climate change likely plays a role in the rapid intensification of hurricanes, because there is more energy in warmer oceans for them to feed on.
– Drowned in their homes –
On Monday, US homeland security chief Liz Sherwood-Randall raised the worst-case scenario, telling reporters: “It looks like there could be as many as 600 lost lives… We know there are 600 who are either lost or unaccounted for.”
The sheriff’s office in Pinellas County, Florida, published a grim litany of the nine lives lost there so far, almost all of whose bodies were found in their homes.
Nearly all appeared to have drowned, it said, describing some found still lying in several inches of water, while others were buried under debris.
Residents face power cuts, supply shortages, blocked roads and broken communication lines in often mountainous terrain, with Georgia Governor Brian Kemp describing the storm as a “250-mile wide tornado.”
Around two million households and businesses remained without power on Monday, according to tracker poweroutage.us.
In Valdosta, Trump said he was asking SpaceX chief Elon Musk to get his satellite internet service Starlink into the area.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said Monday that hundreds of roads had been destroyed and many communities “wiped off the map.”
“This is an unprecedented storm,” he told reporters.
“The emotional and physical toll here is indescribable.”
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