(Victoria Cook, Headline USA) States such as Florida and California were banding together to help impoverished counties in the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden was “closely monitoring [the situation] and receiv[ing] regular updates” from the comfort of his Delaware vacation home, according to a White House release touting his lackluster efforts and those of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Hurricane Helene made landfall late last week, leaving flooded cities, bashed power lines and stranded civilians in its wake. Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Alabama had reported 116 deaths as of Monday, with damage concentrated on the border between Tennessee and North Carolina.
Six-hundred people remained missing, and ongoing outages left 1.8 million people without power.
Former President Donald Trump on Monday visited Valdosta, Ga., one of the impacted communities, pledging efforts to set up Starlink for immediate use.
President Trump announces he is working with Elon Musk to get Starlink set up for victims of Helene:
"I just spoke to Elon. We want to get Starlink hooked up because they have no communication whatsoever. Elon will always come through. We know that." pic.twitter.com/6V8fUIEyd3
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) September 30, 2024
Though his state was the first to be hit by Hurricane Helene, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he was mobilizing the Florida National Guard to send air support to North Carolina and Tennessee, while still focused on restoring power outages at home.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul also sent support teams to help those affected by the hurricane.
Other states have notably offered aid, sending rescue teams, helicopters and ambulances to the rescue.
Yet, while the Federal Emergency Management Agency has deployed some support for the states, the Biden–Harris administration has limited its response, prioritizing other things instead.
Biden authorized FEMA to assist heavily-hit states but wrote that he would not visit the afflicted states until later in the week because it would be disruptive to cleanup and recovery efforts.
Harris made her first public statement on Sunday via X, saying she just received a briefing on the situation.
An accompanyting photograph showed her isolated in an airplane, presumably on a call—although her headphones appeared disconnected from her phone.
I was just briefed by @FEMA_Deanne Criswell on the latest developments about the ongoing impacts of Hurricane Helene. We also discussed our Administration's continued actions to support emergency response and recovery.
I also spoke with @NC_Governor Cooper about the ongoing… pic.twitter.com/nlZPB0h3mO— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) September 30, 2024
Prior to her statement, Harris was in multiple meetings with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, affirming U.S. support in the Russo–Ukrainian war while taking a petty stab at former President Donald Trump, according to CNN.
The Biden–Harris administration has pledged an estimated $52 billion to Ukraine.
Currently, no financial amount or relief bill has been mentioned or passed for U.S. citizens still experiencing the effects of Hurricane Helene.
Democrats recently refused to pass a Republican-backed stopgap funding bill that would have added an additional $10 billion for FEMA’s emergency response operations, The Hill reported.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has become notorious for his nonresponses to crisis involving the nation’s infrastructure had no plan to visit damaged areas where roads and bridges had been washed away by flooding. Instead, Buttigied was helping Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz prepare for his vice-presidential debate on Tuesday, ABC News reported.
Biden and Harris also have garnered reputations for their absenteeism in time of crisis. Biden was slammed for his decision to lounge on the beach without offering so much as an official response immediately following a deadly 2023 wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii.
Harris famously laughed at the very idea of becoming the administation’s “border czar” when tasked with the responsibility by Biden—although, in fairness, the role itself may have been a political trap given the adminitration’s aggressive open-border policy.
All three officials refused to respond, initially, to a toxic spill in Palestine, Ohio, that resulted from a train derailment. Buttigieg eventually visited after being shamed into doing so by Trump. Biden did not make the trip until a year afterward and was poorly received by the remaining townfolk.
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
