Harris faces Helene’s destruction, Trump’s lies – Technologist

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is heading to North Carolina on Saturday as the state recovers from Hurricane Helene, arriving there one day after a visit by Republican Donald Trump, who is spreading false claims about the federal response to the disaster.

Earlier in the week, Harris was in Georgia where she helped distribute meals, inspected the damage, and consoled families hard-hit by the storm. President Joe Biden also visited the disaster zone during stops over two days in the Carolinas, Florida and Georgia. Biden surveyed the damage and met with farmers whose crops have been destroyed.

The two have been vocal and visible about the federal government’s willingness to help, and the administration’s efforts so far include covering costs for all of the rescue and recovery efforts across the southeast US for several months, as states struggle under the weight of the mass damage.

In a letter late on Friday to congressional leaders, Biden wrote that while the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund “has the resources it requires right now to meet immediate needs, the fund does face a shortfall at the end of the year.” He also called on lawmakers to act quickly to restore funding to the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan programme.

More than 200 people died in the worst storm to hit the US mainland since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Scientists have warned such storms will only worsen in the face of anthropogenic, person-caused, climate change.

But in this overheated election year, even natural disasters have become deeply politicised as the candidates criss-cross the disaster area and in some cases visit the same venues to win over voters in battleground states.