Kamala Harris to visit North Carolina areas ravaged by Helene on Saturday

By Michael Wilner

Updated December 3, 2024 7:03 PM

Hurricane Helene Aftermath

Hurricane Helene swept across the Southeast, causing major flooding and destruction throughout North Carolina. Here is ongoing coverage from The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer about Hurricane Helene and the aftermath, particularly in Western North Carolina.

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WASHINGTON

Vice President Kamala Harris will visit North Carolina on Saturday to survey the catastrophic damage left across the state from Hurricane Helene, a White House official told McClatchy, days after making a similar trip to Georgia.

Helene ravaged the Southeast last weekend, ripping through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee with unexpected ferocity and making landfall in Florida, and bringing unprecedented flooding to rural Appalachia. President Joe Biden visited Western North Carolina — among the worst-affected areas — earlier this week, vowing to commit federal resources for as long as it takes to help the region recover.

Harris will “survey the impacts of Hurricane Helene and receive an on-the-ground briefing about the continued recovery efforts that are occurring in communities across the state,” one official said. “The vice president will also provide updates on federal actions that are being taken to support emergency response and recovery efforts in North Carolina and other states throughout the southeast.”

The official did not specify where in the state Harris would visit.

An aerial view of some of the devastation left after Helene’s floodwaters rushed down the Broad River in the area of Chimney Rock, N.C. Photographed, Friday, October. 4, 2024. Digby Solomon For The News & Observer

Harris also spoke with North Carolina’s Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, to discuss the recovery efforts, the official added. She visited FEMA headquarters earlier in the week for a briefing and to thank federal personnel for their work on the emergency response.

Helene has claimed over 200 lives across the region, and hundreds remain missing. Over 1 million people are still without power nearly a week after the storm has passed.

Harris, the Democratic nominee for president this year, has frequently visited the state over the past several months in her campaign for the White House.

This story was originally published October 4, 2024 at 9:41 AM.

Michael Wilner

McClatchy DC

202-383-6083

Michael Wilner is an award-winning journalist and was McClatchy’s chief Washington correspondent. Wilner joined the company in 2019 as a White House correspondent, and led coverage for its 30 newspapers of the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and the Biden administration. Wilner was previously Washington bureau chief for The Jerusalem Post. He holds degrees from Claremont McKenna College and Columbia University and is a native of New York City.