This Monday, the Hurricane Helene which killed 110 people and damaged the infrastructure of several cities and counties in the United States, became a major issue in the election campaign, which has forced Democrats to reject accusations of the management of the catastrophe.
Joe Biden, president of USAapproved federal aid for the various states that were affected by the devastating hurricaneand promised that assistance will last “as long as it is necessary.”
“We will continue to send resources, including food, water, communications and rescue equipment,” said the US president, who plans to travel to the most affected areas throughout this week.
He hydrometeorological phenomenonHelene, made landfall last Thursday afternoon near Tallahasseein the capital of Floridaas a category 4 hurricane on a scale of 5, with winds of 225 km/h. Although it was degraded to a post-tropical cyclone, it left a desolate landscape in the states of Florida, Tennessee, Florida, Northern and Southern California, Georgia and Virginia.
Until today, rescuers continued to search for survivors, who also brought food to those affected by floods, power outages and blocked roads. Unfortunately, according to poweroutage.us.,Almost two million businesses and homes remained without electricity service on Monday.
It should be noted that the current vice president and presidential candidate of the United States, Kamala Harriscanceled several campaign events to learn about the federal response, and will also visit affected areas after the first wave of operations emergency.
For its part, Joe Biden He argued that he will not make an immediate visit either, as that “would be disruptive,” explaining that they will not do that if they are “considering or delaying any of the response resources necessary to address this crisis.”
Meanwhile, the candidate of Republican Party, Donald Trumparrived this Monday in Valdosta, Georgia, the place that had the greatest destruction due to the floods, promising to “bring a lot of aid material, including fuel, equipment, water and other things” to all the affected people.
Although he did not present evidence, the 78-year-old American magnate assured that his Republican supporters were being denied support:
“The federal government is not responding,” the former president told reporters, adding that “the vice president is somewhere, campaigning, looking for money.”
However, the White House rejected all of Trump’s criticism that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris did not respond to the disaster quickly enough. While the Democratic candidate was on a campaign trip to California over the weekend, the president was at his beach house in Delaware.
In fact, Donald Trump accused Joe Biden of “sleeping” instead of dealing with the storm damage:
“I was in charge, I was on the phone for at least two hours yesterday, and the day before yesterday as well.”
According to counts from local authorities that were compiled by AFP, at least 108 people died, 39 were from North Carolina, 25 in South Carolina, 25 in Georgia, 14 in Florida, four in Tennessee and one in Virginia.
Additionally, Biden indicated that with cell phone service interrupted in a large part of the region, up to 600 people are still missing: “God willing, they are alive, but there is no way to contact them.”
According to the list published by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, the people who died so far were located in their own homes, and most of them appeared to have drowned, while others were under the rubble.
2024-10-05 04:05:26