ATLANTA — President Joe Biden will visit Georgia to tour Helene damage on Thursday, it was announced by the White House during his flight to the Carolinas on Wednesday.
It will come a day after Vice President Kamala Harris visits Augusta to survey damage.
On Wednesday, the president went to Greenville, South Carolina, and was touring impacted parts of North Carolina.
On the tarmac, Biden wore boots and grabbed the hand of Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer who was on-hand to greet him, as was South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham. The White House announced during his flight that he’d also be visiting storm damaged parts of Florida and Georgia on Thursday.
The mayor noted that they could not close down the area’s one operable road for Biden’s motorcade.
“We’re going down to see ... the damage done," Biden said before leaving Washington. He also made a point of mentioning how an ongoing dockworkers strike could make getting supplies to hard-hit areas more difficult.
“Natural disasters are incredibly consequential. The last thing we need on top of that is a man-made disaster that’s going on at the ports,” the president said. “We’re getting pushback already, we’re hearing from the folks regionally that they’re having trouble getting product that they need because of the port strike.”
The White House said Wednesday that as many as 1,000 active-duty soldiers, part of an Infantry Battalion Task Force based out of Fort Liberty, North Carolina, will begin work helping to deliver food, fuel and supplies in the region.
“Even before Hurricane Helene hit, I directed my team to do everything possible to prepare to support communities in the storm’s path,” Biden said in a statement. “I mobilized the entire Federal government to bring every possible resource to the fight to save lives and help those in urgent need.”
The death toll climbed to at least 178 people, and power and cellular service remained unavailable in some places.
“We have to jumpstart this recovery process," Biden said Tuesday. “People are scared to death. This is urgent.”