Biden and Harris in the states affected by Hurricane Elin

US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris yesterday, Wednesday, visited three states on the east coast of the US that were affected by the deadly Hurricane Elin, the management of the effects of which has been at the center of the election campaign in the run-up to the presidential election.

The latest toll from Elin stands at at least 189 dead in six states, according to CNN, while the damage caused by the flash and devastating floods is severe.

THE Biden arrived early yesterday afternoon at South Carolina and then went to the neighboring one North Carolinathe worst-hit state by the cyclone, where 70 deaths have been recorded so far.

The US president then flew by helicopter over Ashenville, a town of about 100,000 that was hit particularly hard by the cyclone, with damage visible from above. Due to the floods, bridges have been washed away, lakes have been filled with debris, while dozens of buildings and roads have been destroyed.

“What I saw broke my heart,” Biden wrote in X. “But I saw neighbors helping neighbors, volunteers and workers standing side by side, and people relying on each other. This is America”, he emphasized.

Reconstruction will take “billions of dollars and years,” warned Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who was aboard the presidential plane. “There are communities that have literally disappeared,” he underlined.

The White House announced that the president will travel to Florida today and to Georgiawhich were also affected by Elin.

Some of these states are crucial for the November 5 presidential election.

“I am here to thank you and to listen to you,” said the vice-president Gracethe Democratic candidate for the election, during her visit to a rescue operations coordination center in Augusta, Georgia.

Kamala Harris thanked rescuers while handing out meals to families during her visit to a reception center for those affected by Elin.

Joe Biden has announced that he will mobilize 1,000 additional military personnel for search and rescue operations in North Carolina. These reinforcements will be added to the thousand rescuers and members of the National Guard already working in the field.

In the southern Appalachians, residents remain cut off from the world six days after Hurricane Elin passed, while tens of thousands of people in western North Carolina are still without running water. In Ashenville, the water system has been severely damaged, and authorities have warned residents that it will take days or even weeks for the pipes to be repaired.

The disaster at the heart of the election campaign

A month before the presidential election, Donald Trump was quick to accuse the Biden administration of oligarchy.

The Republican candidate visited Valdosta, Georgia on Monday, where he denounced the federal government’s failure to rise to the occasion. He also accused North Carolina’s Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, of “deliberately not helping people in Republican areas.”

“He’s lying,” Biden replied. “What angers me is that it implies that we are not doing everything possible (…) It is false and irresponsible,” the Democratic president emphasized.

Joe Biden explained that he waited until Wednesday to visit the affected areas so as not to interfere with rescue operations underway.

He also estimated that climate change is increasing the severity and frequency of these extreme weather events.

“No one can deny the effects of the climate crisis yet, or at least I hope so,” he said. “They should be brain dead” if they deny them, he added.

At present it is difficult to assess the consequences of the cyclone on the outcome of the presidential election.

According to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted from September 25 to 29, before and during Elin, Donald Trump was leading Harris in Georgia, 50 percent to 44 percent.

The same was true in North Carolina, although by a smaller margin, 49% versus 47%.