President Biden on Monday said he plans to visit areas devastated by Helene "later this week," with specific plans to travel to North Carolina by Thursday, if the situation on the ground allows it.
Addressing the nation and reporters from the White House, the president said he will likely need to ask Congress to pass supplemental funding to respond to the crisis across the Southeast. And the president said he may need to ask Congress to return to Washington, D.C., to accomplish that.
Calling Helene a "history-making storm," Mr. Biden said "we will not do that at the risk of diverting or delaying any of the response assets needed to deal with this crisis" with a presidential visit.
The catastrophic storm wiped out homes, parts of highways and left entire towns across the Southeast without running water, communication or electricity. So far, 600 people are unaccounted for, and the death toll, which has topped 100, continues to rise.
The president pledged the full support of the federal government to those affected towns, counties and states as they dig out from the devastation and, eventually, work to rebuild. More than 3,300 personnel from across the federal government have been deployed to support response efforts. Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell is heading to North Carolina Monday.
"We're not leaving until the job is done," the president said.
The president said he's "committed" to traveling to the affected areas as soon as possible, but he's been told by local authorities that traveling now would be disruptive to ongoing recovery efforts. Mr. Biden said he's spoken to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and plans to be down there either Wednesday or Thursday, if possible.
The president, who was in Rehoboth Beach this weekend, was asked why neither he nor Vice President Kamala Harris were in Washington over the weekend to oversee and command the federal response.
"I was commanding — I was on the phone for at least two hours yesterday, and the day before, as well," the president told the reporter who asked the question. "I command, it's called a telephone."
Harris is heading back to D.C. from the campaign trail Monday morning, earlier than planned, while her Republican rival for the White House, former President Donald Trump, is headed to Valdosta, Georgia, to survey hurricane damage.
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