Biden heads to Florida and Georgia to continue surveying Hurricane Helene damage as death toll reaches 200

President Biden is heading to Florida and Georgia Thursday to survey the widespread damage from Hurricane Helene and receive updates on the federal, state and local response to the storm. 

The trip is the president’s second consecutive day viewing hurricane damage in the Southeast. He visited the Carolinas on Wednesday, surveying the flood damage from Greenville, South Carolina, to Asheville, North Carolina, by air, and receiving emergency response updates from officials in Raleigh. The president announced the federal government will cover “100%” of all debris removal and emergency protective measure costs in North Carolina for six months, and will do the same for Florida and Georgia for the next 90 days.  

Vice President Kamala Harris was in Augusta, Georgia, on Wednesday, receiving updates on the aftermath of Helene. As of Thursday morning, storm-related deaths reached at least 200 across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Hundreds are still missing, as communities suffer still without power, running water and passable roads.  

On Thursday, the president’s first stop was in Tallahassee, Florida, where he began an aerial tour of the damage en route to Perry, Florida. The Big Bend area of Florida is where Hurricane Helene made landfall week as a Category 4 storm. 

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From Florida, the president will head to Georgia, where he’ll receive an on-the-ground tour of the damage in Ray City. There, the president will speak on the damage he’s seen and what the federal government is doing about it. 

The president announced Wednesday that he’s directing the Pentagon to deploy up to 1,000 active-duty soldiers to help deliver food and supplies to cut-off communities in Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas. 

Both Mr. Biden and congressional leaders have said the federal government will likely need to pass supplemental funding to respond to the damage and humanitarian crisis that followed.