Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Augusta, Georgia on Wednesday where she toured the damage caused by flooding from Hurricane Helene and promised suffering residents that the administration would not abandon them.
“My final point to the residents of this community and the region is that we are here for the long haul,” Ms. Harris said, standing in front of a house where massive trees had fallen across the front lawn.
“There is the work that we have done together that was the immediate responsible preparation for and then the immediate response after,” she said. “But there’s a lot of work that’s going to need to happen over the coming days, weeks and months and the coordination that we have dedicated ourselves to will be long-lasting.”
Ms. Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, also has a trip planned for North Carolina, where President Biden visited Wednesday. She spoke for about eight minutes in Georgia and did not take questions from the press.
While in Georgia, Ms. Harris surveyed Helene’s damage and received an on-the-ground briefing about recovery efforts. She provided Georgia officials with updates on federal actions in support of the emergency response.
Ms. Harris pledged that the federal government will reimburse local and state governments for various issues such as debris removal and other parts of the recovery process. She said a woman told her that she couldn’t get her son to school once classes resumed because of the tree that landed in her yard.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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