With 118 dead from Hurricane Helene, Biden defends US government response

The death toll from a devastating storm that battered the southeastern United States climbed to 118 on Monday, as the disaster became a hot topic in an already bitter election campaign, with the White House angrily refuting claims it had been slow to respond.

With hundreds still missing across several southeastern US states and the death toll climbing, President Joe Biden announced he would travel to storm-ravaged North Carolina Wednesday to monitor rescue efforts.

Biden also accused former president Donald Trump of spreading lies, after the Republican presidential candidate charged, without evidence, that the federal government was ignoring the disaster brought on by Hurricane Helene and denying help to his supporters.

"He's lying," Biden told reporters in the Oval Office, adding that he had spoken to North Carolina governor Ray Cooper "and he told him he's lying. I don't know why he does it... that's simply not true, and it's irresponsible."

At least 118 people were killed by the storm and associated flooding -- 49 in North Carolina, 25 in South Carolina, 25 in Georgia, 14 in Florida, four in Tennessee and one in Virginia, according to tallies from local authorities compiled by AFP.

Emergency workers continued a grim search for hundreds of people still unaccounted for across the affected states, where torrential rains brought widespread havoc.

They also worked to restore water and power supply to the affected areas, remove fallen trees, deliver supplies and register people for disaster assistance.

The death toll was expected to rise, authorities warned, with cell phone service knocked out across much of the region and up to 600 people still missing.

- Biden accused of 'sleeping' -

With Biden preparing to head to North Carolina, Trump on Monday arrived in Georgia, another epicenter of the destruction -- and both are among the key swing states where the US election will be decided in just five weeks' time.

In the city of Valdosta, Georgia, Trump vowed to "bring lots of relief material, including fuel, equipment, water, and other things" to those in need.

"The federal government is not being responsive," he told reporters. "The vice president, she's out someplace, campaigning, looking for money," he said, referring to his election rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.

"We're not talking about politics now," he said later, wearing a bright red "Make America Great Again" hat while standing in the rubble of a furniture store.

Democrat Harris, canceled campaign events to return to Washington Monday for a briefing on the federal response.

"Over the past few days, our nation has endured some of the worst destruction and devastation that we have seen in quite some time," Harris said following the briefing.

"And we have responded with our best, with the best folks who are on the ground and here doing the kind of work that is about rising to a moment of crisis."

Responding to Trump's criticism that he was "sleeping" instead of dealing with the storm damage, Biden defended his decision to spend the weekend at his home in Delaware, saying he was working "the whole time."

When a major natural disaster hits the United States, the federal government responds at the request of states. A president's role is usually to oversee and coordinate aid, including funding.

Scientists say climate change likely plays a role in the rapid intensification of hurricanes, because there is more energy in warmer oceans for them to feed on, and Biden stressed as much Monday.

"Absolutely, positively, unequivocally, yes, yes, yes, yes," Biden told reporters in the Oval Office when asked if climate change was to blame for the trail of destruction left by the storm.

- Drowned in their homes -

The sheriff's office in Pinellas County, Florida, published a grim litany of the nine lives lost there so far, almost all of whose bodies were found in their homes.

Nearly all appeared to have drowned, it said, describing some found still lying in several inches of water, while others were buried under debris.

In Georgia, residents faced power cuts, supply shortages, blocked roads and broken communication lines in often mountainous terrain, with Governor Brian Kemp describing the storm as a "250-mile wide tornado."

Close to two million households and businesses remained without power on Monday, according to tracker poweroutage.us.

Cooper, the North Carolina governor, said Monday that hundreds of roads had been destroyed and many communities were "wiped off the map."

"This is an unprecedented storm," he told reporters.  "The emotional and physical toll here is indescribable."

Cooper, a Democrat, also thanked Biden for providing federal personnel and resources.