Hurricane Helen: At least 155 dead in the United States

Relief operations continued on Tuesday in the southeastern United States, several days after the passage of Hurricane Helen, which killed at least 155 people, while Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will travel separately to the affected areas.

• Read also: Woman says Hurricane Helen is God's punishment for Republican states

Many areas remain inaccessible by road, and more than 1.4 million homes and businesses remained without power as of 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, according to the specialist website poweroutage.us.

“We know the devastation caused by Hurricane Helen is unimaginable,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday.

His state, the most affected by the hurricane, condemned the death toll of at least 74 people on Tuesday.

The governor added during a press conference: “The localities have been wiped off the map,” explaining that the authorities expect the death toll to worsen.

Liz Sherwood Randall, Joe Biden's homeland security adviser, said Monday that authorities had not received any calls from 600 people, but she expressed hope that some of these people were “alive.”

President Biden will travel to North Carolina on Wednesday, while Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee on November 5, will travel to Georgia, where 25 deaths have been recorded.

Their trips come as federal authorities' response to the disaster has become part of the presidential campaign. Georgia and North Carolina are among seven key states that could tip the election.

Malicious Biden

Donald Trump visited a Georgia town damaged by a hurricane on Monday, and accused the federal state of not “reacting” in the face of the scale of the disaster. The Republican candidate also previously accused the authorities in North Carolina, led by Democrat Roy Cooper, of “deliberately not helping people in Republican areas.”

“He's lying,” the malicious Joe Biden responded. “What angers me (is) that it suggests that we are not doing everything possible (…) This is a lie and irresponsible.”

Joe Biden had previously indicated that he would not travel as long as this might disrupt relief operations.

In South Carolina, at least 36 deaths were recorded, while Florida recorded 14 cases, Tennessee four and Virginia two cases, according to a report prepared by Agence France-Presse on Tuesday based on statements by local authorities.

Rescuers continue to work to try to find survivors and provide food to residents affected by the disaster, who are sometimes still cut off from the world.

In the southern Appalachian Mountains, Helen caused flash floods that caused massive damage.

Photos from around Asheville, North Carolina, show the neighborhoods devastated here and the roads destroyed by flood waters. Since there is no access by land, the authorities are sending relief supplies, water and food by air.

For Joe Biden, “there is no doubt” that this devastation is caused by climate change which, by warming sea waters, makes, according to scientists, the rapid intensification of storms more likely and increases the risk of more powerful hurricanes.