Biden heads to the Carolinas to survey catastrophic damage from Hurricane Helene

President Biden is heading to the Carolinas on Wednesday for an aerial tour of the widespread damage caused by Hurricane Helene, as well as a briefing on the ground on recovery efforts. Vice President Kamala Harris is heading to Georgia to get updates on the emergency response to the storm's devastation there. 

The president first heads to Greenville, South Carolina, where the city says utility crews and city public work teams are trying to clear roadways and return power. He'll go on an aerial tour of the affected region, a way for a president to get a sense of the seismic devastation without interfering with recovery efforts. Greenville is about 60 miles south of Asheville, North Carolina, where some of the worst of the damage is. 

Before Mr. Biden arrived, the White House announced he had authorized the deployment of 1,000 active-duty U.S. soldiers "to support the delivery of food, water, and other critical commodities to communities impacted by Hurricane Helene." The White House said the troops will add to the more than 4,800 federal personnel who have been deployed to help states in the region respond to the storm.