Trump heads to hurricane-hit N Carolina, Harris in limbo

Former US President Donald Trump is on the campaign trail in hurricane-hit North Carolina on Monday, having sharply criticized the government’s disaster response after at least 124 people were killed there by Hurricane Helene.

Emergency services are still distributing food and water to the worst-hit parts of the state, nearly a month after Helene slammed into the southeastern United States, leaving more than 240 dead in its wake, according to a AFP account.

Trump will hold a campaign rally in the city of Greenville, while his Democratic rival Kamala Harris is set to address supporters in other battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

The two candidates are in a race for the White House with just over two weeks until Election Day. Polls show the contest too close to call, including in the seven states that decide the US election.

In North Carolina, emergency services continue to deal with the aftermath of the storm, with civil search and rescue teams still working in some areas.

On Sunday, the White House said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had “authorized more than $300 million in assistance statewide, including $118 million in individual assistance to more than 87,600 households.”

The storm’s immediate aftermath left many without access to power, drinking water or shelter, prompting Trump to sharply criticize US President Joe Biden and his running mate, Harris.

Biden and Harris have rejected the allegations, accusing Trump of spreading misinformation about the response for political gain.

“There has been a reckless, irresponsible and relentless promotion of misinformation and outright lies,” Biden said after Helene and before a second major storm, Milton, hit Florida.

As of Sunday, power had been restored to most of North Carolina, excluding about 5,000 customers in outlying western counties, according to a power outage.

Schools are set to reopen in some of the worst-hit areas this week, and municipal services say water supplies have been restored in many areas, although some are still facing “boil water” advisories.

Shelley Hughes, 64, lives near Asheville and said as of Friday the water at her residence was “still brown (in) color.”

“It still looks like, I guess, for lack of a better word, a war zone,” she said of her town, Swannanoa.

Harris and Trump are virtually tied in the battleground states, according to a New York Times average polls, and North Carolina is no different. Harris was at 49 percent in the state, compared to Trump’s 48 percent on Sunday.

Early voting is already underway in several states, including North Carolina, where more than a million people had voted as of Sunday, according to official figures.

They deserve better

Harris on Sunday appeared to acknowledge the closeness of the race, saying she would leave “nothing on the field” in her push to win the election.

The 60-year-old, who celebrated her birthday on Sunday, also criticized Trump’s increasingly disparaging language on the trail, saying in an interview with MSNBC that Americans “deserve much better.”

“Donald Trump should never again stand behind the seal of the president of the United States. He has not earned the right,” Harris said.

Trump’s campaign has painted a dark picture of a United States overrun by crime and illegal immigration, describing some undocumented immigrants as animals and accusing them of “invading” the country.

At campaign events, he increasingly deviates from the script, using outlandish and sometimes vulgar language often to the delight of his supporters.

Harris, nearly 18 years Trump’s junior, has increasingly drawn attention to the former president’s age, raising questions about his ability to serve a second term.

On Sunday, Trump insisted his age was not slowing him down, telling a Pennsylvania town hall that “we’ve had some of the greatest leaders in the history of the world who are in their 80s.”