Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has criticized the Biden-Harris administration for not doing enough to help rural communities across the state after Hurricane Helene devastated a huge swath of the southeast last week.
Kemp vented his frustrations that he had to call the White House to request additional parts of Georgia be added to President Biden’s disaster declaration, he said didn’t cover all the counties that suffered damage from the storm — which killed 25 people in the Peach State.
“When the first emergency declarations came down, there was only 11 counties in that. A lot of people were outraged, including me, because there was such devastation in up to 90 counties,” Kemp told WRDW.
“So we called the White House. We spoke to the president’s chief of staff, the FEMA administrator and said, look, you’re sending the signal that you’re not paying attention to some of these rural communities,” the Republican governor said.
The major disaster declarations, which Biden made promptly after the hurricane struck, allows people affected by the store to apply for federal assistance.
Immediately after making the call, Kemp said White House officials added an additional 30 counties to the declaration — and he noted that FEMA would be deciding if more would be added.
“I absolutely think we will have a lot more counties added. We’re at 41 right now and I could see it going anywhere from 70 to 90,” Kemp said.
At least 200 people are confirmed dead in six states as a result of the storm — which caused horrific flooding across a huge swath of the northeast. Damage from the storm could cost $35 billion.
“It was a massive storm and we’re dealing with things statewide even the metro Atlanta area had record flooding. We had mudslides. We had to evacuate people below lakes, and ponds up in the northeast part of the state so we’ve been dealing with it,” he added.
Kemp’s comments Wednesday came as Biden was set to visit Georgia and Florida on Thursday.
Biden took an aerial tour of Greenville, South Carolina, before receiving an operational briefing in Raleigh, North Carolina while Harris landed in Augusta, Georgia to assess the catastrophic damage on Wednesday.
With Post wires