Hurricane Helene brings climate change to forefront of the presidential campaign

The devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene has brought climate change to the forefront of the presidential campaign after the issue lingered on the margins for months.

Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Georgia Wednesday to see hard-hit areas, two days after her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, was in the state and criticized the federal response to the storm, which has killed at least 178 people. Thousands of people in the Carolinas still lack running water, cellphone service and electricity.

President Joe Biden toured some of the hardest-hit areas by helicopter on Wednesday. Biden, who has frequently been called on to survey damage and console victims after tornadoes, wildfires, tropical storms and other natural disasters, traveled to the Carolinas to get a closer look at the hurricane devastation. He is expected to visit Georgia and Florida later this week.

“Storms are getting stronger and stronger,” Biden said after surveying damage near Asheville, North Carolina. At least 70 people died in the state.

“Nobody can deny the impact of the climate crisis any more,'' Biden said at a briefing in Raleigh, the state capital. «They must be brain dead if they do.”

Harris, meanwhile, hugged and huddled with a family in hurricane-ravaged Augusta, Georgia.

“There is real pain and trauma that resulted because of this hurricane'' and its aftermath, Harris said outside a storm-damaged house with downed trees in the yard.

»We are here for the long haul,'' she added.

The focus on the storm — and its link to climate change — was notable after climate change was only lightly mentioned in two presidential debates this year. The candidates instead focused on abortion rights, the economy, immigration and other