Biden Sends 500 Additional Troops to North Carolina Amid Ongoing Helene Response

Damage from Hurricane Helene lines the streets of Ashville, N.C., on Oct. 6, 2024. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

President Joe Biden announced on Sunday the deployment of another 500 active-duty troops to western North Carolina to assist with the ongoing response efforts after Hurricane Helene caused widespread devastation.

The deployment was made in response to a request from Gov. Roy Cooper, according to the White House.

This brings the total number of troops responding across Helene-impacted areas to 1,500, following the previous deployment of 1,000 troops on Oct. 2.

“With a total of 1,500 troops now supplementing a robust on-the-ground effort – including more than 6,100 National Guardsmen and more than 7,000 Federal personnel – my administration is sparing no resource to support families as they begin their road to rebuilding,” the president said in a statement on Oct. 6.

Biden pledged that his administration will continue to work with local and state leaders “regardless of political party” as Tropical Storm Milton intensified into a hurricane on Sunday night in the Gulf of Mexico.

The newly-sent troops are equipped with “advanced technological assets” aimed at providing greater situational awareness on the ground, the White House said.

They will focus on delivering food and water to distribution sites, ensuring that survivors in hard-to-reach areas receive essential supplies, while also assisting in road stabilization and route clearance activities.

The previous deployment of troops from Fort Liberty and Fort Campbell was focused on distributing supplies to local jurisdictions designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and clearing emergency routes, according to the Department of Defense.

It stated that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers set up three emergency operation centers in North Carolina, and nine more centers in the southeast, and created “emergency power teams” that are tasked with assessing water and wastewater systems, inspecting bridges and roads, and conducting debris removal.

The Pentagon said that it would continue to engage with FEMA and “the whole-of-government” Hurricane Helene relief efforts and provide capabilities that “best support needs on the ground.”

According to the White House, the Biden administration has provided over $137 million in federal assistance to help residents affected by Hurricane Helene “jumpstart their recoveries” and that there will be “more to come.”

More than 83,000 people have registered for FEMA assistance and so far, over $27 million has been released to survivors in western North Carolina, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

Hurricane Helene has left millions without power in flood-ravaged Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas after making landfall on Sept. 26. In North Carolina alone, at least 68 storm-related deaths have been confirmed, and the number is expected to rise as rescue efforts continue, the department stated on Oct. 5.

Cooper has issued an executive order to expand the state’s healthcare workforce by allowing healthcare professionals licensed in other states, recent retirees, and others with the necessary skills to provide care.

The storm has led to the closure of some 650 roads, and around 173,000 residents in Western North Carolina were still without electricity as of Oct. 5, according to the department.