Trump tours Helene storm damage in Valdosta: 'Our hearts are with you'

VALDOSTA, Ga. - Former President Donald Trump visited South Georgia on Monday to witness firsthand the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. During his visit, Trump offered condolences to those affected by the storm and announced that he had spoken with tech billionaire Elon Musk about providing Starlink satellite service to areas cut off from communication. 

"Elon will always come through. I know that," Trump said. "We’re working on getting them hooked up because they have no communication. Our hearts are with you, and we’re going to be with you as long as you need." 

Trump also launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for victims of the hurricane. The campaign has already surpassed $1 million, with all donations promised to be directed to those impacted by the devastation. Trump said he brought supplies, including fuel, which will be distributed by the Christian relief group Samaritan's Purse. 

However, Trump's visit was not without controversy. The former president criticized the federal response to the hurricane, falsely claiming that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp had struggled to reach President Joe Biden. "He’s having a hard time getting the president on the phone," Trump said. The White House quickly pushed back on this claim, noting that Biden had spoken with Kemp on Sunday. 

"The president asked him what Georgia needed," said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. "If the governor would like to speak to the president again, of course, the president will take his call." 

Biden responded to Trump’s comments, accusing him of lying about the federal response. "He’s lying, and the governor told him he was lying," Biden said. "I don’t care what he says about me, but I care about what he communicates to people in need. We’re doing everything possible. 

Gov. Kemp, who has been at odds with Trump in the past, expressed appreciation for the federal assistance. "We’ve had FEMA embedded with us since a day or two before the storm hit," Kemp said. "The president just called me yesterday, and I appreciate that." 

Georgia officials, including U.S. Rep. Rick Allen and state Rep. Dexter Sharper, stressed that hurricane relief efforts would be bipartisan. "This is not a Democrat or Republican issue," Allen said. Sharper echoed those sentiments, saying, "It’s nonpolitical with us. We’re working together to help Georgia get the funds we need to get back to normal." 

President Biden is scheduled to tour the damage in North Carolina on Wednesday, where the storm destroyed roads, bridges, and knocked out power, leaving affected areas isolated from the rest of the country. 

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More than 40 trillion gallons of rain drenched the Southeast United States in the last week from Hurricane Helene and a run-of-the-mill rainstorm that sloshed in ahead of it — an unheard of amount of water that has stunned experts. 

That’s enough to fill the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium 51,000 times, or Lake Tahoe just once. If it was concentrated just on the state of North Carolina that much water would be 3.5 feet deep (more than 1 meter). It’s enough to fill more than 60 million Olympic-size swimming pools. 

"That’s an astronomical amount of precipitation," said Ed Clark, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Water Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. "I have not seen something in my 25 years of working at the weather service that is this geographically large of an extent and the sheer volume of water that fell from the sky.’'