WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris travels to North Carolina on Saturday as the state recovers Hurricane Helenewho arrived a day after a visit by Republican Donald Trump, who spread false claims about the federal response to the disaster.

Earlier this week, Harris was in Georgia, where she helped distribute meals, surveyed the damage and comforted families hit hard by the storm. President Joe Biden also visited the disaster area. During two-day stops in the Carolinas, Florida and Georgia, Biden surveyed the damage and met with farmers whose crops were destroyed.

The two of them clearly and visibly expressed the government's willingness to help. The government's efforts so far include covering the cost of all rescue and recovery efforts across the Southeast for several months as states struggle under the weight of mass damage.

In a letter Late Friday, Biden wrote to congressional leaders that while the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund “has the resources it currently needs to meet immediate needs, the fund faces a deficit at the end of the year.” He also urged lawmakers to act quickly to restore funding to the Small Business Administration's disaster loan program.

More than 200 people have died. It is the worst storm to hit the U.S. mainland since Katrina in 2005, and scientists have warned that such storms will only get worse in the face of climate change.

But in this overheated election year Even natural disasters have become highly politicized as candidates traverse the disaster zone and, in some cases, visit the same venues to win over voters in battleground states.

Trump has falsely claimed that the Biden administration is not doing enough to help affected people in Republican areas and has sharply criticized the response. He has, after HeleneHe spread falsehoods about climate change, calling it “one of the biggest scams of all time.”

During a stop in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Thursday, Trump renewed his complaints about the federal response, citing the “poor treatment of North Carolina in particular.” In fact, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper said this week that more than 50,000 people had registered for FEMA assistance and about $6 million had been paid out.

Biden has suggested that House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., withhold money for disaster relief.

Harris' visits represent an additional political test in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. She is trying to slip into a role what Biden is known for — and showed the empathy Americans expect in times of tragedy — in the final stretch of her White House campaign.

Until this week, as vice president, she had never visited the scene of a humanitarian crisis. That job was reserved for Biden, who was often called upon to assess damage and comfort victims after tornadoes, wildfires, tropical storms and others.

Harris said this week that she wanted to “personally take a look at the devastation, which is extraordinary.” She expressed her admiration for how “people come together. People help complete strangers.”

She said it shows that “the vast majority of us have so much more in common than divides us,” a reference to a saying she often uses on the campaign trail.

“We’re here for the long haul,” she said.

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Associated Press writers Makiya Seminera in Boone, North Carolina, and Meg Kinnard in Fayetteville, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

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This story has been corrected to reflect that North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said about $6 million, not $6 billion, was paid out in disaster relief to people in his state.