Harris and Trump change their campaign plans after Hurricane Helene's destruction

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hurricane Helene’s deadly devastation has scrambled the presidential candidates’ campaign plans, with Kamala Harris returning early from a campaign visit to Las Vegas to attend briefings and Donald Trump heading to Georgia to see the storm's impact.

The death toll surpassed 100 people, with some of the worst damage caused by inland flooding in North Carolina.

In addition to being humanitarian crises, natural disasters can create political tests for elected officials, particularly in the closing weeks of a presidential campaign. North Carolina and Georgia, two of the states hit by the storm, are key battlegrounds in November's presidential election.

At the beginning of a rally in Las Vegas on Sunday, Harris said “we will stand with these communities for as long as it takes to make sure that they are able to recover and rebuild.”

Trump, speaking in Erie, Pa., on Sunday, described the storm as “a big monster hurricane” that had “hit a lot harder than anyone even thought possible.”

He criticized Harris for attending weekend “fundraising events with her radical left lunatic donors” in California while the storm hit.

“She ought to be down in the area where she should be,” Trump said.

He escalated his criticism on Truth Social, his social media website, where he said that he's bringing “lots of relief material, including fuel, equipment, water, and other things” to Georgia.

Trump said he wanted to stop in North Carolina but is holding off because access and communication is limited in hard-hit communities. He claimed without evidence that the federal government and the state’s Democratic governor were “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas.”

Asheville, which was devastated by the storm, is solidly Democratic, as is much of Buncombe County, which surrounds it.

During Trump’s term as president, he visited numerous disaster zones, including the aftermaths of hurricanes, tornados and shootings. But the trips sometimes elicited controversy such as when he tossed paper towels to cheering residents in Puerto Rico in 2017 in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

It also took until weeks before the presidential election in 2020 for Trump’s administration to release $13 billion in assistance for the territory. A federal government watchdog found that officials hampered an investigation into delays in aid delivery.

Trump campaign officials have long pointed to his visit to East Palestine, Ohio, the site of a toxic trail derailment, as a turning point in the early days of the presidential race when he was struggling to establish his footing as a candidate. They believed his warm welcome by residents frustrated by the federal government’s response helped remind voters why they had been drawn to him years earlier.

The White House said Harris would visit impacted areas “as soon as it is possible without disrupting emergency response operations.” She also spoke with Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, and she received a briefing from Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell while she was traveling.

FEMA uses the disaster relief fund to coordinate the federal response to major disasters. It pays for debris removal, the repair of public infrastructure and financial assistance for survivors, among other things. The temporary spending bill passed and signed into law last week pumped about $20 billion into the fund and gave FEMA the ability to spend that money more quickly.

That should help the agency respond to the most immediate needs, but lawmakers from both parties recognize that additional money will be needed in the coming months. Lawmakers are expected to return to Washington shortly after the November election and negotiate a full-year spending bill, when many lawmakers will seek billions of dollars more for the disaster relief fund.

President Joe Biden described Hurricane Helene as “a historic, history-making storm” during remarks at the White House on Monday. He plans to visit areas affected by the storm later this week, with efforts to not disrupt response efforts.

“I want them to know, we’re not leaving until the job is done,” he said.

Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writer Will Weissert contributed from Las Vegas.

People wait to gather water at Mountain Valley Water in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in West Asheville, N.C., Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

President Joe Biden speaks to reporters as he departs the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington after speaking about the federal response efforts for Hurricane Helene, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

A home completely destroyed by fire due to Hurricane Helene is pictured on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Madeira Beach, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump dances at a campaign rally at Bayfront Convention Center in Erie, Pa., Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Droke)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks about Hurricane Helene at a rally on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

BEIRUT (AP) — Israel has launched small, precision raids across the border in Lebanon and a larger ground operation is being planned, according to two officials.

It was not clear if Israel had made a final decision on a broader operation. The Israeli military did not comment.

The U.S. official and the Western official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah's acting leader vowed Monday to keep battling Israel and said the Lebanese militant group was prepared for a long fight even after much of its top command was wiped out, including its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

Israeli strikes have killed Nasrallah and six of his top commanders and officials in the last 10 days, and have hit what the military says are thousands of militant targets across large parts of Lebanon. Over 1,000 people have been killed in the country in the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry.

Early Monday, an airstrike hit a residential building in central Beirut, wiping out one apartment, damaging others, and killing three Palestinian militants, as Israel appeared to send a clear message that no part of Lebanon is out of bounds.

Despite the heavy blow Hezbollah has suffered in recent weeks, acting leader Naim Kassem said in a televised statement that if Israel decides to launch a ground offensive, the group's fighters are ready. He said the commanders killed have already been replaced.

“Israel was not able to affect our (military) capabilities,” Kassem said in a televised statement, the first time any senior Hezbollah figure has been seen since Nasrallah was killed. “There are deputy commanders and there are replacements in case a commander is wounded in any post.”

He added that Hezbollah, which fought Israel to a stalemate in their monthlong war in 2006, anticipated “the battle could be long.”

A founding member of the militant group who had been Nasrallah’s longtime deputy, Kassem will remain in his acting position until the group’s leadership elects a replacement. The man widely expected to take over the top post is Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah who oversees Hezbollah’s political affairs.

Hezbollah has significantly increased its rocket attacks in the past week to several hundred daily, but most have been intercepted or fallen in open areas. Several people have been wounded in Israel. There have been no fatalities since two soldiers were killed near the border on Sept. 19.

But Hezbollah’s capabilities remain unclear.

As recently as two weeks ago, a strike like Monday's in central Beirut — outside of the main areas where Hezbollah operates and next to a busy transportation hub normally crowded with buses and taxis — would have been seen as a major escalation and likely followed by a long-range Hezbollah strike into Israel.

But the unspoken rules of the long-running conflict no longer seem to be in effect.

It's possible that Hezbollah is holding back to save resources for a bigger battle, including a threatened Israeli ground invasion. But the militant group might also be in disarray after Israeli intelligence apparently penetrated its highest levels.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, meeting with Israeli troops on Monday, said Israel would “use all the capabilities we have,” hinting at a ground operation. “You are part of this effort,” he added.

Some European countries began pulling their diplomats and citizens out of Lebanon on Monday. Germany, which has been calling on its citizens to leave Lebanon since October 2023, sent a military plane to evacuate diplomats’ relatives and others. Bulgaria sent a government jet to get the first group of its citizens out, with priority being given to families with children and vulnerable groups.

In the past week, Israel has frequently targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence, including the massive strike on Friday that killed Nasrallah. But it had not hit locations closer to the city center.

The strike early Monday killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small, leftist faction that has not been meaningfully involved in months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel has not claimed the strike but is widely assumed to have carried it out.

Also Monday, Hamas announced that its top commander in Lebanon, Fatah Sharif, was killed with his family in an airstrike on the Al-Buss refugee camp in the southern port city of Tyre. The Israeli military confirmed that it had targeted him.

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said Sharif was an employee, and was put on administrative leave without pay in March as it investigated allegations about his political activities. Israel has accused the agency, known as UNRWA, of links to Palestinian militant groups, while the agency says it is committed to neutrality and works to prevent any such infiltration.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles into northern Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack from Gaza into Israel sparked the war in the Palestinian territory. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies and both supported by Iran, and Hezbollah said it would continue the attacks in solidarity with the Palestinians until there was a cease-fire in Gaza.

Israel responded to the rockets with airstrikes in Lebanon, and the fighting has steadily escalated over the past year. The Lebanese government says the fighting may have displaced up to a million people, although the U.N. estimate is around 200,000.

Tens of thousands of Israelis have also been displaced. Israel has vowed to keep fighting until the attacks stop and its citizens can return to their homes.

The United States and its allies have called for a cease-fire, hoping to avoid further escalation that could draw in Iran and set off a wider war. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown little interest, as his country racks up military achievements against a longtime foe.

France, which has close ties to Lebanon, has joined the United States in calling for a cease-fire. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, speaking during a visit to Beirut Monday, urged Israel to refrain from a ground offensive.

Barrot also called on Hezbollah to stop firing on Israel, saying the group “bears heavy responsibility in the current situation, given its choice to enter the conflict.”

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, speaking after meeting with Barrot, said the country is committed to an immediate cease-fire followed by the deployment of Lebanese troops in the south, in keeping with a U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war but was never fully implemented.

Hezbollah, which boasts tens of thousands of battle-hardened fighters and long-range missiles capable of hitting anywhere inside Israel, has long been seen as the most powerful militant group in the region and a key partner to Iran in both threatening and deterring Israel.

But Hezbollah has never faced an onslaught quite like this one, which began with a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies in mid-September that killed dozens of people and wounded around 3,000 — including many fighters but also many civilians.

This story has been updated to correct that Monday’s strike in central Beirut hit an apartment building, but it did not level it.

Melzer reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, and Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Veselin Toshkov in Sofia, Bulgaria, contributed reporting.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot speaks during a press conference at the Pine Palace, which is the residence of the French ambassador, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Damaged cars are parked in front of a building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A Lebanese policeman looks at damaged apartments that were hit by Israeli strike early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Damaged apartments, right, are seen in a building that was hit by Israeli strike, in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Two women take a selfie next to a newly painted graffiti of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, a day after Hezbollah confirms its leader was killed in an Israeli airstrike, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows the site of an Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

A fire engine ladder extends up a building that was hit in an apparent Israeli airstrike, in central Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A fire engine ladder extends up a building that was hit in an apparent Israeli airstrike, in central Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

People inspect a damaged car near a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A fire engine ladder extends up a building that was hit in an apparent Israeli airstrike, in central Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A photographer documents damage in a building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Policemen and civil defense workers stand next to damaged cars near a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Policemen and civil defense workers inspect a damaged car near a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A fire engine ladder extends up a building that was hit in an apparent Israeli airstrike, in central Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A firefighter inspects a damaged car near a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)