Hurricane Helene brings climate change to forefront of the presidential campaign

WASHINGTON (AP) — 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 180 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 issues.

The hurricane featured prominently in Tuesday's vice presidential debate as Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz were asked about the storm and the larger issue of climate change.

Both men called the hurricane a tragedy and agreed on the need for a strong federal response. But it was Walz, the governor of Minnesota, who put the storm in the context of a warming climate.

“There’s no doubt this thing roared onto the scene faster and stronger than anything we’ve seen," he said.

Bob Henson, a meteorologist and writer with Yale Climate Connections, said it was no surprise that Helene is pushing both the federal disaster response and human-caused climate change into the campaign conversation.

“Weather disasters are often overlooked as a factor in big elections,'' he said. “Helene is a sprawling catastrophe, affecting millions of Americans. And it dovetails with several well-established links between hurricanes and climate change, including rapid intensification and intensified downpours.”

More than 40 trillion gallons of rain drenched the Southeast in the last week, an amount that if concentrated in North Carolina would cover the state in 3 1/2 feet of water. “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.

During Tuesday's debate, Walz credited Vance for past statements acknowledging that climate change is a problem. But he noted that Trump has called climate change “a hoax” and joked that rising seas "would make more beachfront property to be able to invest in.″

Trump said in a speech Tuesday that “the planet has actually gotten little bit cooler recently," adding: “Climate change covers everything."

In fact, summer 2024 sweltered to Earth’s hottest on record, making it likely this year will end up as the warmest humanity has measured, according to the European climate service Copernicus. Global records were shattered just last year as human-caused climate change, with a temporary boost from an El Niño, keeps dialing up temperatures and extreme weather, scientists said.

Vance, an Ohio senator, said he and Trump support clean air, clean water and “want the environment to be cleaner and safer." However, during Trump’s four years in office, he took a series of actions to roll back more than 100 environmental regulations.

Vance sidestepped a question about whether he agrees with Trump's statement that climate change is a hoax. “What the president has said is that if the Democrats — in particular Kamala Harris and her leadership — really believe that climate change is serious, what they would be doing is more manufacturing and more energy production in the United States of America. And that’s not what they’re doing,” he said.

“This idea that carbon (dioxide) emissions drives all of the climate change. Well, let’s just say that’s true just for the sake of argument. So we’re not arguing about weird science. If you believe that, what would you want to do?” Vance asked.

The answer, he said, is to "produce as much energy as possible in the United States of America, because we’re the cleanest economy in the entire world.''

Vance claimed that policies by Biden and Harris actually help China, because many solar panels, lithium-ion batteries and other materials used in renewable energy and electric vehicles are made in China and imported to the United States.

Walz rebutted that claim, noting that the Inflation Reduction Act, the Democrats’ signature climate law approved in 2022, includes the largest-ever investment in domestic clean energy production. The law, for which Harris cast the deciding vote, has created 200,000 jobs across the country, including in Ohio and Minnesota, Walz said. Vance was not in the Senate when the law was approved.

“We are producing more natural gas and more oil (in the United States) than we ever have," Walz said. “We’re also producing more clean energy.”

The comment echoed a remark by Harris in last month’s presidential debate. The Biden-Harris administration has overseen “the largest increase in domestic oil production in history because of an approach that recognizes that we cannot over rely on foreign oil," Harris said then.

While Biden rarely mentions it, domestic fossil fuel production under his administration is at an all-time high. Crude oil production averaged 12.9 million barrels a day last year, eclipsing a previous record set in 2019 under Trump, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Democrats want to continue investments in renewable energy such as wind and solar power — and not just because supporters of the Green New Deal want that, Walz said.

“My farmers know climate change is real. They’ve seen 500-year droughts, 500-year floods back to back. But what they’re doing is adapting,'' he said.

“The solution for us is to continue to move forward, (accept) that climate change is real” and reduce reliance on fossil fuels, Walz said, adding that the administration is doing exactly that.

"We are seeing us becoming an energy superpower for the future, not just the current'' time, he said.

Associated Press writers Colleen Long in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Christopher Megerian in Augusta, Georgia, contributed to this report.

President Joe Biden talks with Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer, as he arrives at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport in Greer, S.C., Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, to survey damage from Hurricane Helene. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Marine One, with President Joe Biden on board, flies over areas impacted by Hurricane Helene over downtown Asheville, N.C., Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris visits areas impacted by Hurricane Helene in Augusta, Ga., Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump walks outside the Chez What furniture store as he visits Valdosta, Ga., a town impacted by Hurricane Helene, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News, with Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks during a vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News, with Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News, with Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

President Joe Biden talks with Deanne Criswell, Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as he arrives at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport in Greer, S.C., Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, to survey damage from Hurricane Helene. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris poses for a photo as she helps distribute food with the American Red Cross at the Henry Brigham Community Center in Augusta, Ga., Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a briefing at the Augusta Emergency Operations Center as she visits areas impacted by Hurricane Helene, in Augusta, Ga., Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris greets people who were impacted by Hurricane Helene in Augusta, Ga., Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, as from left, Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., FEMA deputy direct Erik Hooks and Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson watch. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Asian shares were mostly lower on Thursday after U.S. stocks stalled as investors awaited developments in the Middle East.

The U.S. dollar gained against the Japanese yen as officials downplayed the likelihood of an interest rate hike soon.

That helped push Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index higher. It gained 2% to 38,552.06, while the dollar traded at 146.51 Japanese yen, up from 146.41 yen late Wednesday.

The dollar had been trading around 142 yen after the ruling Liberal Democrats chose Shigeru Ishiba to head the party and succeed Fumio Kishida as prime minister. Ishiba had expressed support for the central bank's recent moves to raise its near-zero benchmark interest rate, which stands at around 0.25%. That led traders to bet that the yen would gain in value.

But after a meeting between Ishiba and Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda, both officials indicated that the central bank did not view further rate hikes as suitable for the economy at this time. That prompted a flurry of selling of yen, which benefits big export manufacturers.

The meeting between Ishiba and Ueda had not been expected to bring major news, however, “when Ishiba hinted that growing global risks should keep the BOJ firmly grounded, yen bulls hit the exits faster than you can say ‘sayonara,’” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.4% to 22,124.37 as investors sold shares to lock in profits after it roared 6.2% higher a day earlier on a wave of investor enthusiasm over recent announcements from Beijing to rev up the Chinese economy.

With Shanghai and other markets in China closed for a weeklong holiday, trading has crowded into Hong Kong. Markets in South Korea and Taiwan also were closed. India's Sensex fell $1.3%.

Oil prices rose again as the world waited to see how Israel will respond to Tuesday’s missile attack from Iran.

U.S. benchmark crude oil gained $1.00 cents to $71.10 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, was up 94 cents to $74.84 per barrel.

Israel is not a major producer of oil, but Iran is, and a worry is that a broadening war could affect neighboring countries that are also integral to the flow of crude.

On Wednesday, Wall Street benchmarks ended little changed amid uncertainty over conflict in the Middle East.

The S&P 500 gained less than 1 point, to 5,709.54, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.1% to 42,196.52. The Nasdaq composite added 0.1% to 17,925.12.

In the bond market, Treasury yields rose after a report by ADP Research indicated that hiring by U.S. employers outside the government may have been stronger last month than expected. That could auger well for the government's more comprehensive report on the U.S. job market due out Friday.

The dominant question hanging over Wall Street has been whether the job market can keep holding up after the Federal Reserve earlier kept interest rates at a two-decade high. The Fed was trying to press the brakes hard enough on the economy to stamp out high inflation.

Stocks are near records in large part on the belief that the U.S. economy will continue to grow now that the Federal Reserve has shifted to cutting interest rates. The Fed last month lowered its main interest rate for the first time in more than four years and indicated more cuts will arrive through next year.

Nike sank 6.8% even though the athletic giant reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its revenue fell short of forecasts, and the slump shows how much work incoming CEO Elliott Hill has in making the brand cool among customers.

Tesla sank 3.5% despite reporting an increase in its deliveries of electric vehicles during the latest quarter, the first time that’s happened this year. The number topped analysts’ forecasts, but investors may have been expecting an even bigger increase.

Also early Thursday, the euro fell to $1.1031 from $1.1047.

FILE - Signs marking the intersection of Broad and Walls Streets appear near the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 1, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person rides a bicycle in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person looks at an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person stands in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)