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More than 150 dead as communities begin recovery

More than 150 dead as communities begin recovery

Hurricane Helene and its devastation were discussed last night during the debate between Minnesota vice presidential candidate Tim Walz and Ohio Senator JD Vance.

“I’m sure Governor Walz will join me in saying, ‘Our hearts are with these innocent people, our prayers are with them.’ And we want the most robust and aggressive federal response possible to save as many lives as possible . And then, of course, to help the people in those communities rebuild,” Vance said.

Walz said: “This hurricane is a terrible tragedy and my condolences go out to the people down there.”

Walz spoke about his role as co-chair of the Board of Governors.

“We are working together on this emergency management. Governors have no partisanship. They are working together, all the governors and the emergency responders on the ground, this is happening on the front lines. The federal government is coming in to make sure we recover. But we’re still in the phase where we have to make sure they stay there and stay focused,” Walz said.

Both were asked about climate change and its impacts in relation to more severe storms like Helene.

Vance called climate change “a very important issue,” adding, “Donald Trump and I support clean air and clean water. We want the environment to be cleaner and safer.”

Meanwhile, Walz pointed out that Donald Trump had previously called climate change a “hoax.”

“My farmers know that climate change is real. “You’ve had 500 years of droughts and 500 years of floods in a row,” Walz said. “We are producing more natural gas and more oil at any given time than ever before. We are also producing more clean energy. This is the solution.” It is absolutely important for us to continue to push forward climate change. But that’s not a wrong decision. “You can do this and at the same time create the jobs that we all see across the country, this government has done exactly that.”