The Democrats are getting knocks from President Trump and other Republicans for the Biden-Harris administration’s slow response to Hurricane Helene, our Matthew Rice reports. The crisis is being called Appalachia’s own “Katrina moment.” By the time that category five monster hit Louisiana, President George W. Bush was already into his second term. Helene is a smaller storm, but the political impact could be greater.

That’s because of North Carolina. Devastation in its western counties has been described as in “biblical” terms. “Roads in the region have been submerged, bridges swept away, and cell phone and internet services wiped out since Hurricane Helene passed through the region in recent days, making it nearly impossible for state and federal officials to bring in resources necessary to feed and house victims of the storm,” Mr. Rice reports. 

The only way in or out of Asheville, to cite but one important city, is by air because all the roads in the western part of the state had either been washed out or closed. “Why is Lyin’ Kamala Harris in San Francisco, a City that she has totally destroyed, at fundraising events, when big parts of our Country are devastated and under water — with many people dead?” President Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday.

What makes all that so portentous politically is that North Carolina has become an excruciatingly close swing state, with recent polls tied or some showing the 45th president ahead and others showing the vice president ahead. So it’s not unreasonable to at least consider the possibility that if President Biden and Ms. Harris stumble, it could throw the vote in North Carolina to the Republican ticket.

Mark, though, that such an impact is not automatic. The western parts of the state are already predominantly Republican, while it’s the eastern part that is more Democratic. Even so, the impact could be serious. After Katrina in 2005, Mr. Rice reminds us, Mr. Bush saw his approval rating fall to the low 30s from mid-40s, mostly because of a widely criticized federal response that left nearly 1,400 dead in the Gulf Coast states.

North Carolina has counted 11 dead — so far. Across all the Southern states it’s reached 89, according to a late tally by CNN and cited by Reuters. Huge numbers of persons, though, are missing in North Carolina and other hard-hit states. In one county, reports were of 1,000 persons missing. That could be exaggerated by the fact that cell phones were largely out, and missing persons could call in once service is restored.

That could leave plenty of time for frustrations with the government to grow. The catastrophe caught Ms. Harris on a fundraising swing through California. On her official government X account on Saturday, Mr. Rice notes, Ms. Harris allowed as how she was working “with local leaders in the southeast to provide support as they face the impacts” of Helene. Swing-state Voters will, one can bet, be watching.