They also expressed concern about the devastation wrought in the Southeast by Hurricane Helene and called for a vigorous response from government to help those affected by the powerful storm. Helene was one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history, with the death toll surpassing 150 across six states. Damage stretched from Florida to Virginia, with some of the worst in western North Carolina, which experienced substantial inland flooding.

Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio and former President Trump’s running mate, called the destruction from Helene an “unbelievable and unspeakable human tragedy.” He said that he and Trump “want as robust and aggressive [of] a federal response as we can get to save as many lives as possible and then of course, afterwards, to help the people in those communities rebuild.”

“I commit that when Donald Trump is president again, the government will put the citizens of this country first when they suffer from a disaster,” he said.

On climate change, Vance said that “a lot of people are justifiably worried about all these crazy weather patterns,” and that he and Trump “support clean air, clean water” and “want the environment to be cleaner and safer.”

Vance did not answer how a Trump administration would address climate change, but said it would support more domestic energy production. He called Democratic concerns about carbon emissions a debate about “weird science.”

If emissions are a concern, Vance said, Democrats are addressing them in the wrong way. He said Democrats should be more interested in making energy cleanly in the United States than allowing energy to be produced in dirtier ways in other countries, such as China.

“If we actually care about getting cleaner air and cleaner water, the best thing to do is to double down and invest in American workers and the American people. And unfortunately, Kamala Harris has done exactly the opposite,” Vance said.

Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota and Vice President Harris’ running mate, also called the devastation in the Southeast “a horrific tragedy,” adding that he and other governors have been in contact on how to address the disaster.

Walz said officials are working on helping people, and “we need to make sure that they’re staying there, staying focused.”

On climate change, Walz attacked Trump for calling it a “hoax” in the past and for suggesting that rising ocean levels will provide more beachfront property.

Walz said his constituents in Minnesota, including many farmers, understand that climate change is very real. And they are helping to lead the country on the right path forward, toward truly clean energy.

“They’ve seen 500-year droughts, 500-year floods back to back. But what they’re doing is adapting, and this has allowed them to tell me, ‘Look, I harvest corn, I harvest soybean and I harvest wind.’ ”

He also said the Biden-Harris administration has invested in infrastructure and other programs that are helping communities adapt to climate change and has invested in domestic energy.

“We are producing more natural gas and more oil at any time than we ever have. We’re also producing more clean energy,” Walz said. “So the solution for us is to continue to move forward. That climate change is real. Reducing our impact is absolutely critical.”

Trump has slammed the Biden administration’s response to Helene as inadequate, and alleged with no evidence that the administration and Democratic leaders in North Carolina were “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas.”

The Biden administration has rejected Trump’s claims. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dismissed them as unfounded and said that more than 1,400 people have been supported or rescued in affected areas. Republican leaders have said the White House has been helpful in disaster relief.

President Biden has approved major disaster declarations in Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina, which will ease the path for those states to receive recovery funds.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a red state or blue state,” Jean-Pierre said Monday. “This is their job — to get food there, to get generators there, to save some lives, to rescue people.”

Trump’s supporters, including those behind Project 2025, have called for federal agencies that warn of weather disasters to be disbanded or face dramatic budget cuts, and Trump as president delayed post-hurricane aid to Puerto Rico. He also diverted money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which responds to natural disasters, to an initiative aimed at returning undocumented migrants to Mexico.

More than 150,000 households have already registered for assistance from FEMA in the wake of Helene, and that number is expected to rise rapidly in coming days, agency officials have said.

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But just in case, they’re ready to ship from Amazon’s first disaster relief hub focused on wildfires.

The online retailing giant on Thursday, Aug. 22, unveiled the hub — Amazon’s 14th disaster relief hub worldwide and its second in the U.S. — that runs from a warehouse known as a fulfillment center in the Riverside County city of Beaumont.

Stacked among the towering aisles of consumer goods are plastic-wrapped, forklift-movable pallets with gloves, shovels, masks and other supplies — more than 6,000 items in all — that can help those in wildfire-stricken areas.

Using Amazon’s sophisticated logistics network, the hub aims to send supplies anywhere in the country within 72 hours — all on the global retailer’s dime.

According to Amazon, the company since 2017 has donated more than 24 million items worldwide to people affected by more than 160 disasters.

Amazon wants to provide disaster relief “with as much attention to detail, thoroughness and commitment as we do with any Amazon product launch,” said Vidya Sampath, senior product manager with Amazon Disaster Relief.

“This perspective leads us to see those affected by disasters not merely as people who are impacted, but as our valued community who deserves the best of our efforts and our resources.”

The hub operates out of an 860,000-square-foot fulfillment center just off the 10 Freeway, about 25 miles from Amazon’s air hub at San Bernardino International Airport and roughly 40 miles from Ontario International Airport.

Fulfillment centers send packages to Amazon’s “middle mile” network that includes facilities like the San Bernardino air hub. From there, they make their way along what Amazon calls  the “last mile” to customers’ doorsteps.

The hub uses this same network, only instead of fulfilling customer orders, relief supplies go where they’re needed. Nish Mohan, general manager of Amazon’s Beaumont fulfillment center, said the facility can handle normal business and disaster relief at the same time.

Sampath said Amazon coordinates with agencies such as the American Red Cross to make sure the right supplies arrive as quickly as possible and in a way that doesn’t hamper relief efforts. The company routinely seeks feedback from relief agencies to improve its disaster outreach.

Amazon chose Beaumont to house the disaster hub in part because of its proximity to the company’s air and ground transportation network, Sampath said.

Amazon also wanted a location that was close — but not too close — to wildfire-prone areas, Sampath added. It’s the same reason Amazon’s other U.S.-based disaster hub is in Atlanta and not hurricane-prone Florida.

California wildfires are expected to happen more frequently and with greater intensity throughout the year as climate change spurs droughts and high winds combine with hot temperatures to make bone dry vegetation ripe for igniting.

Five of California’s most destructive wildfires on record have happened since 2018, with three of the deadliest occurring since 2017, according to Cal Fire.

Knowing what supplies are available at the hub is useful in a disaster, said Yevette Baysinger, the Red Cross executive director serving San Bernardino County.

“To be able to have the partnership to have access and to know that, within 72 hours, they can actually dispatch the items needed saves so much time,” said Baysinger, who visited the hub Thursday. “To be able to have that ability will allow us to provide the services in a much faster, efficient way to ultimately those that need it.”

Baysinger recalled the difficulty finding supplies during the 2003 Old Fire in San Bernardino County, which killed six and destroyed 192 structures while burning more than 91,000 acres. Back then, it was hard to find shovels, gloves and other equipment to help families find items left behind, she said.

“It really just warms my heart to know that, in the event that we have a major wildfire … we have a partner that can dispatch all of the supplies that the community is going to need in that moment’s notice,” Baysinger added.

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