WASHINGTON— For the past four years, President Joe Biden has flown to tornadoes, wildfires and tropical storms to survey damage and comfort victims. It’s not a role that Kamala Harris played as vice president.

But on Wednesday, both will head to the Southeast to confront the damage from Hurricane Helene and demonstrate their commitment and expertise in helping devastated communities in the wake of Donald Trump’s false attacks on their administration’s response. Biden is traveling to North and South Carolina while Harris is traveling to Georgia.

Harris’ stop will also serve as a political test amid a humanitarian crisis. She’s trying to step into the role Biden is best known for in the closing stages of her presidential campaign – showing the empathy Americans expect in times of tragedy.

She most recently visited natural disaster scenes as a U.S. senator from California, including when she traveled to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017 and when she walked through charred rubble in Paradise, California, after the 2018 Camp Fire.

Trump, the Republican candidate, traveled to Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday with a Christian charity that brought trucks with fuel, food, water and other supplies.

After his arrival, Trump accused Biden of “sleeping” and not responding to calls from Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. However, Kemp had spoken to Biden the day before and the governor said the state was getting everything it needed.

Biden was angry about Trump’s claim on Monday, saying Trump “lied, and the governor told him he lied.”

On Tuesday, the president said he had directed administration officials to send “every available resource” to communities harmed by Helene. The death toll reached nearly 160 people and electricity and cell phone services remain unavailable in some places.

“We need to jump-start this recovery process,” he said. “People are scared to death. This is urgent.”

Trump claimed without evidence that Democratic leaders were withholding aid from Republican areas, an accusation that better describes his own approach to disaster relief. He recently threatened to deny wildfire aid to California because of disagreements with Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

When Trump was president, Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria, which killed 3,000 people. His administration waited until fall 2020, just weeks before the presidential election, to release $13 billion in aid for Puerto Rico’s reconstruction. A federal watchdog also found that Trump administration officials obstructed an investigation into aid delays.

And during a visit there, he was criticized for throwing rolls of paper towels to survivors at a relief center. The gesture seemed to be well received by the room, but was widely seen as insensitive to those suffering. He also questioned whether the death toll was accurate, claiming it had increased “as if by magic.”

Harris visited Puerto Rico after Maria as part of a bipartisan delegation.

“When a disaster strikes anywhere in America, our government has a fundamental responsibility to provide the resources necessary to save lives, accurately assess damage, and rebuild communities,” she wrote on Twitter in 2018. “We now know that after Hurricane Maria, our government failed Puerto Rico on every level.”

Last month, on the seventh anniversary of Maria, Harris recalled speaking to Puerto Ricans who had lost businesses and homes.

“They didn’t need to have paper towels thrown at them – they needed real help and partnership,” she said.