Months of neglect from federal officials threatened to combine the worst elements of two recent major disasters. Fortunately, residents in western North Carolina, a region ravaged by Hurricane Helene in September and then largely ignored by former President Joe Biden's Federal Emergency Management Agency for months thereafter,

U.S. President Donald Trump visited disaster-hit western North Carolina on Friday and was traveling later to Los Angeles, promising help while stoking partisan tensions with Democratic rivals over recovery efforts.

FLETCHER, N.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump said he was considering “getting rid of FEMA” as he visited hurricane-battered North Carolina on Friday during the first trip of his second term.

President Donald Trump said he's considering "getting rid of" FEMA as he hit the road for the first time since his second inauguration, visiting victims of Hurricane Helene and the California wildfires.

The president cited the disasters during his inauguration speech Monday as examples of an insufficient federal response to communities in need.

President Donald Trump landed in Los Angeles Friday afternoon to survey the devastation from the firestorms that swept through L.A. County. It was his first presidential visit since taking office — and a potentially contested one after his repeated threats to withhold federal aid to California.

Rain and cooler temperatures will bring relief to Southern California this weekend, after a prolonged stretch of dry, breezy weather that allowed wildfires to thrive.

Firefighters continue to battle fires across Southern California as the area prepares for a presidential visit Friday and rain in the weekend forecast.

President Trump landed in Los Angeles on Friday to survey the devastation from the firestorms that swept through the county.

Trump in the past has said that North Carolina “has been abandoned by the Democrats” following Hurricane Helene.

With parts of Los Angeles County still smoldering from wildfires, the expected rain this weekend would seem like a welcome relief. But how the rain falls could make the difference between a disaster respite or a disaster repeat.

27. The next day, Biden approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina. The Palisades fire in Los Angeles began as a brushfire Jan. 7. Biden approved a disaster declaration for California Jan. 8.