skyler henry, cbs news, swannanoa, north carolina. >>> well, president biden is calling donald trump a liar. it comes after the former president falsely claimed georgia's governor could not reach biden on the phone even though the white house said they spoke sunday night. >> trump has accused both of you of ignoring -- >> he's lying. let me get this straight. he's lying. the governor told him he's lyng. >> yesterday trump surveyed the damage in north carolina while vice president harris stopped at a briefing at headquarters in washington. >> hurricane helene turned out to be the big one. >> we'll continue to do everything we can to help you recover and to help you rebuild, no matter how long it takes. >> the white house said harris would visit impacted areas as soon as possible without disrupting emergency response operations. >>> 35 days to go until election day, and in just a few hours, the vice presidential candidates will be going head-to-head in their first and only debate. tim walz and jd vance have been preparing for their high-stakes showdown that will take place here at the

cbs' skyler henry reports from asheville. >> reporter: it is astounding, the scope of helene's path of destruction, especially in western north carolina. >> the united states, the nation has your back. >> reporter: president biden got a firsthand look flying over a region where roads have washed away and basic needs like food and water are in short supply, while floodwaters may have receded, the level of desperation keeps rising. >> in a moment like this we put politics aside. our job to help as many people as we can as quickly as we can. >> reporter: that includes the search for the hundreds still missing. what's that process been like in terms of working with search-and-rescue crews? >> very painful. you know, it's just like -- we have these first responders who are working so hard, and you know, they all live here, too. >> i can't overstate how much worse this is than anything that's ever happened. it's catastrophic. >> reporter: in this once-vibrant now devastated river arts section of asheville the 12 bones smokehouse once drew throngs of barbecue lovers including former president

cbs' skyler henry looks at how election officials are trying to combat misinformation and show voters the upcoming election is legitimate. >> reporter: as we inch closer to election day, officials and lawmakers are working to ensure the integrity of the voting process. >> more confidence leads to greater participation, a good thing for our country. >> reporter: in dozens of pevious cases, courts have found no evidence of widespread voter fraud. that includes claims about improper registration, noncitizens' participation, and the voting systems themselves. how is this process i guess safe for a lack of a better word? >> every election, jurisdiction, every county in the country has clear rules about how ballots are handled. >> reporter: chris mann with the center for election research says as early voting expands across the country poll workers are able to focus on other potential issues. >> does a lot to help them, give them more time to deal with problems, whether that's a power outage at a polling place, misinformation about voting procedures. >> reporter: that misinformation is in p

cbs's skyler henry is in devastated asheville. good evening, skyler and i know you spoke with the city's mayor. what did she say? >> reporter: hi, norah. good evening to you. we are here at one of the distribution centers giving out supplies to people here in this region. the mayor told us that the city is still in crisis mode and that she expects the death toll to climb. >> we are still in a crisis mode. we are still in the search-and-rescue mode. >> reporter: six days after the flood, the search for the missing continues, as the death toll rises in asheville north carolina. >> there are people that died in the storm, that lived in homes in areas that had never before experienced flooding, so when you are thinking about, you know, do i need to evacuate? there were a lot of people that thought, well, i am probably fine where i am. >> reporter: we met mayor esther manheimer in the city's decimated biltmore village. she surveyed the damage with president biden wednesday. >> he understands that this is going to cost billions, and it's

skyler henry, thank you so much.onight, president joe biden is calling donald trump a liar after the former president said the current one is not doing enough to help storm victims. trump visited the storm zone in georgia today, and biden will be in north carolina on wednesday. cbs's scott macfarlane is on the ground in valdosta, georgia with more on the federal response and how the storm is affecting the presidential campaign. >> reporter: helene's path of destruction has forced the presidential candidates to change course. vice president kamala harris returned this afternoon from a stop in nevada where they spoke to fema leaders in washington. speaking to the governors. >> we will continue to do everything we can to help you recover and to help you rebuild no matter how long it takes. >> reporter: as a subdued donald trump visited a ravaged city and a battleground state valdosta, georgia, where the power is out, schools are closed, and roots, trees, and signs litter the streets. >> helene's just about the biggest a

skyler henry, thank you so much. tonight, the tennessee bureau of investigation is looking into possible crimes after a horrific tragedy. workers at a plastics factory were swept away by floodwaters from helene. some were rescued, others died or are still missing. cbs's manuel bojorquez reports from erwin, tennessee. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: this is video robert jarvis took last friday as water started to rise outside the tennessee plastics factory where he worked. >> like in 3 minutes it went from here to about here. >> reporter: despite the threat of flooding, jarvis said his manager initially told employees they cannot leave. he said it wasn't until the plant lost power and the water kept rising they were finally told to go home. what were the conditions like? >> it was water up to my waist. and everybody was in pure panic mode, not knowing what to do. we are looking for instructions on how to get out of here. we had no evacuation plan whatsoever. >> reporter: six of his coworkers are missing after a truck they

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cbs's skyler henry has more from inside the storm zone. >> reporter: the southeast is suffering.pears to be hit harder than western north carolina. where some areas received more than two feet of rain. roughly 600 people are still unaccounted for. >> but this is just -- it's hard to understand. i mean, this is just massive. this will take years to clean up if it's ever. >> reporter: the city of asheville and the area around it has been largely cut off since friday. cell service is mostly out. electricity won't be restored for days. and help has been slow to arrive. >> we've got a lot of family businesses that have been here since the turn of the century. they're devastated. and they're just trying to salvage anything that they can get. >> reporter: ten miles east the tiny mountain town of swannanoa is named for the river that runs through it, the same river that washed it away. anita krauter's husband had to use a chainsaw to get into her family's home. her father died a week ago, and now they say the flood took what little they had left. >> i can't imagine this. it must be tough

cbs' skyler henry reports from asheville, north carolina. >> reporter: it is astounding, the scope ofelene's path of destruction, especially in western north carolina. >> the united states, the nation has your back. >> reporter: president biden got a firsthand look flying over a region where roads have washed away and basic needs like food and water are in short supply. while floodwaters may have receded, the level of desperation keeps rising. >> in a moment like, this we put politics aside. our job is to help as many people as we can as quickly as we can. >> reporter: that includes the search for the hundreds still missing. what's that process been like in terms of working with search and rescue crews? >> very painful. it's just like -- you know, we have these first responders who are working so hard. and they all live here too. >> i can't overstate how much worse this is than anything that's ever happened. >> reporter: and since we've been in asheville, some progress. power to certain parts of the city are starting to come back. this roadway is now open in both directions. it's a ma

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cbs' skyler henry reports that election officials across the country are now working to debunk falseims intended to sow doubts about the validity of this year's election. >> reporter: as we inch closer to election day, officials and lawmakers are working to ensure the integrity of the voting process. >> more confidence leads to greater participation, which is a good thing for our country. >> reporter: in dozens of previous case, courts have found no evidence of widespread voter fraud. that includes claims about improper registration, noncitizens' participation, and the voting systems themselves. >> how is this process i guess safe, for lack of a better word? >> every election jurisdiction, every county in the country has very clear rules about how ballots are handled. >> reporter: chris mann, with the election center and research says voting spans across the country, poll workers are able to focus on other issues. >> it does a lot to help them, give them more time to deal with any problems, whether that's the power outage of a polling place, misinformation about voting procedures. >>

cbs' skyler henry is in the city of asheville and spoke to the mayor. >> yes still in a crisis mode.ill in the search and rescue mode. >> reporter: six days after the flood, the search for the missing continues as the death toll rises in asheville, north carolina. >> there are people that died in this storm that lived in homes, in areas that had never before experienced flooding. so when you're thinking about do i need to evacuate, there were a lot of people that thought well, i'm probably fine where i am. >> reporter: we met mayor esther mannheimer in the designated biltmore village. she surveyed the damage with president biden wednesday. >> he understands that this is going to cost billions, and it's going to take a long time in a sustained effort to rebuild our community in western north carolina. he understands that, and that commitment is there to stay with us until the end. >> reporter: fema has more than 1500 people on the ground in the southeast distributing supplies. the president has deployed one thousand soldiers to help, and there are countless volunteers. >> there are pe

cbs' skyler henry has more. >> i think that this is going to be the biggest challenge we face. >> reporterfor election official jake quinn, pulling off the vote in asheville, north carolina this november is now a herculean task. >> we're in the middle of an election right now. and helene or no helene, the election must go on. i'm really concerned about folks throughout the community who are stressed like they've never been stressed before. >> reporter: more than one million registered voters live in disaster areas and in 13 counties, accessibility to voting sites and postal services remain severely disrupted. >> it's a very fluid situation. >> reporter: karen bell chairs the board of elections. >> many of these communities will be without power, without water, without internet, without cell service potentially for weeks. some may even be facing months. so our job is to figure out as long as there are citizens in those communities, how do we provide them with voting opportunities so they can exercise their right to vote. and we will make workarounds with the facilities, with the power suppl