Former President Donald Trump will head to Valdosta, Georgia, "to receive a briefing on the devastation of Hurricane Helene, facilitate the distribution of relief supplies, and deliver remarks to the press" tomorrow, his campaign said in a statement.

Trump criticized President Joe Biden’s and Vice President Kamala Harris’ response to the deadly storm in remarks today in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Twenty-five people have died in South Carolina as a result of Helene, Gov. Henry McMaster said at news press conference this afternoon.

"We haven’t seen anything quite like this before, particularly this part of the state, but it is a devastating blow," McMaster said. He said that once officials can clear the debris around the state, "then we can get in and fill in stations, all the stores, all the things without electricity, including some of the cell towers," which he said is "going to take patience, but we’re getting there."

"We’re making steady progress," McMaster said.

State Transportation Secretary Justin Powell said the Transportation Department was first working to open up interstates and has since turned its attention to farming routes, which "carry about half of the state’s traffic," he said. "Once we get those resolved, we’ll move on to the secondary roads."

Once the roads are clear, he said, crews will start debris cleanup, which most likely won't "start in earnest" until October.

Asheville, North Carolina, residents spoke to NBC News as they lined up at a food bank in the storm-ravaged city.

One man said he thought "nobody fully understood how bad it was going to get" in the area after Helene passed through.

"It looks like a movie," a woman in line said, adding that the roads look like Play-Doh. "The damage is astronomical."

Another man said, "I'd never seen devastation like that before."

People in the city are without water, power and gas and expect to remain that way for weeks.

World Central Kitchen is providing free meals in a number of locations in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, it said on X.

A list of locations where meals will be offered was posted on X, as well.

At least 11 people have been killed in North Carolina as a result of Helene, Gov. Roy Cooper said at a news briefing this afternoon.

The death count was previously 10.

"This unprecedented storm dropped from 10 to 29 inches of rain across the mountains, causing life-threatening floods and landslides," Cooper said.

Cooper said that around 500 North Carolina National Guard members have been deployed across the state and the Transportation Department is distributing food and water. Over 1,000 people have taken refuge in 24 shelters in the state.

George Carter, a North Carolina resident and restaurant owner, has been driving up the mountain from his home in Lake Lure to get enough cell service to stay in contact with families and neighbors.

“It’s worse than you can ever imagine,” he said of the devastation. “I don’t know of anyone who’s injured, who’s lost their life, but there’s mud everywhere. Buildings are gone. Streets are gone. Homes are completely gone or damaged.”

He added that while his restaurant seems to have withstood the storm so far, nearby boathouses have washed away and people have lost their pets. 

“Maybe 40% of Chimney Rock is still there,” he said. “The stuff that’s still there is filled with mud and smashed up.”

Even for those who haven’t lost their homes, he said, food is likely to perish within the next day or so. What the community will need in the coming days includes food, water, gasoline and shelter.

More than 2.4 million utility customers are still without power from Florida all the way up to Virginia, according to PowerOutage.us.

South Carolina still accounts for the majority of outages, with more than 875,600 customers out of power, followed by Georgia, with a little more than 665,000.

There are around 300 active incidents on roads in North Carolina as a result of Helene, the state Transportation Department said.

At least 53 of the incidents are on major roads and 241 are on secondary roads, it said.

The Transportation Department shared images of roads that were completely or partly affected by floodwaters.

"Please refrain from travel for non-emergency purposes," it said on X.

Members of the World Central Kitchen arrived in Pearson, Georgia, today to provide aid to residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

The teams handed out sandwiches and bottled water, according to WCK.

Yesterday, WCK's rapid response field kitchen handed out hot meals to residents in Steinhatchee, Florida.