President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Western North Carolina on Friday to visit locals impacted by Hurricane Helene in late September.

The president and other U.S. officials — as well as some local residents — have scrutinized the federal government’s response to the devastation in the months since Sept. 27, when Helene destroyed large swaths of the Appalachian region, and killed more than 100 people in North Carolina alone. 

“Throughout the transition, both President Trump and Vice President Vance repeatedly reached out to me to check in on how Western North Carolina was doing,” Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis told Fox News Digital in a statement ahead of the president’s visit. “That is a testament to how high of a priority the recovery and rebuilding process is for them. President Trump’s visit on Friday is welcome news for the thousands of families dealing with a state of uncertainty when it comes to securing housing.”

Republican North Carolina Sen. Ted Budd similarly told Fox News Digital that he spoke to “the president and members of his team over the weekend, and the people of Western North Carolina are among his top priorities.”

Kris Weil is sleeping in a tent outside his home that was destroyed during Hurricane Helene. (Fox News Digital)

Tillis said he looks “forward to working with the Trump-Vance Administration to ensure that every available federal resource is deployed and that red tape preventing families from accessing housing is eliminated.”

Trump announced on his first day in office that he would visit North Carolina and California amid devastating natural disasters in both states.

He made implicit reference to areas of the Smoky Mountains decimated by Hurricane Helene, claiming Democrats had abandoned the Tar Heel State in the wake of the historic storm that affected parts of North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

Fox News’ Charles Crietz contributed to this report.