Helene is the first catastrophic event in U.S. history to affect two critical swing states within six weeks of a presidential election. Both Georgia and North Carolina have 16 electoral votes — enough to decide the outcome of the race.

Hurricane Helene has left a wake of death and destruction across Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee after it made landfall in Florida on Sept. 26. Despite being downgraded to a tropical depression, hundreds were killed by the storm, millions are still without power, and the damage is estimated in the billions of dollars.

On Wednesday, the death toll of Hurricane Helene rose to at least 183, making it the deadliest hurricane to strike the mainland United States since 2005. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, a reporter for The New York Times,