Updated October 9, 2024 at 3:02 p.m. ET

Hurricane Helene has devastated much of the Southeast, including dozens of counties in the key presidential transition states of Georgia and North Carolina.

States vow to continue voting, with some minor changesbut it's unclear how the displacement and property damage will ultimately affect who votes and how. What is clear is that most of the affected areas voted for former President Donald Trump in 2020, an NPR analysis says.

The hurricane response and threat from Hurricane Milton has become important for presidential candidates with less than a month left until the vote. Vice President Harris and Trump visited the area. While Harris promises that she and President Biden will provide any federal aid needed, Trump has sharply criticized her response Spread misleading or false information about available help.

In 2020, nearly 2.4 million votes were cast in the 82 counties that FEMA has now designated as places where residents in the two states are eligible for some form of assistance. And in every state, Trump won a majority of voters in those districts in the last presidential election.

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Here's a look at how that breaks down:

In Georgia, Trump won 57.3% of the vote from the 53 affected counties – 504,393 votes to President Biden's 375,700 votes.

More than 880,000 people voted in these counties in 2020, more than one in six votes cast in the state.

Trump won 46 of the counties to Biden's six, but it is not unusual for a Republican to win far more counties than a Democrat because Democratic votes are concentrated in populous cities and suburbs.

In the 2020 election, for example, Trump won 2,588 counties and Biden won a total of 551 the Brookings Institution. Adding New England townships to these counties makes it 3,198 to 1,380 (and four ties). according to AP. Biden still won by 7 million votes, because there are some 67 million more people in counties won by Biden than in counties won by Trump.

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Of the Georgia counties affected by Helene, Biden won those with the more populous Savannah and Augusta, but the storm's widespread spread meant that hundreds of thousands were affected in rural areas that were crucial to Trump's support.

In North Carolina, where the destruction is more severe and the Trump's campaign is calling for more voter accessTrump won 51.6% of affected counties compared to Biden's 48.4% – 783,330 to 735,009.

More than 1.5 million people voted in 2020 in the 29 affected counties in North Carolina. That’s more than one in four voters (27.5%) in the state.

Mecklenburg County, home to the heavily Democratic city of Charlotte, was added to FEMA's list of affected counties last week. Before FEMA included Mecklenburg County, Trump had won 62.9% of the vote in affected counties in western North Carolina.

Trump won a total of 26 counties in the affected area in North Carolina to Biden's three. Among the counties Biden won is Buncombe, home to Asheville. The more than 150,000 voters voted for Biden between 60 and 39%.

NOTE: The above analysis is based on county names from FEMA maps and press releases. For Georgia, here is one Friday's card and a Lists of those affected Counties Published Sunday. For North Carolina here FEMA map from Friday, as well as a List from September 26th.

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