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Disaster

Aid pours into North Carolina; dozens still missing

Published

1 month ago

4 minute read

From The Center Square

By 

Tragic stories continue to flow from western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene slamming the Appalachian Mountains nearly two weeks ago.

So, too, is the assistance. The General Assembly convenes Wednesday, with disaster assistance legislation expected to swiftly be passed.

Gov. Roy Cooper toured the area on Monday with Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Personnel are in the area from neighboring states, sent by other governors and the federal government.

The death toll is at least 230, according to published reports. The Asheville Citizen Times on Tuesday afternoon reported 62 missing persons cases are active in the Lake Lure and Chimney Rock communities.

Eight hurricanes since 1950 have killed 100 or more people. Helene is only eclipsed – so far – by Katrina (2005, deaths 1,392), Audrey (1957, deaths 416) and Camille (1969, deaths 256).

Cooper and Criswell, along with U.S. Northern Command Gen. Gregory Guillot and Dual Status Commander Brig. Gen. Wes Morrison, went through Lake Lure and Chimney Rock.

In a release, the state Department of Public Safety said 2,500 soldiers and airmen are in the area with about 500 more coming. The Joint Task Force-North Carolina, led by the state’s National Guard, is paired with armed forces from 12 states, two units from the 82nd Airborne out of Fort Liberty near Fayetteville; the 101st from Fort Campbell in Kentucky; and a number of civilian entities.

More than 6,100 National Guardsman are present, a release from White House said. The Biden administration said it has already supplied more than $137 million in assistance, and more is expected.

Cooper’s administration said more than $33 million in FEMA assistances to individuals had already been paid to more than 109,000 people. More than 2,100 are housed in hotels through FEMA transitional sheltering. Nineteen shelters are open, with an estimated 780 people and 95 pets.

The Department of Public Safety said more than 1,300 responders from 35 state and local agencies have executed 107 missions of response and recovery. Cooper said North Carolina has used 417 specialized vehicles and 26 aircraft to help in search, rescue and supply delivery.

“These communities are home to family-owned businesses and neighbors who are helping one another,” Cooper said. “We will continue to work with western North Carolina to respond and recover from this catastrophic storm.”

In addition to the government aid, scores of churches and other organizations have sent tractor-trailer loads of supplies.

Tuesday midday, there were 622 road closures because of Helene across the state. This includes three interstates, 50 federal highways, 51 state roads and 518 secondary roads.

Published reports say the grim findings have included corpses discovered as landslides are cleared. Swannanoa and Hot Springs are two communities reportedly “obliterated.” Chimney Rock, a popular tourist attraction, was also hard hit with rushing water through the main thoroughfare.

“It has been a long 11 days for the people of our mountains, and it’s reaching the point where folks are just tired,” U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., said in a release. “We will get through this.”

Many in the region remain without running water, electricity and even the ability to travel. Eighty-six water systems, Edwards said, are on a boil advisory; 15 treatment plants have no power; and 27 systems are out of water.

Helene made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida the night of Sept. 26. Its remnants sped through Georgia and soaked the higher altitudes of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Helene had tropical storm force wins stretching 420 miles, larger than the state of Georgia.

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Disaster

FEMA skipping homes in disaster areas lures calls for federal probe

Published on November 13, 2024

By

From The Center Square

By 

“Homes are skipped”

Two North Carolina congressmen believe there is validity to claims representatives of FEMA chose to avoid residences based on politics in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Federal probes, said U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., are coming. Political signs were among what is described as community trends leading to the skips.

“This is infuriating,” Hudson wrote on social media late Tuesday afternoon. “We will ensure those responsible for this un-American abuse of power are held accountable. Investigations are coming.”

Hudson amplified a clip from Monday’s edition of the Roland Martin Unfiltered Daily Digital Show, where Marn’i Washington was interviewed. Washington is identified as a disaster survivor assistance crew leader for the Federal Emergency Management Agency fired from her job.

“Homes are skipped,” Washington says after a lengthy back-and-forth with Martin to describe the job, the encounters and the instructions from the agency led by FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and embattled Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. “The American people need to know that. If we are approached with hostility, or our people feel uncomfortable, we do disengage.”

Washington said workers did so for homes not only with Donald Trump signs, but also for Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, and homes with no signs.

Washington described the federal agency’s plan as to observe what are called community trends. For example, engagement at three or four homes on a street all with similar political signs would constitute such a trend. She said workers would work with people at homes with those signs if they wanted to engage, and with other homes on the street if able.

Washington says she’s unfairly singled out, and that incident reports for disaster survivor assistance crews will offer vindication.

In the interview, Washington says incidents first reported in Florida were not isolated and also happened in the Carolinas. She said it is false that her actions are described as advancing her political agenda.

“They allege that these actions were made on my own recognizance,” she says, “and that it was for my own political advances. However, if you look at the record, there is what we call a community trend. Unfortunately, it just so happened that the political hostility that was encountered by my team – and I was on two different teams during this deployment – they just so happened to have the Trump campaign signage. FEMA always preaches avoidance first, and then deescalation. So, this is not isolated. This is a colossal event of avoidance, not just in the state of Florida, but you will find avoidance in the Carolinas.

“Senior leadership will lie to you and tell you that they do not know but if you ask the DSA crew leads and specialists what they are experiencing in the field, they will tell you. Demand for FEMA to give you those incident reports.”

Washington, a Californian, told Martin she did not vote this election cycle, citing the high demand for her to go and work as a reservist for FEMA. She was subsequently fired, effective immediately, from her full-time job with Avanath.

Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., agreed with a post from Rep. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., saying “Homeland Security Committee needs to launch an immediate investigation and call this individual to testify. Under oath. In public.”

Helene, a Category 4 hurricane when it made landfall Sept. 26 in Florida, killed 231 across seven states. The toll is 102 in North Carolina.

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Disaster

FEMA’s response to the hurricanes of 2024 – Inadequate, corrupt, and politically charged

Published on November 9, 2024

By

Robert W Malone MD, MS

The news from Hurricane Helene and Milton just gets more bizarre and shows the truly punitive nature of the Biden/Harris administration.

The Daily Wire Reports:

A FEMA supervisor told workers in a message to “avoid homes advertising Trump” as they canvassed Lake Placid, Florida to identify residents who could qualify for federal aid, internal messages viewed by The Daily Wire reveal. The supervisor, Marn’i Washington, relayed this message both verbally and in a group chat used by the relief team, multiple government employees told The Daily Wire.

The government employees told The Daily Wire that at least 20 homes with Trump signs or flags were skipped from the end of October and into November due to the guidance, meaning they were not given the opportunity to qualify for FEMA assistance. Images shared with The Daily Wire show that houses were skipped over by the workers, who wrote in the government system messages such as: “Trump sign no entry per leadership.”

It is unclear whether the same guidance was issued elsewhere in the country. The employees were part of a Department of Homeland Security surge capacity force team, meaning they volunteered from other DHS agencies to help an understaffed FEMA as it dealt with a second major hurricane in a span of just a few weeks.

The employee said it felt wrong to discriminate against Trump supporters when they were at their “most vulnerable.”

“I volunteered to help disaster victims, not discriminate against them,” the employee said. “It didn’t matter if people were black, white, Hispanic, for Trump, for Harris. Everyone deserves the same amount of help.”

The guidance came as the Biden administration was criticized over its sluggish response to Hurricane Helene in rural areas across the country. In Roan Mountain, Tennessee, for example, locals told The Daily Wire it took nearly two weeks for FEMA to show up. The town is located in Carter County, which voted 81% for Trump on Tuesday.

Supposedly, after this news story made the alternative media rounds, including the Daily Wire, – this “supervisor” was fired. About then, Fox and other conservative media ran with the story.

 

In other FEMA related news, the New York Post reports that:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency failed to answer nearly half of the calls for aid and assistance it recently received during Hurricanes Helene and Milton, a report released this week shows.

During a recent week, FEMA’s call centers were so overwhelmed, almost half of all callers never connected with a federal working, according to data released this week.

And it took federal agents on average more than an hour to actually pick up those calls that were answered.

The damning report comes as the Harris-Biden administration has been slammed by conservatives for its response to disaster relief after Hurricanes Helene and Milton slammed into Florida, North Carolina and other southern states.

One man seeking help after his North Carolina home was flooded called FEMA and got a recording that said he was 675th in line.

 

A Google news search shows that there has been almost no mention about Hurricane Helene since October 7th. It is as if it never happened on Google News and MSM. A search on Hurricane Helene documents that the top articles are about

  1. NASA hurricane surveillance,
  2. pecan farmers in Georgia, and
  3. deforestation caused by Helene.

Note the lack of news about the destruction, FEMA’s response, or the communities affected.

Adding the words North Carolina to Hurricane Helene doesn’t pull up any articles on the plight of those suffering, the recovery, or information on FEMA’s response. Instead, there are news stories on deforestation (again), opoids, and a local NC article on bad drinking water (an article that does not even mention FEMA or the hurricane response).

 

By all appearances, there is a governmental blackout regarding their disastrous response and criticisms about that response. Of interest, previous news stories between Oct 1-7, almost all center around “fact-checks’ that try to blunt the criticisms about FEMA, including Trump’s.

The vast media blackout on FEMA’s lack of an organized response in North Carolina is truly a blackeye on America and mainstream media.

By all appearances, the deep state is both protecting its own reputation and that of the Harris campaign. They wanted nothing out there that would reflect poorly on the Biden/Harris administration before the election. Mainstream media compliance and cooperation with the Federal government to hide their incompetence and corruption before this election and over the last decade may be the biggest story of this generation.

The video below is probably the most accurate synopsis of what the situation in NC looks like right now:

Of course, this video was found on X and TikTok- no such news stories on MSM!

North Carolina Department of Transportation has been mentioned as doing amazing work.

And course, Ron DeSantis has been amazing

In combing through X, it is clear that there is a lot of false information out there about the hurricanes this year. Just as has always been the case – gossip and rumors abound during and after a crisis.

By using common sense, and due diligence, people figure it out. By getting all sides of a story, the good, the bad, the false, and the exaggerated – people figure it out and filter reality as it pertains to their view of the world. We don’t all have the same beliefs or worldview.

This is the nature of individuals, communities, and groups – just as it has always been. “Fake news” is nothing new.

Censoring anything not approved by the government is evil. Particularly when DHS (FEMA) has been corrupted, poorly managed, and involved in hate crimes – such as discriminating against Trump supporters. Their malfeasance is palpable. That is the road paved to a totalitarian society.

“The real story here is that the Biden-Harris administration has spurned the interests of the American people since day one, pushing for hundreds of millions of FEMA dollars every year, specifically for illegal immigrants,” Chairman Green said. “Last year, House Republicans eliminated this spending in the FY24 DHS appropriations bill, only for the Democrat-controlled Senate and White House to fight to add it back to the omnibus spending bill.

“This is an issue of priorities, and the Biden-Harris administration’s are completely backwards. It takes a lot of nerve for Secretary Mayorkas to ask for more money after he and his bosses in the White House fought for roughly $650 million just this year for the Shelter and Services Program. Under Biden and Harris’ leadership, our tax dollars are being used to help facilitate illegal immigration, while many American citizens are left to suffer following natural disasters.”

-House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN)

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