by Daisy Luther, The Organic Prepper:
There’s a horrible humanitarian crisis afoot in Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee, places that aren’t generally greatly affected by hurricanes. And the federal government, again, is late to the game.
On September 26, Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida and then swept on an unusual path through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee on the 27th. This isn’t to say that we in North Carolina, away from the coast, are never affected by hurricanes, but it’s usually heavy rain and a bit of wind. Certainly, folks 400 miles away from the coast are not accustomed to catastrophic hurricanes.
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In fact, something like what’s going on in WNC right now is unprecedented – a once in a thousand year storm. We still have no idea of the death toll – current estimates are quite low from what is expected. People were caught in landslides, floods, their homes and cars washed away, and they’ve been stranded for more than a week.
The government response
It’s difficult to keep it PG-13 when discussing the “official response.” However much you hate your government, it isn’t as much as they appear to hate us.
It wasn’t until October 2, five days later, that “President” Biden ordered the military to help. They arrived on the sixth day but, as you’ll see, were given very specific orders. FEMA arrived to “help” on the Friday after the storm – a full week after it had originally hit the area. But their Search and Rescue units still hadn’t arrived. FEMA set up a lonely tent someplace hidden from view and expected folks with no power, no internet, sometimes no homes and no cars, to just magically find them.
And if you were among those lucky enough to find the tent, then…well…they “registered” you and gave you a flyer so you could go online and apply for aid.
How the heck are folks with no power, no water, no internet, and no cell signal supposed to go online?
For those able to go online and apply for $750 for immediate assistance…well, a bunch of folks stood in the ruins of their homes and discovered they were not eligible for the relief. And for those who are eligible, for many, it’s a loan that must be paid back.
To be clear – people will later be able to apply for additional aid from FEMA, who offers loans, housing, and other assistance. But that’s no guarantee they’ll be approved for it.
The real heroes
The real heroes in this situation have not come from the government or officials who seem to be big-dogging rescue and relief efforts of private citizens.
They’re the civilians who have poured into the area and made their way to every corner of these hills and hollers. They’re going on foot, by mule, by horseback, by ATVs, and using private planes and helicopters to save these folks stranded in the mountains without food or running water, and many without even a house left standing.
There are people like Elon Musk, who quickly dispatched a team to disperse Starlink units by helicopter to try to reconnect people to the outside world. There’s the racecar driver
Then there are the neighbors. Western North Carolina is a unique place in that it still has that sense of community. People are helping others – if they have a home standing, they’re letting their neighbors shelter with them. If they have a generator they’re offering up power strips to charge your phone. They’re out there slogging through the mud and trying to help because they have figured out that the government isn’t there to save them.
What’s the real story?
FEMA won’t tell you any of this. In fact, this webpage quickly popped up on FEMA’s website, “debunking” the rumors surrounding their response to Helene in some kind of weird pre-emptive strike. What they say is in direct opposition from what many people who have survived this disaster have experienced.
This video is the best compilation I’ve seen of the quick videos people have made sharing their experiences. If you want to know the real stories, ask the people who lived there, not the government. Some of this is hard to watch, especially for folks who have ties in the Appalachians. But I think it’s important to bear witness to what they’ve experienced.
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