The washed-out, mud-caked roads and bridges of Madison County, N. C., the river-ravaged homes and businesses in state chair Marshall, and the anguish of the Eastern inhabitants are all scripture to the brutal destruction of Hurricane Helene.  ,
Some residents and family members claim that the Biden-Harris administration’s abject incompetence and its poorly prepared Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA ) are the cause of the many people still lost, trapped, hungry, and hopeless a week after the hurricane caused historic rains and horrific flooding.
Sarah Parkhurst, of Montgomery, Ala., born and raised in the small-town shadows of Asheville, N. C., tells The Federalist that she thanks God for the private citizens that have lent a helping hand because the federal government has n’t.
In a phone interview on Thursday afternoon, she claimed,” The state is not there” while making calls to help the mud-buried areas of Madison, Buncombe, and Yancy regions.  ,
‘ We Need Rescue ‘
Parkhurst claimed that her family, who runs the hot-springs volunteer Hot Springs Health Program, has essentially begged FEMA for money. They desperately need gas for stranded home-bound elders. They need food, clean water, and house.  ,
Unfortunately, they also need bodybags.  ,
According to Parkhurst and others on the floor, the heart-breaking job of collecting the deceased is still ongoing.  ,
” My mother said there are still so many caught individuals. They’re asking for bodybags”, Parkhurst said.  ,
In many of these locations, this is not yet a healing energy. We need rescue”, Parkhurst added. ” We do not already know the total system matter. We have hungry children in the pipeline and the weather will only get worse when the temperatures drop next year.
The dying from Helene, as of last Thursday evening, numbered more than 200 in six says. As hoped-for more individuals may be found during rescue efforts, that number was expected to rise. To date, Buncombe County only has recorded about 60 mortality, with North Carolina recording half of the casualties.  ,
It’s terrible all over throughout huge swathes of the Southeast. In Georgia, Kobe Williams, 27, and her twin children were found dead after a branch fell through the roof of her apartment and crushed the family and her children, according to WJTV. John Savage, a resident of neighboring South Carolina, claimed that his grandparents passed away when a large tree fell on the property and smashed into the couple’s bedroom, killing both of them. They were discovered holding one another as they did so frequently in existence, Savage reported to the news agency. As of Thursday night, 39 individuals in the Palmetto State had been killed as the result of the hurricane.  ,
” Strong Stress” is a word that
No one could have been entirely prepared for the devastating storm, but sources on the ground in North Carolina claim that there have n’t been any federal government relief efforts in the small mountain communities.  ,
” There is strong frustration”, one North Carolina standard who works with parties in the Hurricane-battered places told me. He requested anonymity because he opposed to having any criticism of the Biden-Harris leadership have an impact on reduction efforts. ” It’s certainly not the red image you’re seeing them trying to create”.
This year, Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden visited hurricane-ravaged regions. Biden took an aerial tour of the destruction in and surrounding Asheville, N. C., and said the federal government has to” jump start this recovering process” . ,
” I’m here to say the United States, the country, has your back”, Biden said at the Raleigh Emergency Operations Center. ” They’re not leaving until you’re back on your feet absolutely”.
In many cases, options say, FEMA leaders have yet to show up. The leader who was not present spent last trip at the beach as rain and overflowing rivers drained Appalachia.  ,
The North Carolina source claimed that although Asheville is poor, there are so many cities that no one is aware of the state of affairs right now. He continued, “FEMA appears to have been underprepared for the wind that beat, and it’s struggling to get its joints.”  ,
Set Politicians on the side.
Resources are small, according to Biden-Harris management leaders. FEMA, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned on Thursday, is running out of money.  ,
 ,” We are expecting another storms hitting — we do not have the money, FEMA does not have the money, to make it through the time”, Mayorkas said. That may be related to the fact that the Biden-Harris administration used more than$ 1 billion from the budget of FEMA to fund services for illegal immigrants as part of a man-made border crisis brought on by the Biden-Harris administration.  ,
The” Shelter and Services Program” is funded by FEMA, according to Tristan Justice’s report from The Federalist this week, to provide humanitarian services to noncitizen migrants after their release from the Department of Homeland Security ( DHS) after receiving nearly$ 364 million in fiscal year 2023 and$ 650 million in fiscal year 2024. That’s according to the president’s site.
FEMA leaders did not return a phone and email from The Federalist seeking post, but the company has created a” story answer “page on its site, its type of confronting what it deems” propaganda. “FEMA urges Americans to perform their part to” stop the spread of stories” by finding” trusted sources of information,” sharing” data from trusted sources, “and” discouraging people from sharing data from unverified options. By refuting reports that FEMA does n’t have enough money for Helene response and recovery needs, the page provides some clarification to DHS’ clear warning that the government wo n’t be able to finance the full hurricane season.  ,
In visiting hurricane-pummelled Florida and Georgia on Thursday, the profoundly political Biden urged the state to” set politics apart. In contrast, Harris campaigned in crucial swing state Wisconsin alongside former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, who had been re-elected after the Democratic National Committee’s quiet coup that removed the geriatric octogenarian from the ballot. Cheney and her friend-shooting parents, former Vice President Dick Cheney, have endorsed Harris.  ,
The phrase” It Only Hurts Because It’s Home”
Accessing the mud-covered and flooded streets in western North Carolina has been a challenge, according to Parkhurst and others over the past year. The hill lanes offer their share of problems on a good time, they acknowledge. However, volunteers from Wisconsin firefighters, Indiana civilian crisis response teams, and multi-state church groups have made their way into the devastated area.  ,
Edward Graham, chief operating officer of Samaritan’s Purse, told WRAL in Raleigh that the nondenominational evangelical Christian relief organization has been flying in basic supplies — food, water, medial equipment— via helicopter. It’s set up a tier 1 hospital, brought oxygen tanks, and provided assistance to seniors stranded in nursing and retirement facilities. Graham said this relief mission especially hits home, Samaritan’s Purse is based in Boone, N. C.  ,
” This one’s hard. We’ve got a lot of staff that lost homes, but we’re responding to our own staff and also getting out there with our volunteers, “he told the news outlet”. We sent hundreds of people to Boone to begin serving today, as well as Asheville, and it hurts just because we are there.
Graham praised the tremendous assistance of the U.S. Army National Guard. Governors in a dozen states have activated Guard units and a number of soldiers to assist. Biden on Wednesday, several days into the chaos, directed the Department of Defense to send 1, 000 active duty soldiers to disaster areas.  ,
What did n’t help, sources assert, was Biden’s” photo-op” tour of the damage, a trip that potentially complicated relief efforts. His visit to the Carolinas Wednesday did involve flight restrictions near the Greenville-Spartanburg and Asheville airports from 12: 30 p. m. to 3: 15 p. m. local time, the Raleigh News&, Observer reported.
” There were also travel restrictions close to Raleigh. However, the restrictions allowed for Helene relief exceptions if coordinated before departure,” the publication reported. It is unclear whether all of the rescue and response pilots understood that message.  ,
I’ve made sure my travel does n’t interfere with the ongoing response, he wrote earlier on X.  ,
The politicians are supposed to be good for us. They do n’t,” Parkhurst said”. Joe Biden holding up the air space, I think that was really shitty. ”  ,
The White House certainly is promoting the Biden-Harris” Life-Saving Response Efforts, “even if those efforts were long delayed or have yet to reach communities in need.  ,
President Biden and Vice President Harris are still actively urging the federal government to respond to the effects of Hurricane Helene. The White House praised the Administration’s commitment to ensuring that people who were displaced by the storm have prompt access to Federal resources so they can both purchase necessary goods and begin their recovery and rebuilding journeys, according to a press release.  ,
You Can Always Find Good, says the quote.
Some people in the area have different opinions about the federal government’s recent relief efforts.  ,
Susan Gurnee, a local artist and owner of Pine Hall and Chestnut Hall in Hot Springs, claimed that the community has come together in the wake of the natural disaster and that recovery efforts are being led by a large number of volunteers.  ,
Not to disparage government or any other town or organization, but there are very loyal groups here who adore Hot Springs. So many people have been here for generations,” she told me in a phone interview Thursday afternoon.  ,
The numerous private volunteers who have been the “hands and feet of Jesus” have blessed her mother and other Madison County residents who are working around the clock to clean up the mess Helene has left, according to Parkhurst.
” You can look for good and you can always find good,” she said”. These Americans are assisting. It’s the citizens, that’s whose helping.”
The Federalist’s senior elections correspondent, Matt Kittle, is. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.