The Devastation in North Carolina
And the grotesqueness of the Trumpian response.
I have lots of thoughts.
First and foremost, my heart goes out to the communities in western North Carolina that have been devasted by Helene. Indeed, to all who have been affected by the storm from Florida onward. I am focusing here on North Carolina given the understandable national focus and the ongoing nature of the crisis. Additionally, I feel a personal connection to the region, having spent quite a lot of time there with my family over the last decade or so. My wife and I have strolled through Asheville’s arts districts, which is now underwater, and stopped for coffee in Chimney Rock, NC (at a coffee shop that likely no longer exists).
My personal connection is not all that relevant, save to note that it does not surprise me that it is currently so very difficult to get relief to these communities, as they are often served by one road in and out and those roads are very frequently built along rivers and creeks. And even when roads and bridges are functional, the debris that has to be cleared has got to be a nightmare. These are heavily wooded areas and the number of down trees has got to be creating major difficulties. The logistical challenges in getting aid are enormous.
Here is some news from the area:
- Via CNN: Desperation grows to find unaccounted for in wake of Helene.
- From the AP: Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene’s death toll tops 130.
- Via Reuters: Rescuers scour North Carolina mountains for survivors cut off by Hurricane Helene.
- Via The Atlantic: North Carolina Was Set Up for Disaster.
- Via the Charlotte Observer: Western North Carolina communities hope for ‘some sort of lifeline’ after Helene damage
- I would also recommend today’s The Daily: Hurricane Helene’s 600 Miles of Destruction.
Second, let me note that I do not have enough information to assess whether the relief effort is going well or poorly–and nor is it likely that anyone reading this does, either. I, personally, am at the stage I always am at this point in such a disaster (living where I do, a few hours from the Gulf Coast, I am used to paying attention to these types of events) waiting to get beyond speculation and hoping that state, federal, and non-governmental actors can help those in need both in the short term, but also in the longer term.
Anyone who thinks they know exactly how well (or not) this is going right now (I am writing this just after noon central time on Tuesday, October 1st) is almost certainly wrong. And the more certain they are, the more wrong they likely are.
Third, the first two points sum up to me noting that people who are trying to score political points at this exact moment are grotesque hacks at best.
To wit, via the AP: Trump makes false claims about federal response as he campaigns in area ravaged by Hurricane Helene.
But, wait, I hear some say, what about Katrina? Bush got criticized over Katrina! Yes, he did, and deservedly so. Maybe similar criticisms will be warranted with Helene, but there is no evidence or reason yet to be doing so, save hackish desires to balance decades-old partisan scales. The Biden administration at least has a FEMA Director with emergency management experience, unlike Mike “Heckuva Job, Brownie” Brown who was an attorney who worked as Judges and Stewards Commissioner for the International Arabian Horse Association prior to joining the Bush administration.
Let’s also remember that Brown did so poor a job that he was relieved of his duties by the Bush administration about a week and a half into his “management” of post-Katrina relief and resigned not long thereafter. While I am sure there are going to be foul-ups and failures as this complex situation unfolds, let’s not try to play Katrina comparisons until we have some comparable outcomes to talk about.
Fourth, it is at times like this that it is clear how very wrong Reagan was when he said “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.'”
And, further, that those who seek to dismantle the federal government are simply wrong to do so, as I know full well that if a disaster of this magnitude hit my community, I would be hoping very much for the federal government to show up, as the state of Alabama lacks the resources necessary to help in all the ways that would be needed.
As such, let me note the following from Charles P. Pierce writing in Esquire:
Last week, as Helene was winding up in the Gulf of Mexico, strengthening almost by the minute, the House of Representatives voted on a spending package that would have prevented a government shutdown. Eighty-two Republicans voted to shut down the government as a catastrophic storm prepared to devastate a quarter of the country. Let’s look at the box score.
The no votes included eleven members of the House from Florida, including thoroughgoing blowhard Rep. Byron Donald; three from Tennessee; and all five of the Republican members from South Carolina. North Carolina’s delegation remarkably showed good sense; only Rep. Dan Bishop voted against the spending package.
Project 2025, the conservative wish list that all good Republicans have never heard of, proposes radical changes in how the Federal Emergency Management Agency does its business, most of which seem to be oriented toward having state and local governments foot most of the bill for natural disasters and raising the criteria for FEMA involvement. This, of course, is at the same time that Project 2025 is crippling NOAA, the National Weather Service, and the National Hurricane Center.
There are reasons to have serious concerns about these basic capacities (which need to be augmented given the climate situation, not gutted) should Trump win in November.
My fifth thought is a side-note. I have seen several folks on Twitter (yes, I know) making claims that Helene was the result of weather control by the Biden administration to devastate Republican areas. For example:
I realize that there are plenty of kooks out there, but he isn’t the only one. It is an interesting mindset that will allow one to believe in a “Democrat weather weapon” and yet discount the obvious effects of climate change on these events.
It truly boggles the mind.
(I was unaware of HAARP until the last couple of days, but apparently it has long been the focus of the conspiracy-minded. See, for example, this piece from 2017).
The partisan response should surprise no one. It’s been a long time since the GQP has shown any serious interest in making government work more effectively.
Regarding basic information and the state, the GOP seems to be at the point where if a bridge collapsed they would be arguing for the right to tell drivers the bridge was still there. And not only that–there would be a Deep State conspiracy to suppress dissenting views if the government tried to pressure media outlets into taking down claims that the bridge was still operating.
One of the reasons we have states is to enforce utilitarian standards. The GOP finds these standards problematic, and they’ve turned an entire media ecosystem into a debate society which says that the most valuable act of freedom is to consider the possibility that the stupidest and dumbest bleach-drinking claims are true.
That tweet might be the first thing I audibly laughed at today, so it was good for something! And it supported my daily affirmation that I’m not the stupidest human on this planet.
I saw that tweet earlier…I’m still trying to wrap my head around someone actually believing that Democrats can control the weather. A comment on the WaPo piece by Philip Bump about the potential for voting to be affected by the hurricane sort of hits the nail on the head for me:
My only question is whether the Democrat Weather Control devices are in the same satellites as the Jewish Space Lasers.
The weather control argument makes me think of the map Republicans love to show where all of the counties that voted Republican are red and the ones who vote Democrat are these tiny islands of blue.
I saw a Tweet somewhere going a step further. Not only is the deep state controlling the weather, Global Warming is just a cover story to hide the weather control.
We’re sending hurricane relief to Kentucky FFS. Maybe, just maybe, global warming is real and having visible effects.
This is intentional, Dr.Taylor. The leaders of the state of Alabama [Naturally, I’m referring to the chamber of commerce] do not want to be able to help their citizens. They really don’t lack the resources, they lack the will to apply their resources to achieve a infrastructure that does uplift their citizens.. and have the slack capacity to respond to a natural disaster. Yes, it takes time to invest in infrastructure to do the helping…. but in over 150 years, they’ve had the opportunity and chose not to. The FTE’s hired to execute this infrastructure would all be good-paying jobs and would positively impact every community…. and the leaders said “Nope, we choose poverty along with continuous tax cuts for the 18 families that run Birmingham even though they never invest their money in the state.”
The state of Massachusetts has oodles more services available to citizens. As an example, every single child under the age of 3 in the state has PT/ OT/ speech therapy available for free once examined and approved. The emergency services response to flood/wind damage on the Cape is nearly immediate and basically infinite.
It’s fun that we haven’t heard quotes from Southern leaders similar to their comments about hurricanes Sandy and Ida that hit NYC and other east-coast areas. Funny how when they need that sweet, sweet government cash, they shut their yaps!
Unfortunately, what has been understated is the failure of North Carolina’s state and local officials to warn the people about the danger they were soon to experience. The dams and reservoirs already were full of water with Helene about to hit… What were they thinking? What were they not thinking? While their situations are different, they could learn a lot about how Florida’s state and local officials gear up, warn folks, and respond to such storms.
@Gavin: There is little doubt that there are relatively better-equipped states.
But the core point I was trying to make is that no state is fully capable of handling these events (as the Sandy example illustrates). We need the federal government to step in.
This is not a defense of Alabama, but a point about the very role the federal government plays, and one that is often downplayed by politicians and citizens in places like Alabama until the storm comes through.