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The New York Post published this headline Saturday: "FEMA abandons devastated NC town residents because it can’t drive around ‘Road Closed’ sign: ‘Nobody’s been bringing in supplies except civilians’
This is against the backdrop of President Biden's comments last week after he visited the ravished area regarding the people's needs.
It should give America a clear picture of what a dysfunctional government looks like.
Be informed, not misled.
The New York Post reports, "Residents of a tiny North Carolina town that was almost totally destroyed by Hurricane Helene have been fending for themselves after FEMA told them that a 'Road Closed' sign is an insurmountable obstacle for the agency to navigate."
“FEMA called me and told me they wanted to inspect my house, then called me back to say they couldn’t drive around the ‘Road Closed’ sign. They weren’t allowed,” local Chelsea Atkins, 38, told The Post.
The Broad River, which segments the tiny North Carolina town, was widened by Hurricane Helene to nearly 10 times its original size.
“You can drive it by car for sure, it’s not that bad, you just have to drive around the ‘Road Closed’ sign. I explained that to them. They said they couldn’t,” Atkins said, recounting her maddening exchange with the embattled federal agency.
Left to fend for themselves, Bat Cave residents banded together — opening the roads and starting the arduous work of cleanup and recovery. Residents told The Post that they don’t need FEMA now — and at this point, they don’t even want the disaster relief agency to come.
The intermittent whir of military Chinook helicopters buzzing over the town serves as a reminder that people in the devastated west of the state are getting help — just not in Bat Cave.
Here, apple orchard workers armed with chainsaws worked with a local grading contractor to clear the roads well before the Department of Transportation arrived to help, although they were grateful for the assist when it finally showed up.
The president visits the flood zone.
President Biden appeared confused Thursday evening when asked what he thought states impacted by Hurricane Helene needed after he spent the day touring parts of Florida and Georgia battered by the Category 4 storm.
"What do the states in the storm zone need after what you saw today?" a reporter asked him.
Biden paused momentarily before responding.
"Oh, in the storm zone," he said.
"Yes, sir," the reporter replied.
"I'm wondering what storm you're talking about," Biden continued. "They're getting everything they need and they're happy across the board."
“What do the states in the storm zone need — after what you saw today?”
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 4, 2024
BIDEN: “Oh, storm zone? I didn’t know which storm you’re talking about…”
😳 pic.twitter.com/Yzu74Y9Qkr
An uninformed person would say, "Well, that was a little town in a large area that was impacted, and this incident is more of an exception than the rule."
You can read on in the New York Post story. Bat Cave, North Carolina, is not an exception. There are many other similar situations across the storm-affected areas.
JD Vance likens the government's response to the "DMV at industrial scale."
While defending the Trump campaign’s complaints about the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sending a “bucket of money” to help illegal immigrants released into the US, Vance accused the administration of wasting resources.
“The Biden-Harris administration has turned FEMA effectively into an agency that helps to resettle and helps to deal with illegal immigration. That is just fundamentally going to distract focus from their core job of helping American citizens in their time of need,” Vance told “Fox & Friends.”
“I think the fundamental mistake that Kamala Harris’ administration has made here … is that from the get-go, you should have imposed military-style command and control.”
Since the fall of 2022, FEMA has spent more than $1.4 billion to tackle the migrant crisis, including $780 million from the FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter Program and $640.9 million from the Shelter and Services Program.
I've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating. In the wake of this devastation, with another hurricane building in the Gulf, the Harris Biden Administration has not only broken the bank---telling victims of the storm the government is out of money after spending billions on illegal migrants, she offered them a check for $750.
Allies of former President Donald Trump, including his daughter-in-law and Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump, have argued that FEMA should have tapped into the tranche of funds used on the border to assist the disaster zones as well.
Vance insisted yesterday that there needs to be much better coordination of federal resources.
“You’ve got eight different bureaucratic organizations, and you’ve got a lot of different bureaucratic fiefdoms that sometimes delay the provision of necessary resources,” he explained.
“You need to empower a military commander on the ground to get helicopters to where they need to go, to get supplies to where they need to go, to cut through some of the FAA bureaucracy,” Vance added. “The problem here, I really believe, is just — it’s like the DMV at industrial scale.”
“It is incompetence of the highest order,” Vance insisted. “What Donald Trump would do, if he was president, is impose real leadership, force the bureaucracy to be responsive, not at a bureaucratic pace, but at a business pace to the needs of American citizens.”
Takeaway
Forecasters warned yesterday that Florida’s west coast is facing the worst hurricane threat in over 100 years as Hurricane Milton grew into a massive Category 5 storm.
More than 15 million Floridians are under threat from Milton, which has winds up to 160 mph, as the storm takes aim at Tampa and St. Petersburg — threatening 8 to 12 feet of deadly storm surge.
America desperately needs real leadership.
Some thoughts on leadership:
- “Ninety-nine percent of failures come from people who make excuses.” ― George Washington
- “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” ― Abraham Lincoln
- “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.”― Ronald Reagan
- “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, then you are a leader.” ― John Quincy Adams
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.