by Jeff Childers
When folks begin to realize the electoral implications, Hurricane Helene will become an even bigger disaster. But more on that in a moment. After facing fully justified, concentrated criticism this weekend for under-reporting Hurricane Helene’s aftermath, corporate media has properly repositioned the astonishing story back at the top of the fold. One of yesterday’s many hurricane stories appeared in CNN under the headline, “‘We just don’t really know what to do’: Helene flooding strands hundreds of North Carolina residents.”
It’s not clear how CNN counted; the actual numbers of the ‘stranded’ must be in the thousands or tens of thousands. Maybe it’s the new math or DEI or something. Either way, unthinkable numbers of Americans are literally stranded in elevated pockets scattered across mountainous Western North Carolina. Many of the region’s small towns are accessed by only two or three roads, most of which feature any number of bridges located on the sides of mountains, inconveniently positioned for repair crews.
There’s no official tally of road losses. But in the aftermath of the storm, all roads in Western North Carolina were closed. Whatever the number of substantially damaged roads, many roads have been mangled beyond easy repair, and many bridges were washed away in floods and mudslides. Those tiny mountaintop towns unlucky enough to lose both their access roads have been captured by nature and are completely cut off: no power, no communications with the outside world, no water, no meds, and no easy way to get in or out.
They can’t even tell us they’re in trouble.
North Carolina’s state government is frantically working its way through the list of small mountain towns and sending rescuers to check on them. At this point, the only options for desperately needed resupply are either helicopter airdrop or a combination of adventurous hiking and rappelling.
Four days ago, these stranded folks were sitting on the couch, in the air conditioning, surfing the Internet just like you and I are doing right now.
Now, Meredith Keisler, a school nurse, informed CNN she was “collecting wood because we have to make fire, to cook food.” Meredith isn’t even in one of the trapped towns, just one where a 25-minute trip to the next town now takes 2.5 hours.
The official death toll is up to 90 and will almost certainly see triple digits. That number is miraculously low considering the extent of property damage. It could have been so much worse. For comparison, 2022’s Hurricane Ian extinguished 150 Floridians.
Helene’s cleanup has barely begun; in many places, they are still scrambling to conclude the search and rescue phase. As of this morning, over two million people remain without power across six states. While Western Carolina was the most affected, other states also have tragic tales to tell.
Just a few miles from where I live in North Central Florida, the scenic fishing village of Steinhatchee —where several outdoor-minded neighbors had vacation homes— has been completely erased. There’s now a giant pile of construction debris where a town once stood. (Fortunately, all the Steinhatcheeans evacuated.)
Yesterday, Accuweather forecasted Helene’s recovery costs at $110 billion, which, if correct, would make the storm one of the most expensive in U.S. history. In other words, estimates already place this storm alongside Florida’s Hurricane Ian, New Orleans’ Hurricane Katrina, and Texas’ Hurricane Harvey. In light of the widespread infrastructure damage we can already see, Accuweather’s estimate is laughably low. It could be multiples of that figure.
But, using Accuweather’s conservative $110 billion estimate, we could restore every single citizen whose home was destroyed or damaged by Hurricane Helene, and rebuild every single washed-out small business — for less than the cost of the next Ukraine weapons package.
Congress has not even tried to reallocate any Ukraine Aid to Helene Recovery.
On a hunch, I searcheed North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper’s Twitter account. While he’s been very busy tweeting and re-tweeting hurricane news, the Governor has not mentioned FEMA, not a single time. It’s not Cooper, since the search of his social media returned many results thanking FEMA in previous disasters. The same was true for Governor DeSantis.
Where’s FEMA? Neither Biden nor Harris have visited the disaster area.
Not everyone in government is waiting around for the feds to do something. In a terrifically encouraging story only covered by local media, and assiduously ignored by corporate media, Tallahassee’s CBS-12 News ran an article yesterday headlined, “Operation Blue Ridge: Florida’s multi-state mission to assist in hurricane aftermath.”
Starting yesterday, Florida —itself reeling in Helene’s aftermath— has begun sending SAR (search and rescue) teams, helicopters, food, water, emergency management planners and personnel, StarLink connectors, generators, and a long list of additional supplies and help to North Carolina and Tennessee in a charitable sister-state rescue operation Governor DeSantis labeled “Operation Blue Ridge.”
There can no longer be any doubt: Florida is the hurricane Boss. And God Bless Governor DeSantis. He will make an amazing President one day, hopefully soon.
And the Screwballs are blaming this on Global Warming/Climate Change just like they always do
Kamala and Robin Ware/Robert L. Peters/JRB Ware/Pedo Peter/idiot Biden have been embarrassed into putting their campaign or personal time off aside to at least pretend to care about this disaster.