Tag Archives: Hurricane Helene

This Is A Really BAD Idea

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Eastern North Carolina gets a lot of its revenue from tourist traffic. It is a place where you can go to the beach, see history, take a ferry ride to relax, or enjoy shopping in one of the multiple small towns or cities. Summer traffic is very different than winter traffic. The free ferry rides are a significant part of the charm of the area.

On Wednesday, The Raleigh News & Observer reported:

The budget proposed by the state Senate this week would end free rides on North Carolina’s coastal ferries, charging tolls to board boats that have been free for decades. The N.C. Department of Transportation collects tolls on three of the seven car ferries on the coast — across the Cape Fear River between Southport and Fort Fisher and over Pamlico Sound between Ocracoke and both Swan Quarter and Cedar Island. It also charges people to ride a seasonal passenger-only ferry between Ocracoke and Hatteras.

But four car ferries remain free, including two river ferries heavily used by commuters and the busiest car ferry, between Ocracoke and Hatteras islands. Senate budget writers want that to end. The revenue those tolls would generate is badly needed by the N.C. Department of Transportation and its Ferry Division, says Sen. Vickie Sawyer, a Republican from Mooresville who co-chairs the Senate appropriations committee for transportation. Rising costs have forced NCDOT to delay projects across the state, Sawyer says, even as it must rebuild roads and bridges in Western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene.

The tolls on these ferries might generate some revenue, but they would also be a hardship for those who use the ferries to commute. They would also increase the education budgets of some towns as some school busses use the ferries to bring children to school. I think they would also have a negative impact on tourism in the area.

We need the representatives and senators from eastern North Carolina to stand strong against this idea. North Carolina has a rainy day fund that can be used to rebuild western North Carolina. There is also money set aside to deal with the damage from previous hurricanes that needs to be sent to the people it was intended for. Putting tolls on the ferries is not the answer and will only lead to higher tolls.

This is a really bad idea that shows up every few years.

Thank God For The Amish

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On Tuesday, Red State posted an article about the ongoing recovery efforts in western North Carolina following Hurricane Helene (in late September). There are still people sleeping in tents, and western North Carolina is cold right now!

The article reports:

The people of Western North Carolina have had a stable Christmas and will definitely have a happier New Year thanks to a number of organizations, from Samaritan’s Purse to United Cajun Navy to individuals like Shawn Hendrix, Chris Hall, and so many others. They have worked (and are still working) to provide food, shelter, and resources to the families affected by September’s Hurricane Helene disaster, and they also brought Christmas to everyone in the region who experienced the devastation of their homes and their lives. 

But the Amish of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, have risen like cream to the top. This is not even their region of the country, but a group of them with “Cabins for Christ” came down in October, created campsites for themselves away from the wreckage so that they would not disrupt the cleanup and assessment, and set themselves to build homes for the people who had lost theirs.

But to no one’s surprise, the resurrection of Western North Carolina will have little to do with the governmental agency that is supposed to be boots on the ground in the midst of disaster: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). They claim, “Our mission is helping people before, during and after disasters. Our core values and goals help us achieve it.” Tragically, despite billions being poured into their coffers, they haven’t achieved much for the citizens of Western North Carolina who had their homes destroyed by Helene. And winter is already here, and more storms are coming.

Twelve homes in 48 hours versus three homes over three months.

The article includes the following:

A spokesperson for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, apologized Wednesday in response to a question from WBTV about why the agency failed to deliver dozens of travel trailers and manufactured homes to North Carolina residents displaced by Hurricane Helene.

Our questions came after a FEMA spokesperson told WBTV the week of Thanksgiving that the agency would deliver a total of 103 temporary travel trailers and manufactured homes to families in North Carolina by the end of that week. At the time, FEMA had delivered 27 homes.

By Wednesday, Dec. 4, FEMA had still only delivered 46 homes — well short of the number of promised temporary homes.

WBTV learned that more than 500 families have been approved for a FEMA travel trailer or manufactured home in the wake of Helene. The agency’s slow deployment of the homes means hundreds of families are weathering the snow and freezing temperatures currently hitting the North Carolina mountains.

This is unacceptable and hopefully will change in the next month.

It’s About Time!

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While the Biden administration has been sending millions of dollars overseas, the residents of western North Carolina who were impacted by Hurricane Helene have been living in tents and freezing. The Asheville Citizen-Times has stated that the rumors that people were not allowed to occupy the tiny  homes built by the Amish are unsubstantiated.

On December 16th, The Asheville Citizen-Times reported:

As temporary housing units from the Federal Emergency Management Agency remain slow to arrive in Western North Carolina following Tropical Storm Helene, a Dec. 10 emergency rule adopted by the North Carolina Building Code Council hopes to offset those delays by expediting the construction process for people, nonprofits and other recovery organizations helping to provide shelter.

Developed by the N.C. Office of State Fire Marshal, the new rule establishes minimum construction requirements for temporary housing, allowing property owners to forgo the permitting and inspection process. Instead, property owners will sign an affidavit acknowledging compliance with the minimum requirements, like foundation stability, releasing state and local government of liability.

“As the Winter deepens and temperatures drop – and as FEMA lags behind its prior projection for installation of temporary housing units – many North Carolinians in the counties devastated by Hurricane Helene are without safe and warm shelter,” State Fire Marshal Brian Taylor said in a Dec. 10 statement. 

The article concludes:

Over 1,500 remain in hotels after Helene as Buncombe Co. mulls FEMA housing ‘group site’

It’s cold in western North Carolina right now. We need to find shelter for everyone quickly.

State Interference With Hurricane Relief

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I live in North Carolina, so I hear a lot of stories from people with friends and relatives out in the western part of the state. The only good news is the number of people who have joined up with groups and gone out there to help. It’s not a good idea to go by yourself, but hooking up with a group and going is a great idea. Samaritan’s Purse and the Cajun Navy are good groups to partner with. However, there have been some state and federal government groups that have been less than helpful.

On Wednesday, Red State reported the following:

As RedState reported on Tuesday, Brian Trascher, Vice President and PIO of the United Cajun Navy, confirmed the Sunday “rotor washing” event at one of their Hurricane Helene relief stations in North Carolina by what he surmised was a UH60 Blackhawk helicopter.

The article notes:

The North Carolina National Guard (NCNG) is aware of an incident involving a NCNG UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during a delivery of generators at the request of a local civilian organization to power their distribution outpost in western North Carolina.

While attempting to land, rotor wash caused items to blow away from the local distribution set up by a group of civilians in the area. The crew immediately identified the situation, aborted the landing for safety reasons, and departed the area.

This incident is currently under investigation and the crew has been grounded until the investigation is complete. The NCNG is working with the identified local civilian organization to assess the level of damage caused by the rotor wash.

…There is much-deserved ire against the federal government and its response—or lack thereof—to the Hurricane Helene tragedy in Western North Carolina. The fact that their own state national guard made this error only adds fuel to the fire of the people’s anger. The NCNG probably knew it would only be a matter of time before the discovery that it was their helicopter involved in the incident, so they got ahead of it in order to distract focus off them. This is CYA at its most disgraceful.

In my phone conversation with him on Monday, I asked United Cajun Navy’s Trascher about his suspicions about who it could be, and he mentioned the state’s Air National Guard. “They would answer to the governor of whatever state they came home to, and their own guard general,” Trascher said.

This may have actually been an innocent oversight, but it only adds fuel to the fire. The victims of Hurricane Helene have had almost as much damage done to them by the government (state and federal) as they did from the hurricane.

Taking Action Where It Is Needed

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On Saturday, The Gateway Pundit reported that Representative Nancy Mace has introduced a bill to terminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Shelter and Services Program (SSP). I don’t want people to be homeless, but we can’t afford to feed and house all of the refugees of the world at the expense of our own citizens.

The article reports:

Mace blasted the program as a colossal misuse of taxpayer dollars that prioritizes illegal immigrants over American disaster victims, and her bill proposes redirecting all unspent SSP funds to aid Americans struggling to recover from natural disasters like Hurricane Helene.

“It’s unacceptable for Americans to grapple with the catastrophic aftermath of Hurricane Helene while the federal government remains fixated on spending hundreds of millions on a program sheltering illegal immigrants instead of helping our own citizens,” said Representative Nancy Mace.

“Kamala Harris and Alejandro Mayorkas have turned FEMA into a migrant resettlement agency. It’s time to end this mess.”

This is a screenshot of part of the article:

On Sunday Hot Air posted an article that includes a video of two Hispanics explaining how they have been staying in a nice hotel since July with all of their needs being met without being required to work. That is not good for them, and that is not good for America. Someone coming here to work is very different from someone coming here simply to live in luxury at other people’s expense.

The article at The Gateway Pundit concludes:

For the second year in a row, FEMA has been forced to implement Immediate Needs Funding, which puts long-term recovery projects on hold due to a severe shortage of Disaster Relief Funds (DRF).

This shortage, however, has been self-inflicted. FEMA’s own spending choices, including over $1 billion used to house and assist illegal immigrants, have drained its resources while Americans suffer in the aftermath of devastating natural disasters.

Despite FEMA’s claims that their hands are tied, the reality is clear: the agency is choosing to divert critical funds away from disaster-stricken Americans to support the Biden administration’s open-border policies.

FEMA’s actions betray their mission and prioritize political agendas over the well-being of American citizens.

As Hurricane Helene victims continue to wait for meaningful aid, Congresswoman Mace’s bill offers a solution that puts Americans first. It’s time for FEMA and the Biden administration to stop the lies and start prioritizing the needs of their own citizens.

I hope this bill gets passed quickly. Unfortunately the hurricane season is not over.

Charity Should Begin At Home

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On Friday, Breitbart posted an article about the humanitarian aid America is sending to Lebanon to help in the ‘crisis’ there.

The article reports:

The United States announced that it would be providing $157 million in humanitarian aid to address the “crisis in Lebanon” and those who have been affected by it.

In a press release on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed that the “nearly $157 million” in humanitarian assistance would go towards addressing “new and existing needs to internally displaced persons and refugee populations” for communities in Lebanon.

“The United States will provide nearly $157 million in new U.S. humanitarian assistance to support populations affected by conflict in Lebanon and the region,” Blinken said in the press release. “This funding will address new and existing needs of internally displaced persons and refugee populations inside Lebanon and the communities that host them. The assistance will also support those fleeing to neighboring Syria.”

The article concludes:

The news that roughly $157 million in humanitarian aid would go towards helping the people affected by the fighting in Lebanon comes as communities in western North Carolina, such as the city of Asheville and the village of Chimney Rock, were affected by heavy rains and flooding from Hurricane Helene. Other communities in eastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, Georgia, and Florida were also affected.

President Joe Biden previously announced that the U.S. would be sending $8 billion in military aid to Ukraine. Days after this announcement, Vice President Kamala Harris announced $750 in assistance for the victims of Hurricane Helene.

“The federal relief and assistance that we have been providing has included FEMA providing $750 for folks who need immediate needs being met, such as food, baby formula, and the like. And you can apply now.”

This represents $50 more than the Biden administration gave to those who were affected by the Maui wildfires.

If you live in an area effected by the hurricane and you vote for Kamala Harris, you are delaying or denying any help you will ever get from the government. Ask the people of Hawaii. I believe that if President Trump is elected, he will do what it takes to restore the areas impacted by the hurricane. I am really not impressed by the response of the Biden/Harris administration.

The Government Relief Efforts For Hurricane Helene Are Not Being Handled Well

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On Saturday, Townhall posted an article about the government relief efforts for the victims of Hurricane Helene. Unfortunately, the government is being more of a hindrance than a help.

The article reports:

Into this hellscape of destroyed cities, overturned cars, and shattered lives have parachuted the Presidential “nominee” of the Democratic Party—the one nobody actually voted for—Kamala Harris. Conservative estimates of the cleanup in Helene’s wake exceed $ 300 billion…but the tone-deaf Harris put on her cheeriest face and announced that victims would be getting reparations from Washington. In an October 2nd speech in Augusta, GA (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/10/02/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-on-response-and-recovery-efforts-following-hurricane-helene-augusta-ga/) Mrs. Time To Turn The Page stunned onlookers with these words:

“…And the federal relief and assistance that we have been providing has included FEMA providing $750 for folks who need immediate needs being met, such as food, baby formula, and the like. And you can apply now.”

Wow! Your home has been leveled, your car is crushed under tons of rubble, your streets are closed, and your cell phone is useless. But it isn’t all bad news: you can “apply” for a $750 gift card from Kamala Harris.

And where’s the Federal Emergency Management Agency? FEMA—according to its inept and impeached head Alejandro Mayorkas, speaking on Air Force One–“…does not have the funds to make it through the hurricane season.”

The article notes:

What rubbish. FEMA—crying crocodile tears about not having enough funds—isn’t mounting any substantial operations in many stricken areas. In fact, FEMA left hundreds of thousands of Helene victims without even cellphone communications until Donald J. Trump stepped in and tapped Elon Musk to provide StarLink™ trucks which are now operating in areas where cell towers collapsed during the hurricane.

This is not to diminish in any way the heroic work of the National Guard, state and local authorities and private citizens who have worked tirelessly in the wake of Helene’s fury to rescue people in their communities. Additionally, we all are blessed that groups like Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse, The Salvation Army and Team Rubicon immediately rolled up their sleeves and mobilized to literally save lives throughout the hurricane’s path. God bless every one of them.

The private sector always does it better! On August 12th, 1986, US President Ronald Reagan said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” He was right.

 

The Often Overlooked Problem With Electric Vehicles

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On Wednesday, Hot Air posted an article about an often overlooked problem with electric vehicles. Lithium batteries are prone to catch fire when exposed to salt water. So if you live on the coast, you need to get very far away from any incoming hurricane. Unfortunately, the problem does not seem to be limited to exposure to salt water.

The article reports:

Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) going boom in the worst places and what to do when that happens.

On Thursday, the 26th of September, on the freeway outside of the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, California, one of “those accidents” happened.

A tractor-trailer carrying large lithium-ion batteries overturned and caught on fire on a highway near the Port of Los Angeles on Thursday, snarling traffic and leading to road closures and the shuttering of several terminals at the port.

The Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement Thursday night that the fire was expected to burn for at least another 24 to 48 hours and that a roughly seven-mile stretch of California State Route 47, from the Vincent Thomas Bridge to Long Beach,would be closed in that period.

The Port of Los Angeles, the busiest port in the Western Hemisphere, said that several terminals would be closed on Friday.

The crash in the San Pedro neighborhood on Thursday morning did not result in any injuries, but fire crews were taking precautions to block hazardous materials from potentially spreading from the batteries, one of which exploded, the department said.

The article notes:

In the meanwhile, Hurricane Helene was making a beeline for the Florida Coast, and FL officials were out with warnings about EVs and saltwater not mixing. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis urged EV owners this week to get their vehicles to higher ground before Hurricane Helene arrived. Although the problem is rare, there have been a number of instances in recent years of electric vehicles igniting after hurricanes.

Keeping electric vehicles out of standing water is the best way to avoid the possibility of a fire.

Tesla offers similar advice about avoiding letting its vehicles become submerged if at all possible, but if that does happen the carmaker suggests towing the vehicle at least 50 feet away from structures or anything combustible until it can be inspected by a mechanic.

The article also notes that the vehicle may ignite well after you thought the danger was over. There is also the issue of what fumes may be released during the fire or the fact that a lithium fire is very difficult to put out. It really is time to re-evaluate the value of the current generation of electric vehicles.

This Is Not Acceptable

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Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina very hard. It will be a long time before the Blue Ridge Parkway and the roads along the Tennessee border are up and running.  It will be a long time before the area recovers economically. There will be a significant death toll by the time the rescue efforts are done. This is a serious blow to our country. So what is the response from the White House?

On Tuesday, The Gateway Pundit reported the following:

According to Grok, the United States has committed approximately $175 billion in aid to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

This figure includes both military and financial aid.

Here’s a brief breakdown from Grok AI:

    • Military Aid: The bulk of the aid has been in the form of military support, which has been crucial for Ukraine’s defense against Russian forces. This includes a wide array of equipment from artillery and ammunition to more advanced systems like anti-aircraft missiles and tanks.
    • Financial Aid: While the exact financial aid amount varies slightly depending on the source, there have been mentions of around $33.3 billion in “budget support” or direct financial aid, although some posts claim a lower figure like $10 billion when considering solely financial support.
    • Contextual Comparison: Critics and supporters alike have noted that this aid, while significant, represents a relatively small percentage of the U.S. annual budget or GDP. For instance, one comparison highlighted that the aid to Ukraine constitutes about 0.25% of the U.S. GDP for the year it was measured.
    • Public Sentiment and Debate: On platforms like X, there’s a mix of support for the aid, citing reasons like maintaining global security and supporting democracy, and criticism, often focusing on domestic spending priorities or the perceived effectiveness of the aid.

How much is the White House willing to give the victims of Hurricane Helene?

On Monday Joe Biden told suffereing Americans in the flood disaster zone, “No,” there won’t be more resources coming… “We’ve given them all we can.”

Joe Biden also snapped at reporters, saying, “I was commanding!” when he was asked why he was away from the White House and DC all weekend amid the catastrophic flooding.

And then later, during a live video feed from the White House, Joe Biden told the American public they need to help the recovery in North Carolina and, “It’s gonna take a hell of a lot of money.”

Meanwhile President Trump and Elon Musk are doing all they can to help restore communications in the area and to bring in relief supplies.