There’s a bad policy idea out there that blames FEMA for Hurricane Helene and adds that we should get rid of FEMA and replace it with state-run organizations. Now that would be a real disaster. Here’s why.
Before the storm had even left the Southeast, the online traffickers of falsehoods were attacking FEMA. I’ve heard so many versions, but these included wild claims that the Democrats were trying to win the election…by attacking Georgia and North Carolina.
That’s right, Kamala Harris would win the election when Savannah, Augusta, and Asheville (and Atlanta, via rains) would be hit hard with a Democrat in the White House. I can’t believe anyone fell for that one. But that’s the world we live in. FEMA had to set up a whole disinformation page just to counter the propaganda. But they just can’t compete with what social media says.
The next Internet rumor was that FEMA did it to get cheap real estate. To suspend disbelief, you’d have to believe that Democrats control the weather. It’s just a modern update of the old Soviet and Fidel Castro propaganda that the CIA caused hurricanes to hit Cuba. I’m surprised there wasn’t an anti-Semitic trope thrown in there. But there was an election to win, by making FEMA look bad.
But the damage was done now that the fact-checking guardrails are down. In multiple cases, FEMA workers were targeted by armed gangs, in some cases with assault weapons, hopped up on these conspiracy theories. The storm was bad enough, and in tough terrain to work with, without having a bullseye on your back.
The House Speaker even blamed FEMA. According to The Hill “Johnson said the federal government had advance notice of the hurricane and should have been better equipped to respond. They had more than a week’s notice of this, and yet we still have people who have not been served and even rescued.” Do the facts support that we knew where Helene would go?
Mike Johnson forgot that the projected path for the hurricane was to go over my house, on the Alabama, Georgia border after the Panhandle, instead of all the way to East Georgia, then swing around and hit Asheville in Western North Carolina. He probably knows this. It’s more politics.
North Carolina GOP Senator Thom Tillis reported that he was impressed with the federal response, noting North Carolina’s impact was not expected to be as severe as it was. “For anybody who thinks that any level of government, anybody here, could have been prepared precisely for what we’re dealing with here, clearly are clueless,” Tillis said. “But right now, I’m out here to say that we’re doing a good job.”
When President Biden requested more money from Congress, then The Hill reported “Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Sunday said passing additional hurricane aid for states impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton “can wait” until Congress is back in session after the election.” It was more important to campaign than to help the people of Georgia and North Carolina, or maybe make the sitting president look bad, take your pick.
Now we’re hearing that folks in Washington want to replace FEMA with state-level agencies. That would be a bigger disaster. We stand stronger, and financially have more resources at our disposal, with 50 states than having one state, having its infrastructure slammed, having to go it alone to pay for the recovery. Let your representatives and senators know, or else be prepared to face natural disasters alone.
The federal government has also sought to dispel rumors about the lack of federal funding available to residents affected by the national disaster.
FEMA has set up a designated “rumor response page” to fight misinformation and inform residents of available funding.
