2w ago

Months after Hurricane Helene, many grow frustrated as they still wait for federal aid

www.pbs.org Months after Hurricane Helene, many grow frustrated as they still wait for federal aid

It’s been more than five months since Hurricane Helene devastated several states across the Southeast. In North Carolina, where Helene killed more than 100 people and caused nearly $60 billion in damage, many of the hardest-hit residents have grown increasingly frustrated with FEMA, a federal agency...

Edit: Based on a lot of the repetitive comments I'm seeing, I would like to clarify two things. One, people don't seem to realize that many of the places hardest hit by Helene, like Asheville and the immediate area, are bastions of liberalism who voted for Harris by a 2 to 1 margin. Two, it is horrifying to jeer for someone losing their home regardless of who they or their neighbors voted for.

41 comments

Your gonna have to keep waiting. Trump don't give a fuck.
- he will throw a couple roll of towel paper to soak up some of the water from the flooding, and hand out trump water bottles.

Weren't they chasing FEMA off with guns and stuff? And after that, didn't they vote to gut FEMA? What did they think was going to happen?
- Hold up, that was one guy who threatened FEMA, and the majority of NC did not vote for Trump. It's despicable to imply we deserve this.
  
  The majority of the voters voted that way, alas you're seiibg the result play out.
  Stay sane !

NC voted for...checks notes...trump
- Yes, but I didn't...

Yeah, that’s not happening. Those people might not even be employed anymore.

lol you are not going to get it now. FEMA will no longer exist. You got what you voted for.

Looks like they got what they voted for?
- Not all of them no, Asheville is very blue

they will be waiting forever.

These comments look like they're pulled from Facebook. I have been getting used to expecting Lemmy to provide a more empathetic and nuanced take on topics.
North Carolina is a purple state. With around five and a half million votes counted, the election was decided by 74,000, well within the margin of voter suppression and disenfranchisement.
Regardless, it takes an absurdly callous disconnectedness to look on a tragedy of that level without empathy.
It shouldn't require looking at vote totals to determine whether people are worthy of being treated with human decency in the wake of catastrophic trauma.
- I mean Trump is cutting FEMA and pretty much every agency that serves the people. So it is pretty much like Leopards eating their faces after they voted exactly for leopards eating their faces.
  I only hope that they will learn from this but we've also had hurricanes the last time Trump was in office and look how that turned out.

Help isn't coming. Musks Government is going to based on ruling not governing. Musk said that empathy in government is a weakness. If he could (and possibly will) cut all social programs he would.

I think you have to buy a new Tesla to get that aid now.

Did Donald Trump voters expect a handout from the federal government? Man, us Americans have to be one of the dumbest groups of people on the planet. So much stupid. I hate it here.

there're gonna have to pry aid out of donald and elon's cold dead hands.

One, people don’t seem to realize that many of the places hardest hit by Helene, like Asheville and the immediate area, are bastions of liberalism who voted for Harris by a 2 to 1 margin
Unless it exclusively hit Buncombe county and avoided the surrounding counties, it did hit a region that actually predominantly voted for this.
it is horrifying to jeer for someone losing their home regardless of who they or their neighbors voted for.
On one hand I agree. On the other, it's much more horrifying that a track record of extorting governors for FEMA aid wasn't an immediate presidential dealbreaker.

In the NC mountains, besides the Asheville area, it's all Trump voters. Most of the mountains are very rural. There are normal people there but also the most "slack jawed yokel" types I've ever seen.
- Boone is left leaning, so are many other little towns throughout WNC. It's not all trump voters. Not that that should matter when it comes to who receives federal aid for disasters.

You get what you voted for.

The last paragraph with the edit. MAGA enjoys tearing into residents of California, they voted to dismantle FEMA and despise Socialism, even though they use it. Zero sympathy.

Thots and prayers. Maybe if they stop making eggs for breakfast they could afford to fix their homes.

Nope lol no handouts for you. You’re murican and conservative so get your asses additional jobs. Get your elderly out there in the fields. 5¢ bjs on your corners. You voted for this, so take it up the ass like you chose.

They are getting what they voted for. It's about time the red states face consequences for their actions

41 comments