Hurricane Helene: Biden, Harris, and the National Media are Missing in Action
“Biden was at his beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, over the weekend, where he received briefings about Helene’s devastation…”
Legal Insurrection reported Sunday on the havoc wreaked by Helene across the southeast Friday and Saturday, particularly the devastation that unfolded in western North Carolina and their neighbors in eastern Tennessee by what remained of the hurricane once she hit those areas.
Some mistakenly believe that once a weather event stops being a hurricane or tropical storm, the cities that are still in the path of what’s left are, for the most part, in the clear.
But that is most certainly not the case, as Helene had been downgraded to a tropical depression before she reached the mountains and foothills of North Carolina. By the time she moved on, rain totals for some areas reached as high as nearly 30″, leaving historic flooding in her wake.
The images and videos, of course, are staggering. Heartbreaking. This is an area where it’s not uncommon to hear about mudslides/landslides simply from having a few hours of rain from a random storm that rolled through, causing temporary road closures. Unlike the NC coast, it’s simply not built to endure that much rain and high winds.
Went to help in the Lake Lure/Chimney Rock area today, and it’s hard to describe – never seen anything like this. Post apocalyptic. It’s so overwhelming you don’t even know how to fathom what recovery looks like, let alone where to start. Going to be a long path to recovery that… pic.twitter.com/HnyxwyQB76
— Tariq Scott Bokhari (@FinTechInnov8r) September 29, 2024
Everyone, here is the link to the Red Cross of Western Carolina’s and Upstate South Carolina
If you can give anything, no matter the amount, please consider. If not, please keep them in your prayers.
They need our help
NC: https://t.co/A9g544bxRu pic.twitter.com/7ns14ISZiu
— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) September 29, 2024
Despite the current weather, #Helene-related dangers are still very much a factor in Western NC.
⚠️ ~300 road incidents remain – including +50 on main roads.
Please refrain from travel for non-emergency purposes.
📸 – US 70 near Silver Creek
📸 – I-40 near Black Mountain pic.twitter.com/k1VCLMOEek— NCDOT (@NCDOT) September 29, 2024
While it is a fact of life that whenever there is a hurricane or tropical storm, there will usually be some flooding along with it, what happened in western North Carolina was unquestionably their Hurricane Katrina. 30 are dead and over 600 are not accounted for in Buncombe County alone. There is catastrophic damage everywhere you turn. Electricity, cellphone service, and wi-fi are out for hundreds of thousands, many of who are stranded in neighborhoods where there is only one way out.
It is a logistical nightmare.
Unless you are a first responder or someone affiliated with the rescue and relief efforts, state officials are urging people NOT to travel to western NC. It is inaccessible due to all the washed-out/flooded roads, collapsed parts of highways, downed trees and power lines, debris from homes and vehicles that floated away, etc.
All roads headed into Asheville, North Carolina remain inaccessible because they were either washed away or remain submerged beneath floodwaters. The only way you can get into town safely is by air. ✈️
The flood damage photos I have seen is absolutely horrifying. This will… pic.twitter.com/wAQCdHQEDS
— Chris Martz (@ChrisMartzWX) September 29, 2024
With all of that in mind, let’s turn to the complaints on social media about national news coverage of the devastation in western NC, and the questions about where Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are:
It's a complete "catastrophe in Asheville, North Carolina."
Biden is at the beach and Kamala is too busy with her San Francisco fundraisers to notice. pic.twitter.com/qqglYOuEkq
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 29, 2024
The entire city of Asheville, North Carolina is under water.
The people are using starlink to let their loved ones know they're alive.
Why isn't the media talking about this?
Where is Biden and Kamala?pic.twitter.com/4fda6Df0KG
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 29, 2024
I feel like the victims of Helene dropped off the radar immediately. This is a Katrina-like situation with people shut off from help and dying on their rooftops. How is this only a local story? https://t.co/ty9PyXByJQ
— Emily Zanotti 🦝 (@emzanotti) September 29, 2024
This is what it took to get the national press to talk about Hurricane Helene. https://t.co/0XNze0IKZb
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) September 30, 2024
And Asheville is 84% white.
— Amy Curtis 🇮🇱 (@RantyAmyCurtis) September 29, 2024
For clarification purposes, the crown jewel city in western NC is Asheville, which is the North Carolina equivalent of Berkeley. Always votes blue and is always… out there.
Being born and raised (and still residing in) North Carolina, I can tell you from my vantage point that there is not a blackout in media coverage as far as local and statewide news outlets. It’s the dominant story and will likely remain that way for some time while we still await word on the missing and the rebuilding.
Plus, even here in Charlotte there was flooding from lakes, dams, etc., issues that persist as of this writing to the extent that Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools will be closed Monday.
So people can grasp why so much flooding is coming down stream, everything in the black outline is the drainage basin for the Catawba River. Every drop of rain that fall in the basin flows into this river and lakes. #Helene #cltwx #ncwx #scwx pic.twitter.com/FGWJDKDaGy
— Brad Panovich (@wxbrad) September 28, 2024
As far as national news outlets go, they’re covering it but much of what I’ve seen has been frustrating, as they’re treating it like it was merely a bad storm and not something that quite literally has changed the topography of a large swath of the western part of this state.
Most of the websites I’ve visited, like CNN and the New York Times, have had it as a “below the fold” story. And unlike Katrina and some other notable hurricanes over the last couple of decades, cable news channels are not saturating the airwaves with live updates.
While some of their spotty coverage no doubt can be attributed to the limited access issues, there’s something to be said about story placement and prioritizing, and both have been poor as far as the national media goes from my perspective.
I know it may be impossible for the nat'l media to get into western NC due to ongoing flooding, collapsed roads, etc, but there's something to be said about story placement & I'm not seeing much prioritizing of this story beyond the NC press. Help get the word out, FCOL. #wncwx
— Sister Toldjah 💙 (@sistertoldjah) September 29, 2024
With that said, I do feel like there would be more of a sense of urgency in national media coverage if we had a Republican governor/president who they would try to blame. Just my .02.
As for Biden and Harris, the POTUS was indeed at the beach this past weekend and Harris indeed was participating in swanky fundraisers out west, the optics of which were horrible and which would have been slammed by the Usual Suspects had our president been a Republican. Their insensitivity absolutely should be called out. Their rules and all.
But beyond that, Biden has pretty much done what he needed to do in an official capacity to pave the way for federal assistance. And both he and Harris have issued statements about the situation:
During a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, Trump accused President Joe Biden of “sleeping” at his beach house in Delaware and dragged Vice President Kamala Harris for holding fundraising events in California over the weekend “when big parts of our country have been devastated by that massive hurricane.”
[…]
Harris has been briefed by Criswell, according to the White House, and Biden has approved disaster declarations for numerous states and major disaster declarations for certain counties that will help provide temporary housing assistance, as well as grants and low-interest loans to help people with home repairs. Both urged the public to take the storm seriously ahead of landfall.
[…]
Biden was at his beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, over the weekend, where he received briefings about Helene’s devastation from Criswell and Homeland Security Adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall, according to the White House pool report. He urged the agencies to speed up the deployment of search and rescue teams into North Carolina, where people are stranded without cell service or electricity.
Biden has reportedly told FEMA officials that he would visit the impacted areas later this week provided it didn’t hinder rescue/relief efforts.
While I stand second to no one in my criticisms of Biden and Harris, in my opinion, I don’t think there’s an effort to deliberately ignore this state. Harris wants to win it, and you can rest assured at some point very soon she’ll be here touring the areas hardest hit for photo ops if nothing else. Quite frankly I wish they’d both stay away but we all know that won’t happen.
Fortunately, the locals are stepping up. The National Guard here and from other states are doing what they can, as are first responders. Utility crews are also set up and in place, with some traveling to get here as we speak.
Meanwhile, please keep my state and neighboring states in your thoughts and prayers, and if you’d like to help, check this comprehensive thread (or click this link):
NC/TN ways to help in this thread.
Please continue to send links to organizations or individuals on the ground. I will add to this thread. https://t.co/HmNjXqLBi1
— Emily Zanotti 🦝 (@emzanotti) September 29, 2024
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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Comments
Not enough black folk, but they are working on it
Expect some section 8 housing and Haitian delivery in the very near future
Asheville is white-n-woke. It might as well be Olympia Wa for all the liberal virtue signaling and walking cardboad zombies.
I’ve been watching the Greeneville situation pretty close. TDOT and others are on it. I’ve been apprehensive about the resiliency of the infrastructure here due to influx. A lot of the utilities etc were designed some time ago and I don’t think they ever imagined growth like they’ve had since the pandemic and the great “relocation”. Last winter they were a light bulb away from rolling blackouts – same as year prior.
With growth- property tax revenue (and rates) are through the roof.
Not sure on Unicoi area to the east. It’s rural.
Commercial/supply chain traffic seems to be a little slow to respond- anything for potable water is off the shelves as of last night. Potable water handling gear is also not available. So rather disappointed Walmart/Sams wasn’t rolling in with truckloads.
If you needed justification to be “prepped” this is it.
Don’t be too hard on Walmart or other stores. Wife works for a major grocery store chain in the transportation department. The state has halted all trucks into the area until the roads can be judged safe to drive on. A fully loaded semi is not a jeep.
Missing versus hiding.
Also the recovery efforts are largely a reflection of how well the local and state gov is set up administratively.
Money for rebuilding is one thing.
Do you have vetted suppliers able to do it?
Do you have design plans and approvals ready to go?
Do you have a procurement and bid process that can move shit along? Do you have a no-bid process in place so you don’t have to screw around for 4 weeks taking bids.
Is that n0 bid contract rigid enough that the supplier isn’t going to milk it out for every dime possible AND is it set up that they get it done fast and correct? Do you have Project Controls/Quantity Surveyor ready to go to ensure all of that in the build process
You can’t stand the latter stuff up fast. You can’t spin that engineering talent up on a dime- that takes preparation.
This is Biden’s Katrina moment.
The true extent of the disaster in the Carolina’s and Eastern Kentucky is just starting to leak out.
Help is on the way
https://www.breitbart.com/weather/2024/09/29/trump-visit-georgia-aftermath-devastation-hurricane-helene/
governments have received $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ over the years to build out infrastructure to combat the natural normal forces of weather
but they are never held accountable on where that money has gone to
and so the party for them continues and the misery for the people continues
big government
big problems
The legacy media attitude seems to be that rural America doesn’t count as much as urban America.
This, this, ten thousand times this.
Subotai Bahadur
Buncombe county voted 60% for Biden/Harris. Asheville gets the nod but there have been reports from smaller areas. Now the Feds are saying… tough… you should have been up to speed on climate change… even to their blue babies. Expendable….
Having lived in the area, I thought that many areas were safe that weren’t. Just stunning.
Wake up and smell the coffee. Biden, Harris, the MSM and the DC elite believe they are the elite, born to rule. The rest of us are nothing but ballast, of no real interest to the Swamp and its minions.
There was the New Orleans Katrina and the Mississippi Katrina.
In Mississippi, if you have a million victims, right away you have a million helpers.
If Harris visits, will she wear her $60,000 necklace?
Will she be serving up word salad? Will she be cackling when she’s asked the question that she obviously cannot answer?
To the extent that this might depress rural vote, might this conceivbly affect the national election? For example, if Trump loses NC?
The Feds aren’t sending aid, but the area hit is the home to Samaritan’s Purse (the aid organization headed by Franklin Graham).
Attitudes will shift, when people realize that big Government is not your Big Brother in a good sense.
People will be shocked to see the Democrats don’t really care for the poor like they claim!
Had a major disaster in my locale a couple of years ago. 97% plus white people here and our Congressional district went 67% for Trump in 2020.
We got the same administrative neglect and silent treatment despite widespread death and destruction. The Leftists and the state run media have always hated people like us. Probably always will.
I feel for our for our fellow Americans down south.
FJB
Well … Hillary put that in stone with her “basket of deplorables” remark.
Why is this devastation and suffering not a national story, fairly asks the woman on Twitter.
The answer is obvious — because the vile, stupid and evil Dhimmi-crat media shills/lapdogs/propagandists/trained seals will not cover a story that is damaging to, and, critical of, the Dhimmi-crat Party apparatchiks.
The problem is not that national media are ignoring the story, it’s that they can’t get in there to report on it. A second problem with the response is that no one thought it would be this bad, it caught everyone by surprise in western NC. Rain was forecast but not like this.
https://convoyofhope.org
https://www.samaritanspurse.org