Swannan, NC – Emily Russell remembers feeling hopeful after getting an appointment Federal Emergency Management Agency Not shortly Helene hurricane riped at home Swannan, North Carolina.
But after a few help requests, but they were waiting, Russell says agency At the end of September his family “has no support”. In a world where we are attributed to a world, the most harmful storms in the history of State finds himself about the criterion of President Donald Trump “Remove” FEMA.
That is the common feeling in the mountains of the Western Carolina mountains, in which there can be patient who lives in a trailer with limited supply. Russell, like many others, did not Flood insuranceHe suffered stress when he prepared his son’s birth, but then the volunteers rose to rebuild home. It is back now, his little baby can cause his arms on his front porch.
Stopgap relief effort is aggravated by the frustration while it should be long-term support. The FEMA wants to be the first line to finance temporary housing and repair while insurance is the highest part of the invoice. The residents of the posts listening at the beginning do not have politicians, and then Joe Biden President, who Turned on the affected areaThey ordered residents who would have everything they need.
As long as the longer, the reality of long-term recovery has been complex.
Russell and many others, Trump said to eliminate the senseless FEMA deletion. To some experts and officials, however, it can cause more problems than fixed.
Trump took the fall of the office on January 20, the fall of California firefighters and respondenced the fall of the Hurricane of the North Carolina and managed to manage the response of natural disasters. As a candidate, he had defend In the southern states of the Fe, Helene hit him. This critique almost as soon as the wind blowed No stopped.
Recently, FEMA Trump advisor Elon Musk Payments return payments New York City Hotel costs for migrants. Four Fema workers They were fired, to avoid leadership accused of transactions through a program that helps to take care of the costs of migration through years.
The North Carolina government calculated that Helen had caused damage to $ 59.6 million. Fema has contributed almost $ 380 million to state and local governments through public support, as well as about $ 372 million directly to North Carolinians, according to the Agency. Femma responsibilities Among other things, live financial support and recovery tasks to recover and rebuild the roads.
Russell was confused when he was denied in his FEMA application, especially after an inspector said the house was complete loss. Floodwater hurriedly moved away by his house and saw the heavy mud inside, bending the boards and render most of the things that can be diverted. He thought the house he would be in your mind.
Russell called the FEMA and talked to representatives about the request denied in person. He told him he told him for some personal items, who did not have.
“Waiting or will not be accepted, it’s just a destructive feeling,” Russell said. “I mean, you feel lost.”
In Buncombe County, where Russell lives, around 70% of the homeowners who registered Feman received support levels, according to the Agency data. 91% of those admitted received approximately $ 10,000, and around 3.6% would get more than $ 25,000 and maximum payment of $ 40,000.
Danny Bailey, a retirement of the 61-year-old Buncombe County said that almost everything was lost from the floods, on his sister’s house and a wide barn on his sister and a barn. His family went to property in 1968.
Bailey has already given his money a little need to make such propane during the winter. He lives in a given trailer in his property, the expansion lokoda, and said that the female had to do more. “
“If so, he should leave with them,” Bailey said Trump, and North Carolin won him Victory in November.
Bailey got into matters he got money. A few days after Helen’s, a FEMA inspector said he reached his ownership and said to go to the network of disasters, but Bailey did not have a trusted computer or cell service. Almost 100 kilometers traveled to the OK, Bailey said, and then had problems cleaning the response of the female response in the state of his request. In the end, he received his money.
“Their attitude, you know, that happened to you, but it’s up to you. And I didn’t affect it,” he said with a laugh.
Complaints related to the FMA application process are common, to ensure the eligibility of applicants, saying, Professor of Miyuki Hino, Urban and Regional Planning at the North Carolina University of Chapel Hill. People also believe that FEA needs to give more support when he needs his mission immediately, such a shelter, Hino said.
The role of the federal government has always been in the natural response of disaster, but Hino said the agency’s increase policy could be attributed to the frequency of expensive disasters caused by climate change. Underable FEMA may cause issues when disasters are extended to the lines of the State or the inhabitants do not require experts on disasters.
Overall, if you delete the FEMA, it would slow down the recovery process of future disasters, he said.
Fema’s potential eradication Dalton George, Mayor Pro Tempore of Boone, Helen destroyed the mountain town of Watauga County. Despite understandable frustrations, he said the agency went quickly. It has helped money for home restores, as well as maintaining various families in the hotels in its transitional refuge program, he said.
“People think they are more anti-fema than able to solve some of these,” George said.
Responsibilities would be partially changed to local governments, and George said that villages like Boone do not have resources for this. They should pause more than private organizations, George said, and they already have abuse.
Vickie Revis is based on private entities such as churches to supply almost everything, including the trailer that remains in the Swannan river with his husband. The eight-year-old house was completely sweating in the river – something that connected with beauty and peace, but now it connects “panic”.
“It’s like a friend you’ve got into and stolen you,” Revis said.
The restoration process, however, will largely finance the female, as he said that Revis received more than $ 40,000. The agency said he didn’t have a problem with how he managed his situation.
Instead, Revis still spoke: around the grief that he still lives: pets lost; significant missing goods; Plans to take further family members who don’t happen to take home expansion plans. He finally said he left his trailer rarely because he could not face destruction.
Now, it is a reconstruction that continues to review. How long does this last?
“However, it’s a long time,” he said.
___ Journalists of the associated press data helped Larry Fenn in this New York report.
