FEMA FAILURES
FEMA's failures during Hurricane Helene reveal we need less bureaucracy, not more.
In May 2024, FEMA released its April 30th 2024 Disaster Relief Fund: Monthly Report. On September 26th, tropical storm Hurricane Helene made landfall in Perry, Florida. Helene swept through North Carolina and Tennessee, causing river crests and mudslides. Hundreds of Americans died. Pigeon River at Newport, Tennessee crested nearly thirty feet. Tennesseans and North Carolinians found themselves without electricity, food, or water for weeks. Decimated roads required mule teams to traverse. Civilian volunteers reached devastated areas before bureaucrats and the National Guard. Even now, National Weather Service data is “unavailable from some of the cities most affected”. When we look at FEMA’s monthly report, it is clear why FEMA failed before, during and after Hurricane Helene, and continues to fail.
Every FEMA monthly report includes millions of dollars of allocations to USAID. So before Americans are even addressed, FEMA devotes budget line items to “international aid”. On October 1st 2024, with thousands of North Carolinians and Tennesseans without power, USAID announced “$1.5 million to support disaster preparedness for the Pacific Islands”. The arrogant tone-deafness is shocking.
Interestingly, the April 30th 2024 FEMA report provides a line item for “TN Floods”. So someone at FEMA must’ve known flooding in Tennessee would be a problem this year. Yet, the allocated budget for such a natural disaster was $0. More research appears to have been done on “PR Earthquakes” in the report, and Puerto Rico isn’t even a state.
Many Americans knew the federal government would fail its people. The Cajun Navy, a group of civilian boaters and volunteers, developed during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The Cajun Navy has gone on to assist during more than twenty-eight natural disasters, including Hurricane Helene.
Groups such as the Cajun Navy, the A.P. Hill Foundation, or the many other civilian organizations helping during Hurricane Helene are necessitated by FEMA’s utter refusal to distribute taxpayer money back to taxpayers. While Puerto Rican earthquakes receive over $1 billion in FEMA funds, Californian wildfire victims receive $627 million. Californians cannot “legally avoid” the 37% federal tax rate, but Puerto Ricans can. The Hawaiian Lahania wildfire, the largest natural disaster in Hawaiian history which killed hundreds, also didn’t warrant $1 billion from FEMA like Puerto Rico does. FEMA isn’t robbing Peter to pay Paul. They’re robbing Peter AND Paul.
According to FEMA itself, its COVID-19 funding is over:
The COVID-19 incident period ended on May 11, 2023. FEMA will continue to provide funeral assistance until Sept. 30, 2025, to those who have lost loved ones due to this pandemic.
So why is FEMA spending $116 billion on COVID-19 in April 2024?
According to the WHO, 1.2 million Americans died of COVID this year. But this directly contradicts USAFacts which states 1.1 million Americans died from COVID since 2020. So we have to make assumptions because these agencies can’t keep their lies straight.
Using the WHO estimate, if FEMA paid for every COVID positive American’s funeral in 2024, which is what FEMA COVID-19 funds are designated for, that amounts to over $96,600 per funeral. On average, funerals cost at most $12,000 in the United States. So where is all the extra money going? Not to taxpayer victims of Hurricane Helene, that’s for sure.