The Biden Administration Response to Helene Has Been Good

If Donald Trump were president, this would not be the case.

by Ryan Cooper October 7, 2024

One of the most reliable patterns in American governance over the last 30 years is the cycle of federal disaster response. When a Democrat is in the White House, they build up competence at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and elsewhere, and rescue and cleanup operations after hurricanes, floods, and other disasters are generally pretty good.

But when a Republican takes their place, they destroy all that hard-won state capacity through negligence, incompetence, and corruption. Disaster response is invariably bungled, and many die unnecessarily. Then when a Democrat returns, they have to pick up the pieces.

We are seeing precisely this pattern play out right now with the response to Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. Contrary to the bellowing on right-wing media (and from some left-wing quarters) that Biden has “abandoned” the state—leading an exasperated FEMA to have to publish a web page debunking crack-brained rumors circulating on social media, above all Twitter—the Biden administration has mounted a large and aggressive rescue effort that is going reasonably well.

Biden issued an immediate emergency declaration, coordinated a whole-of-government response that is ongoing, and has been in close contact with the governors of both North Carolina and Georgia. Five thousand federal workers are on the ground, and as of October 3 FEMA had shipped in 9.3 million meals, over 11.2 million liters of water, 160 generators, and 260,000 tarps. Thousands of other work crews from utilities, local governments, and other groups are frantically clearing debris, fixing roads, and repairing power lines, in rather dangerous, mountainous territory. Most power has been restored, and the remainder is predicted to be hooked back up within a few days. A North Carolina National Guard effort has been supplemented with 1,000 federal troops to fly in supplies to the most cut-off areas, which as of October 2 had delivered over 100,000 pounds of supplies. FEMA relief payments for breastfeeding mothers, home repairs, and other problems are starting to flow.
https://prospect.org/environment/2024-10-07-biden-administration-response-hurricane-helene/

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