OPINION:
Hurricane Helene’s aftermath showcases America at its best — and its worst. The storm landed near Perry, Florida, on Sept. 27, carrying torrential downpours and destruction across southwestern Georgia, western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia.
Those who didn’t get out in time found themselves cut off from access to power, water and communication with the outside world. Several communities were inaccessible after roads and major interstate highways were washed out.
Volunteer organizations and churches wasted no time establishing a makeshift system to distribute critical supplies to locations unreachable by car. Private pilots used their own planes to ferry food, water and other essentials, while helicopters mounted operations to bring people stranded without food and water to safety.
For some reason, this made some local and federal functionaries unhappy. In Lake Lure, North Carolina, a helicopter pilot was dropping off a woman he had rescued when, according to Queen City News, the Federal Aviation Administration blocked further missions by placing flight restrictions over the area.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg insisted the airspace wasn’t being closed to private relief efforts, but billionaire Elon Musk says his effort to dispatch helicopters to restore communications with satellite internet receivers was thwarted.
“SpaceX engineers are trying to deliver Starlink terminals and supplies to devastated areas in North Carolina right now and FEMA is both failing to help AND won’t let others help,” he wrote on X.
Whistleblowers also told Rep. Matt Gaetz that U.S. military assets sat idle in the critical early days after the storm passed while awaiting orders from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Florida Republican on Friday wrote Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding an explanation.
The lack of direction starts at the top. President Biden didn’t visit the affected areas until Oct. 2, saying he was “in command” by telephone while on vacation in Delaware, and that was good enough. Vice President Kamala Harris was too busy campaigning to visit until Saturday.
It also wasn’t that important to FEMA, which has shifted focus to catering to the needs of noncitizens. Mr. Mayorkas said last week that “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season” in terms of disaster relief.
While the agency’s funding for “migrant services” is technically separate from disaster relief, the $685 million spent recently resettling illegal aliens in political battleground states would have done more good had it been reallocated to the disaster relief fund.
FEMA management is also obsessed with promoting a diversity, equity and inclusion agenda that prioritizes assistance “for vulnerable populations to include those with access and functional needs or those who have a primary language other than English.”
This is how the administration wants it. The White House cares more about nations other than our own.
“The people of Lebanon are facing an increasingly dire humanitarian situation,” Ms. Harris wrote on X on Saturday. “I am concerned about the security and well-being of civilians suffering in Lebanon and will continue working to help meet the needs of all civilians there.”
Bureaucratic incompetence is nothing new, and Americans will never fail to step up to help one another in a crisis. But a government that costs $6.5 trillion a year ought to provide better service to the people who pay the bills.
With another big storm brewing in the Gulf of Mexico this week, it’s time to reset priorities.
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