The Patriot Post® · Is FEMA FUBAR?

As Hurricane Milton, now a Cat 4 storm, barrels toward a Florida landfall expected late Wednesday, it’s hard to know where to start with an assessment of FEMA’s response and recovery fails this past week. But DHS Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas’s comments about FEMA readiness and Joe Biden’s remarks about the Hurricane Helene recovery effort seem like a good entry point.

According to Mayorkas in July: “FEMA is tremendously prepared. This is what we do.” That did not age well. According to Mayorkas now: “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season.”

As for Biden, he interrupted his beach nap in Delaware for a hurricane photo-op stop, Helene now accounting for the highest death toll since Katrina. After that visit, Biden was asked by a reporter what the storm victims needed. He responded, “They’re getting everything they need, and they’re very happy across the board.”

I dare ya — read that again without wondering what planet this guy is on.

The day after Helene hit, Biden insisted nobody should politicize a catastrophe and then added, “Nobody can deny the impact of the climate crisis anymore. … They must be brain-dead if they do.” Beyond the irony of Biden accusing those who question “The Science” of being “brain-dead,” he and all those well-paid profiteers and promoters of “climate change” expect you to assume it’s all anthropogenic (man-made).

As CNN declared while the body count was mounting, “[Hurricane Helene’s] intensity was fueled by warm waters due to fossil fuel use.” For the record, despite all the assertions to the contrary, that “science” is far from settled. Yet no doubt Biden will be back in Florida by Friday politicizing the results of Hurricane Milton.

Biden’s “happy across the board” assertion was almost as offensive as Kamala Harris taking a break from West Coast celebrity fundraisers to assure those in the most devastated areas that they could apply for a $750 handout to help them be “unburdened by what has been.” (No word on FEMA’s hurricane rumors page clarifying if that is a grant or loan.)

Of course, FEMA and other government agencies will, over the long term, be pouring billions of dollars into Helene recovery efforts, which may ultimately have a reconstruction and economic impact cost in excess of $34 billion. Of course, one of FEMA’s top goals is to ensure Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion among those delivering and receiving its distributions, and anyone of any “gender identity” is eligible.

Circling back to the Mayorkas assertion about the depletion of FEMA funds, our Nate Jackson wrote last week that one reason is “because FEMA has diverted more than $1.4 billion over the last two years dealing with the crisis consequences of ‘Border Czar’ Harris’s disastrous open border policies.”

With that as a backdrop, FEMA, of course, is under fire in its latest hurricane response in the six states that were impacted, particularly in North Carolina.

Before commenting on that, first, the good news — mostly motivated by the Good News.

In Tennessee and North Carolina, like other Southern states, neighbors (and by “neighbors,” I mean those who may live a hundred miles from a victim they have never met) don’t wait on “the government” to fix it. We start taking care of our own immediately. That accounts for the response by thousands of folks now being documented on mainstream and social media platforms. These are individuals, churches, and organizations that have collected millions of pounds of the most needed relief items at their own expense — a response that FEMA could never muster from its reserves. These folks are arriving in caravans, some with tractor-trailer loads, some with small rental trailers.

And pilots, all those civilian helicopter owners not only from the region but from many states away, have shown up at their expense to undertake search and rescue operations and deliver goods to those who can’t be reached by road. These flights supplement the substantial military rescue and resupply efforts, and combined, these efforts have met countless critical needs.

The civilian response reflects the best in us, what is good and right about America!

North Carolina Sen. Ted Budd summed up those services: “God bless groups like Samaritan’s Purse … and others that are stepping up and bringing in the military discipline and the speed and the generosity … serving in the name of Jesus Christ to make things better for the people of Western North Carolina. … It’s the private citizens that are stepping up right now.”

On the other hand, there is the FEMA disconnect and many reports of FEMA malfeasance.

Our publishing operations are located in East Tennessee, and to answer the many inquiries we have had about our well-being, the heavy winds and rain in our area did little damage. However, we have many friends in the Tennessee/North Carolina border regions hardest hit, both residents impacted and those providing relief goods and services. Thus, we have received many firsthand accounts from those on the ground regarding obstacles to service and material delivery.

Those accounts largely corroborate countless social media reports about FEMA authorities obstructing aid to North Carolina residents, particularly in the hardest-hit area of Asheville and surrounding counties. Those areas may ultimately account for almost half the deceased victims, and there are still hundreds whose whereabouts are unknown.

Among the myriad social media posts documenting impeded recovery efforts was this one issued by Elon Musk on October 4: “Just received this note from a SpaceX engineer helping on the ground in North Carolina. FEMA is not merely failing to adequately help people in trouble, but is actively blocking citizens who try to help!”

According to that engineer, “The big issue is FEMA is actively blocking shipments and seizing goods and services locally and locking them away. … It’s very real and scary how much they have taken control to stop people helping.”

An hour later, Musk posted reports that FEMA asked the FAA to issue TFRs (FAA Temporary Flight Restrictions) impeding private flights into the disaster areas: “The level of belligerent government incompetence is staggering!! There are hundreds of reports of FEMA/FAA blocking flights.”

DoT Sec. Pete Buttigieg replied: No one is shutting down the airspace and FAA doesn’t block legitimate rescue and recovery flights. If you’re encountering a problem give me a call.

Musk rebutted: Are you saying this man and hundreds of others are all lying?

Musk and Buttigieg then spoke by phone and according to Buttigieg, “We were able to take care of it,” prompting Musk to respond: Thanks for expediting approval for support flights [and] for helping simplify the FAA NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions). Support flights are now underway. Much appreciated.

In fact, there were multiple TFRs issued for the Tennessee/North Carolina corridor soon after the hurricane hit. However, once Musk got on the case, the Buttigieg lifted those FAA restriction. There are no current TFRs listed for this area. A notice regarding Hurricane Helene flight restrictions specifies: “These TFRs do not ban aircraft, including drones, from providing disaster relief and recovery assistance.” However, it also notes, “Relief operations, including civilian and volunteer operations, may access the restricted airspace if they are coordinated with emergency responders,” and lack of “coordination” may be the source of original dispute.

Notably, when Biden was in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina making sure everyone was “getting everything they need” and “very happy across the board,” there were TFRs in place with heavy restrictions. In other words, when he and Harris show up, air rescue and recovery operations are impeded.

That being said, most of these disaster area disputes are the result of the acute disconnect between government bureaucrats and citizens pulling together to support relief efforts, the latter being first in with the most needed provisions. Having been involved in a few massive rescue and recovery operations, it is difficult for me to convey just how staggering that disconnect really is.

A big part of this discordance is the result of the Beltway culture of bureaucratic indifference that infests the bowels of government agencies. If you think these bureaucrats have any reference point for what we in the private sector consider “accountability,” please raise your dominant hand, then slap yourself with it.

As for criticism of FEMA, agency Administrator Deanne Criswell issued this tone-deaf complaint: “It has a tremendous impact on the comfort level of our own employees,” adding, “when you have this dangerous rhetoric like you’re hearing, it creates fear in our own employees.”

Another factor is, for those on the frontlines of rescue and recovery efforts, both citizens and first responders, it is exhausting for all involved. Tempers flare, which can exacerbate misinterpretation of rationale and process.

That exhaustion, combined with the untempered “disaster authority complex” that too often emerges under such circumstances, is the reason a private helicopter pilot was told — after landing in a recovery area to drop off a victim and then preparing to return to bring her husband to safety — that he would be arrested if he did so. That threat defied any modicum of common sense.

But sometimes, if that “disaster authority complex” comes in direct contact with a citizen responder who exhibits a “disaster expert complex,” disputes can blow up. That is a factor in some reports about FEMA and other officials blocking the delivery of services and “seizing” relief materials.

Here is what’s important to understand about citizen response in a widespread disaster area — which, fortunately, most self-deploying citizens do understand.

First, every person who enters a disaster area potentially puts a strain on already severely limited food, shelter, and medical resources. This is especially true of people motivated by a heartfelt desire to help others but who have limited experience and proficiency in providing that help. First responders must not only seek to protect those impacted by disaster but protect those responding to disaster. Most citizen responders know and respect this balance.

Second, organized disaster response groups like those Sen. Budd mentioned, and individuals who understand the process, always endeavor to coordinate with state and local command centers in order to get the supplies they are bringing to the best delivery and distribution staging areas. The most effective triage to ensure people get the emergency assistance they need on the front end of a disaster, is to create distribution points so that there can be an organized approach to service and material delivery, ensuring the greatest number of people get their essential needs met. If you are bringing a trailer load of provisions, please identify a predetermined drop point.

To be clear, this does not mean all victims will get help in the early stages of a disaster, and it is local folks with the skills and capabilities, who forge the frontline of disaster relief — those who cut trees to open roads, who use ATVs to deliver material where roads have been destroyed, and who know where residents might be trapped and can, thus, direct and assist with their rescue.

That being said, the most effective disaster assistance is coordinated by state and local officials, organizations, and volunteers. Too often, the FEMA bureaucratic beast conflicts with the heartfelt extension of support from regional and local volunteers, and the result is ugly.

Finally, to all those who have joined together for the Helene rescue phase, and those who will endure the recovery phase for a long time to come, God bless each and every one. Likewise, we pray for the safety of all those in the path of Milton.

PS: For the record, I do not cast all FEMA personnel in the shadow of some inept agency managers, just as I have argued we should not cast all FBI personnel in the shadow of some corrupt agency managers. The fact is, there are good people in both organizations devoted to carrying out their missions, many of whom are also Veterans.

(Updated)