Moskowitz, expert in disaster management, warns FEMA ‘is going to fail’ during hurricane season

funny- with the left everything Trump says or does is a lie. Trump vs Kamala was an easy choice. Will things happen under Trump I won't like, sure. I doubt there would have been ANYTHING Kamala would have done that I would have liked

 

After Katrina? Uhh… yeah.. that’s why it demanded a total overhaul.

Helene I think is more a mix of political taint (misinformation) combined with the unfathomable scope of that storm. That is not to suggest FEMA is perfect. The shock images of Katrina were the people sitting at a football stadium dying and the govt doing nothing. Helene damage was spread all over the place with widespread infrastructure loss, whereas Katrina was more concentrated to a city. I frequently stay up in the NC mountains in the summer. Yancey County, NC is talking 10 *years* to get their full infrastructure back. I’m sure that’s talking about side roads and maybe more off the main path bridges, but it gives an idea about where people’s expectations needed to be in the aftermath of the storm. So many places were literally cut off from the world for weeks. I just got out of there literally one day ahead, and it was surreal seing all those routes closed behind us on Apple Maps and knowing it was because so many of those roads washed away. We were probably among the last off Mount Mitchell National Park, as it was closed the very next day and still hasn’t re-opened (due to extensive damage to the Blue Ridge Parkway in the area).

New Orleans had its specific issue with the levy system, its position below sea level, and its very existence being dependent on that infrastructure working. So Katrina was also an “infrastructure neglect” story and that neglect led to all those deaths. Helene was tragic, but I’d wonder if any deaths were caused by “neglect” vs being actively swept away by incredible floods? I have always wanted to spend more time up there if not retire up there full time, partly to get AWAY from
Hurricanes! Seeing that mass destruction I bet changed a lot of minds (I know lots of Floridians are probably like minded since so many mountain locals complain about ‘em lol).

 

Going to fail?????

I think it’s quite safe to say that it has already failed. In fact it’s failed badly. While it’s easy to blame Biden for diverting FEMA funds to other areas, and blame Trump for cutting funds, the fact is that FEMA is destined to fail. Like most government programs, it is a “one size fits all”. Emergencies and disasters are not one size fits all. FEMA needs to be broken up up into more mission specific divisions to focus better on the issues involved in different emergencies.

 

Definitely. Definitely this!

There may be some overlap, like in procurement perhaps, or such, but they could have different parts that respond to different types of disasters. These areas would all have different specific areas of expertise, but they would all have the same general role of responding to disasters.

We could house these groups in one federal department, and call it something like .......... FEMA.

 

Not really. When Trump lies, it's a lie. It happens a lot.

 

Do these actions seem like "good intentions," to you?

--Cut 2,000 FEMA employees
--Ended the popular, bipartisan grant program BRIC, that he himself signed into law in 2018
--Billions of dollars in grants and other funds have been frozen and blocked.

Sure, FEMA's going to fail this year, how could it be otherwise? It was already struggling before Trump and Musk broke out the budget chainsaw. Now he wants to shift the disaster recovery burden to the states, like they have the financial resources of the federal government.

 

To be fair, though, it is important to make these cuts so that Trump and Musk can get their tax cuts for the rich.

 

As usual, your one size fits all emotion is overwhelming your logic. FEMA isn’t suffering from lack of expertise. They are suffering from a lack of focus at the POS, so to speak. Their individual expertise areas just become prioritized(politically), and compromised rendering them ineffective at the critical delivery point.

FEMA was never intended to nor funded to make everyone whole, but their role should be to expedite the delivery of services and to break through red tape and local bullshit.

Please feel free to go back into the bitterness cave at any time Jo

 

NC found out

bet they are missing Biden about now

FEMA denies North Carolina's appeal for hurricane debris cost reimbursement

"The first step to help western North Carolina recover is to clean up all the debris. So far, we have removed more than 12 million cubic yards of debris from roads and waterways, but given the immense scale of the wreckage, we have only scratched the surface. FEMA’s denial of our appeal will cost North Carolina taxpayers potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up out west. The money we have to pay toward debris removal will mean less money towards supporting our small businesses, rebuilding downtown infrastructure, repairing our water and sewer systems, and other critical needs.

Despite this news, we are going to stay the course. We will keep pushing the federal and state governments to do right by western North Carolina. We will keep working with urgency, focus, and transparency to get any appropriated money on the ground as quickly as we can to speed the recovery. We will not forget the people of western North Carolina."

North Carolina has also requested $19 billion in disaster relief from the Trump administration and Congress.

 

Stein says FEMA denial of full funding will mean less money for recovery needs

The federal agency will instead by reimbursing only 90% of that money, leaving the state on the hook for an estimated $200 million, according to Stein.

Stein, a Democrat, said the state has already cleared more than 12 million cubic yards of debris from roads and waterways but that has “only scratched the surface.”

“FEMA’s denial of our appeal will cost North Carolina taxpayers potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up out west. The money we have to pay toward debris removal will mean less money towards supporting our small businesses, rebuilding downtown infrastructure, repairing our water and sewer systems, and other critical needs,” he wrote in a press release.

David E. Richardson, who is the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Administrator for FEMA, wrote Thursday that North Carolina’s request for more funding was “not warranted.”

 

Trump 'bait and switched' NC voters who are now lashing out: 'He knew what he was doing'

The agency has also “halted $10 billion in disaster relief funds intended to help people across the country, cut off housing assistance for thousands of Helene survivors,” Politico also added FEMA has “ended a policy of fully reimbursing the state of North Carolina for debris removal.”

“Whatever the policy merits of Trump’s disaster-relief plans, they feel like a bait and switch to some people struggling to recover from Helene,” the outlet wrote. “After blaming Biden for faltering relief efforts, Trump has seemed more focused on trashing FEMA than boosting the recovery in North Carolina.”

 

You mean, of course; It's as easy to say this as it is to tell a lie.

Because this lie from Trump is not substantiated in any way, shape or form.

But maybe since you repeated it, you can show the evidence that Biden did this?

Hopefully waiting!

 

Or... that the special teams were all worked out, and that the missteps were no big deal... before losing to Tennessee.

We're disaster ready... Lol.

 

Is that an autopen because it doesn’t look like Trumps signature

 

Meh, my neighbor is a site OPs director for FEMA, he said they are doing all the same things they have for the last 5 years pre hurricane season.

In fairness, some of the response to Helene in NC were delayed due to the unexpectedly huge rain fall totals they got in that region.

 

or if they had a Trump sign in their yard

 

actually, I attribute much of what he says to ignorance. that's why I tend to use the word 'falsehood' rather than lie. he probably thought he did make up the word equalize, that those crosses really were a mass grave ...