Why Is The Biden-Harris Administration Abandoning Hurricane Helene American Victims And Giving Aid To Illegal Immigrants, Ukraine, and Mideast?
CDM has witnessed the after effects of Hurricane Helene in east Tennessee and reached out to sources involved during Hurricane Katrina rescue, who are alarmed by the federal government's response in Western North Carolina and east Tennessee.
Western North Carolina alone has run out of the 500 bodybags on hand as the searches for missing people continues.
The internet, phones and electricity are out in those locations most hit hard by the storm, but the outlining areas are affected with highways and bridges blown out from the rains.
It has been reported that 40 trillion gallons of rain fell in this region alone has gushed through the Appalachians and devastated the area like a Mother Nature’s war zone.
Even when the internet does operate near Johnson City, Tennessee since the Hurricane passed through days ago, coverage is sporadic. The phones may work when the internet is down.
Businesses in locations that were not hit hard by the rain have been hampered by the lack of internet, and customers cannot use their credit cards when purchasing food.
Local groceries and drugstores still standing are asking customers to help. Churches are collecting aid for those in need.
Reverend Franklin Graham has announced to his fellow Americans in North Carolina to not wait and rely upon the federal government.
Tennessee’s own Dolly Parton has donated one million dollars to the rescue efforts.
FEMA has expended so much money for Biden-Harris' immigrants and aid to Ukraine and the Mideast, they do not have FEMA money for Americans.
On Friday, after the reported devastation in western North Carolina and east Tennessee, the Biden-Harris U.S. State Department announced that the U.S. “will provide nearly $157 million in new U.S. humanitarian assistance to support populations affected by conflict in Lebanon and the region."
“This funding will address new and existing needs of internally displaced persons and refugee populations inside Lebanon and the communities that host them. The assistance will also support those fleeing to neighboring Syria,” said the State Department.
This humanitarian package includes nearly $82 million immediately available through the Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration and $75 million through the United States Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance.
Of this total, USAID has already deployed $11.5 million, and working with Congress plans to make another $63.5 million available in the coming weeks. This emergency food, shelter, blankets, hygiene kits, protection, water, and sanitation assistance.
The United States provided nearly $386 million over the last year to support vulnerable populations in Lebanon and Syria impacted by the increase in the Mideast conflict.
In the meantime, Hurricane Helene has become one of the deadliest hurricanes since the emergence of modern weather forecasting.
“Already used over 500 bodybags, and there are bodies in trees, mud, cars, houses, everywhere…no Fed support anywhere,” said a North Carolina law enforcement official to CDM exclusively. As the recovery continues, the death rate is expected to increase.
The flooding, wind and storm surge inundated communities from the southeast region of the U.S. to the southern Appalachians.
Good Samaritans have wanted to enter the region and have been literally turned away.
The current death toll may surpass Maria in 2017 and Katrina in 2005. It has surpassed the devastating Hurricane Ian in 2022.
Many of the deaths have occurred in the mountains of western North Carolina, which suffered catastrophic flooding after more than 20 to 30 inches of rain fell in less than three days.
The cleanup could take months and in some areas there are discussions that some towns will never be rebuilt and the federal government may take over areas in western North Carolina.
The question to ask the Biden-Harris administration and Harris-Walz ticket is "Why are you abandoning Americans?"
Here are the 10 deadliest hurricanes to strike the United States before Helene and since 1954, when forecasters first began issuing routine Hurricane forecasts.
The information below is sourced from NOAA, FEMA, Hurricanes: Science and Society and rated by the highest to lowest death rates.
Hurricane Maria (2017): 2,975 deaths
Landfall location and date: Southeast Puerto Rico; Sept. 20
Intensity at landfall: Category 4; 155 mph winds
Territories most affected: Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands.
Maria was the most destructive hurricane in Puerto Rico in modern times. Nearly the entire island lost power, cellphone service and clean drinking water due to the extreme wind, storm surge and flooding from up to 38 inches of rain. Many remained without electricity for more than three months. More than 300,000 homes were destroyed by the combination of Maria and Hurricane Irma, which passed near Puerto Rico two weeks earlier.
Hurricane Katrina (2005): 1,392 deaths
Landfall location and date: Southeast Louisiana, Aug. 29
Intensity at landfall: Category 3; 125 mph winds
States most affected: Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia.
Katrina extended 120 miles from the eye of the storm. Most of the more than 1,000 deaths in Louisiana and over 200 deaths in Mississippi were because of flooding from storm surge. Numerous levees and flood walls were breached in the New Orleans area, where thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed, while entire coastal communities in Mississippi were obliterated.
Hurricane Audrey (1957): More than 500 deaths
Landfall location and date: Southwest Louisiana; June 27
Intensity at landfall: Category 3; 125 mph winds
States most affected: Louisiana, Texas.
Audrey was the earliest major hurricane (Category 3 or higher) to make landfall in the United States. The U.S. Weather Bureau warned late on June 26 that the storm would make landfall the next afternoon, but it sped up during the night and arrived at 9:30 a.m. local time, too soon for many people to evacuate. The storm battered much of Louisiana and southeast Texas with damaging winds and a massive storm surge on the coast. The exact number of deaths is unknown because many missing people were never found.
Hurricane Camille (1969): 256 deaths
Landfall location and date: Southwest Mississippi, Aug. 17
Intensity at landfall: Category 5; 175 mph winds
States most affected: Mississippi, Alabama, Virginia.
Camille is one of only four Category 5 hurricanes, and the second strongest on record, to strike the United States. Winds gusted to 100 mph across much of southern Mississippi and the storm surge on the coast reached 25 feet. Southeast Mississippi, Dauphin Island and the Alabama coastline, including the Mobile area, suffered the most damage. More than 100 of the deaths occurred in Virginia, where the storm dumped more than 1 to 2 feet of rain.
Hurricane Diane (1955): About 200 deaths
Landfall location and date: Southeast North Carolina, Aug. 17
Intensity at landfall: Category 1; 74 mph winds
States impacted most: North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts.
Diane’s storm surge damaged houses, flooded roads and destroyed sea walls along the southeast North Carolina coast. The storm dumped up to 20 inches of rain in two days, leading to destructive flooding in eastern Pennsylvania, northwest New Jersey, southeast New York and southern New England. Diane followed just days after another Category 1 storm, Hurricane Connie, killed 74 people mostly because of flooding in the same region.
Superstorm Sandy (2012): 159 deaths
Landfall location and date: Southeast New Jersey; Oct. 29
Intensity at landfall: Category 1; 80 mph winds
States impacted most: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut.
Sandy’s highest storm surge and most severe flooding occurred in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, including coastal areas of New York City. It was an unusually large storm that spread strong winds as far west as Wisconsin and north into Canada, and raised water levels along the entire East Coast.
Hurricane Ian (2022):
156 deaths
Landfall location and date: Southwest Florida; Sept. 28
Intensity at landfall: Category 4; 150 mph
States affected most: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina.
Ian unleashed a destructive storm surge, damaging winds and severe flooding across much of central and northern Florida where rain totals reached 10 to 16 inches in six to 12 hours. More than 19,000 structures in Lee County, home to Fort Myers, were destroyed or severely damaged. The storm then emerged off Florida’s east coast into the Atlantic before making another landfall as a Category 1 in northeast South Carolina.
Hurricane Harvey (2017): 103 deaths
Landfall location and date: Middle Texas coast; Aug. 25
Intensity at landfall: Category 4; 130 mph winds
States impacted most: Texas, Louisiana
After making landfall, Harvey stalled over southeast Texas for days, unloading historic rainfall totals of 30 to 50 inches in the Houston area and up to 60 inches to the east near Port Arthur, Tex. — the most rain on record from a tropical cyclone in the United States.
Catastrophic flooding damaged or destroyed more than 200,000 homes and businesses, and there were more than 17,000 rescues. Harvey eventually drifted offshore and made another landfall near Cameron, La., on Aug. 30, dumping 20 to 40 inches of rain in southwest Louisiana.
Hurricane Agnes (1972): 128 deaths
Landfall location and date: Florida Panhandle; June 19
Intensity at landfall: Category 1; 75 mph
States impacted most: Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, D.C., Delaware.
Agnes quickly weakened as it made landfall, causing minimal damage from wind and storm surge along the Florida Panhandle coast. However, the storm spread heavy rain inland across the southeast United States, then re-intensified to a tropical storm and, together with another weather system, deluged the Mid-Atlantic with up to 19 inches of rain. Most of the storm’s damage and deaths were due to catastrophic flooding in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland and Virginia.
Hurricane Hazel (1954):
95 deaths
Landfall location and date: Near North Carolina-South Carolina border; Oct. 15
Intensity at landfall: Category 4; 125 mph
States impacted most: North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York.
Hazel remains the strongest hurricane to make landfall in North Carolina. The storm came ashore close to the border with South Carolina, whipping the coast with winds as high as 150 mph and a storm surge that destroyed every pier along a 170-mile stretch of coast. More than 50,000 homes were destroyed or damaged in North Carolina with the greatest damage occurring in Brunswick County. In South Carolina, Myrtle Beach and Garden City were severely damaged. Strong winds, heavy rain and flooding reached all the way north to Ontario, Canada.
