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This is worse than Hurricane Katrina. Thomas Simonetti for The Washington Post/Getty Images
Hurricane Katrina looms large in American cultural consciousness. As one of the defining events during George W. Bush’s second term as president, the scale of the devastation that struck Louisiana — combined with the inadequacy of the relief effort — earned notoriety even outside the United States. Almost 20 years after the levees broke, another storm has swept in an unprecedented catastrophe: the economic and human cost of Hurricane Helene might be even greater than that of Katrina. So why, then, are so few people acting like that is the case?
In Appalachia, one of the poorest regions in the country, the common belief is that the mountains protect the locals from storms. Unfortunately, this is true only up to a point: when a hurricane like Helene hits — bringing once-in-a-thousand-years levels of rainfall — the mountains become a curse rather than a blessing. Helene has brought the mountains down, triggering mudslides and rockfalls that have destroyed entire towns and obliterated almost every road in a vast radius.
When the lowlands flood, that is bad enough: in 2005, New Orleans stopped being a vibrant city and turned into one big, murky lake. But with storm surges and flooding, you can often navigate much of the disaster area by boat. Up in the mountains, it is the earth, not the water, that becomes your worst enemy. With the roads gone and bridges smashed, driving is impossible, travel by foot is next to impossible: isolated settlements can often only be reached via helicopter. Those I have spoken to in North Carolina describe a disaster of “biblical dimensions”. The only thing that comes close to it in recent history is the “Great Flood” of 1916 in North Carolina, but Helene has easily beaten the river gage measurements from back then.
The death toll of Helene is currently inching closer to 200, already making it the second-deadliest storm after Katrina. But this number will rise and then rise again in the coming days. In truth, with the reality of unnavigable mountain terrain, an obliterated road network, and massive power, cell phone and water failures, nobody knows how many are dead. Without sufficient rescue efforts, more Americans might end up succumbing to the lack of water in the wake of the flood. But despite all of this, and despite the fact that the clock is ticking for many Americans trapped without food, water, or means of communication, coverage of Helene has been strangely muted. This silence has, in turn, masked a far darker problem: the lack of resources and manpower going into the rescue effort.
Bush’s response to Katrina was criticised at the time for being lumberingly slow and ineffective. But the relief effort being mounted now is a pale shadow of what was done a mere 19 years ago, and that makes the silence around this disaster even more ominous.
In 2005, significant planning and resourcing was being carried out days before the storm even made landfall. Ten thousand members of the National Guard had gathered from several states to deal with the damage Katrina was about to cause. The final number who helped with the effort measured closer to 20,000. But those guardsmen did not stand alone: the US Army was preparing to assume overall command of the entire rescue effort through US Northern Command, where its battle staff coordinated response forces over various state lines. The regular Army helped too, including forces from the 82nd Airborne Division and the Army Corps of Engineers.
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Subscribe“So why, then, are so few people acting like that is the case?”
Because the president is a Democrat, not a Republican. If we were having a Repug prez, all media were screaming about how he does not care about America.
This is a real problem. The regime media is circling the drain, but it still sets the agenda to a great degree, and still influences casual news consumers.
This is really all that needs to be said about it. If Trump were prez…
I’m a long-time Trump supporter, but he has been able to achieve very little of lasting effect, other than much-needed disruption. He attempted a great deal, but Congress blocked him in most cases, and his actions were quickly reversed when the Democrats were elected. The same will be true in 2025-2028, regardless of who wins. The idea that an election will solve our problems is daft.
A Trump presidency would be a start and just maybe some reversal of ruinous policies could begin and gain momentum in the next election.
Trump reversed almost everything Obama did. So it’s okay when a Republican does it, but terrible when a Democratic president does it?
Moreover, the Democrat running FEMA, (the craven & corrupt) Mr. Mayorkas announced that he needs more money for FEMA because he used $1 billion dollars of FEMA funds to manage the illegal migration created by the Biden/Harris Administration at the southern border.
The illegal immigrants have been crossing the border in large numbers for decades. Saint Ronnie granted asylum to eight million illegal immigrants, which meant they were on track to citizenship. The Senate passed a bipartisan immigration bill and sent it to the House. Trump told Republicans not to vote for it, so he could use immigration for his campaign. It was a good bill for controlling the border, but Trump didn’t seem to care
The bill allowed for a minimum of 1 million illegals per year, double the number under Trump and Obama. It was a garbage bill.
The other big reason is that the impacted people are largely poor whites. The Donkeys don’t want to alienate their black base by being seen to help the white ‘trash’ too much. Particularly when it is compared to Katrina where heroic, but often inadequate, resources were used.
There are A LOT of rich people in Asheville.
If Trump becomes president he can order a nuclear bomb to be detonated in the eye of the hurricane to disperse it, that should do the job right
This may be the most brain-dead comment ever posted on Unherd–and that is saying a lot. Just STFU.
It is brain dead because the idea came from Trump when he was president .
Bullshit–and you know it
Nope. I clearly remember Trump’s profound idiocy. The idea was right up there with drinking bleach if you get Covid.
Huh?
Yes, but no President will be able to run the mess that the politics of post-WWII have created. We are no longer a team. We are just a stadium. And it’s not just America. The only question is whether it’s a plot, or just inevitable evolution/devolution of industrialized-globalized society.
These are the events that define an administration. Katrina was the excuse the press needed to make GWB a racist and his administration incompetent. Perhaps the incompetent is partially fair but swamped by the gross incompetence of the Mayor of New Orleans and his chocolate city administration. The State and Federal Government elected officials did nothing but whine. Katrina was all about the black residents of the 9th Ward. The press loved it. The current story is mainly concerning white rednecks, a group which the press despises, hence the attentions of the sock puppet and all caring joyful VP.
The problem isn’t malice, it’s senility.
Well, have you seen the guy who’s in charge? Perhaps he truly does represent America after all.
I actually think malice plays a big part. The liberal elites make no effort to hide thier hatred of the working class any more.
I think the same. What’s the difference between hatred & not thinking certain people are worth caring about, so not paying attention when bad things happen to them?
Yes, and it’s those liberal elites who are in charge, not the “guy in charge”.
It isn’t just hatred for working class though. It’s that they just don’t care about human beings, taking care of people, doing the right thing.
You have an entire ruling class that’s way too conscious of sounding and looking virtuous, but posseses no real virtue….
Inevitably there will be victims on the Road to Utopia. After all to make an omelette, ya just gotta break a few eggs, right?
Come on, Biden is not even in charge of his soiled underpants.
So it is either as article says result of dysfunctional government departments or unwillingness to help out white people.
Probably both.
Obviously not reported by regime media.
Congress is on recess, and nothing can happen until they return. They have to pas an emergency funding bill. Rick Scott, a Republican senator from Florida, has begged Congress to return to help people devastated by Helene. Crickets.
Bush didn’t own the outrage industries. Biden does (although he’s probably forgotten it).
Very good story Malcom.
Look forward to this blowing up. FEMA is in the crosshairs because some people are starting to wonder where the funding and resources went that were supposed to handle disaster events like this. I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count.
Thanks for this. I had no idea about the abject failure here.
Having read this I am beyond sad.
You had no idea because it’s not true.
You’re right–it’s much, much, worse, you moron…
Which part of the article is specifically untrue?
You are not supposed to have any idea.
The so-called “Mainstream Media’ has virtually ignored this story. Fox has been covering it in depth though.
Are you saying Fox is not mainstream, how absurd is that?
Fox is not main-stream media because they tend to run counter to most of the the of the media outlets.
Really, the scope of the complete disaster is not known at this time. I am hearing about thousands dead. The towns of the NC mountains are in some cases wiped off the map.
NC is no longer a swing state. IF they can get voting in the mountains, there will not be a Dem vote from Chapel Hill W.
You had no idea because most of the media is not showing it. They don’t want you to know because then you might wake up to the castrophe caused by the senile president and his brainless VP.
Hurricane Helene not an American Chernobyl. Chernobyl was completely avoidable, but Soviet politicians chose not to, the results they cut a lot of corners on safety and training, and construction and engineering. The result it was a disaster waiting to happen, made worse by the fact that the warning signs were ignored. The response efforts we’re botched by the top down nature of the regime in the fact they kept everything secret until things got off control. The reason why the hurricane was so bad here is because of the terrain, which is mountainous and lends itself The flooding and mudslides, with a once in a century storm making things worse. The geography also makes relief efforts much more difficult, at the transportation system is limited. Yes sure, infrastructure is also bad which is hampering efforts in the region, but infrastructure has always been rather limited and underdeveloped due to the poverty and isolation of the area. There’s also the fact this is an election year, and lots of excessive noises being made and political nonsense floating around.
Mayorkas said his priority is helping illegal aliens, nor deplorable Americans. Something less than 50 people died from Chernobyl. North Carolina dead from Bide/Harris leadership is climbing to well over 200. Your description of why the USSR failed its job at Chernobyl is indistinguishable from the Biden/Harris Administration Charlie Foxtrot style of governance that is their hallmark.
This is more or less true. The death count is a large result of people not being forced to evacuate. In the US, people can choose to stay in the path of a storm and many do. The flooding in western North Carolina has been worse than expected, but that’s due to the terrain more than any lack of infrastructure. It will be sorted out.
Glad you feel comfortable with “will be sorted out”.
That’s the thing about America, you have a right to be free and thus be an idiot.
There’s also the fact this is an election year, and lots of excessive noises being made and political nonsense floating around.
Wouldn’t you think that candidates would be flocking to be seen to be helping? Trump was in SC within a day or so. Kamala and SloJo and Walz spent several days partying, on the beach, and drooling, respectively.
Democrats get to censor, kill, ignore and invade. It is some sort of secret law. Besides, Mayorkas said FEMA is broke from Biden and Harris helping their illegals move in and feel comfortable. Priorities, dude.
You can make an argument that the political machine in Washington is so inwardly involved in who is climbing the greasy pole of political patronage that they have forgotten that the real world exists. Let alone the distractions offered by the Presidential campaigning. If you were being critical you could argue the the ‘little people’ don’t matter and the business of the State is walled off by indifference.
Now ask yourself how things are going in the UK. Could the two main parties be almost entirely concerned about political infighting to the exclusion of major national problems? Look at the EU on the road to shaking itself to bits.
The senility and exhaustion of the current western world elite is perhaps a common factor – and it is inevitable that a new elite will arise from the ashes. Let’s hope the ashes are not too deep.
What we have in place in the US just…doesn’t work anymore! Have we reached the point where the time has come for a second Constitutional Convention?
It’s not the constitution that is the problem, it’s the people running the government.
How is that convention going to solve USA problems?
USA is divided thanks to elites woke, lefty policies of promoting useless minorities against interests of white people.
Thanks you for this article. I’ve been looking for news of storm Helene, and as you say, there is very little. It’s extraordinary. Other major weather events in the US have had much more coverage, not just Katrina. Hurricane Sandy, in New York, all those Californian wildfires, they were all widely reported on in the UK.
Someone on X posted about going to the Helene hit area with trucks of aid supplies, and being blocked by FEMA because it was voluntary aid, not from their contractors. That is the banality of evil, right there.
Few Americans will wonder out loud but it’s hard to wonder if the difference in attention is not based on who the victims are. They are perceived as mouth-breathing red staters, a collection of bitter clingers and white trash unworthy of media attention. Never mind that Asheville NC is as blue as can be, or that NC has a Dem governor. Or, or, or.
Very good point, banality of evil.
This isn’t even the Democrats’ first failure of this type. They didn’t exactly get their arms around the rail crash in East Palestine last year. The transportation secretary was slower to get on the scene than Trump was (and Trump took a fortnight).
I think it’s worthwhile to point out that the disaster of Katrina was not an absence of means but flagrant failures of implementation. And writing that story was easy because there were a lot of people sitting around and doing naff all as well as official statements being contradicted by the few enterprising types who actually got in there and did stuff. But it is at least as important a story to note that, despite the ever growning defense budget, there are far fewer resources available now than there were then, and they still don’t seem to be deployed effectively.
The author may well be right that this issue ends up being a slower burn but, at least as significant in the long term.
It is the locals screwing up so far, and generally they are Republicans.
FEMA says outright they won’t be involved more soon than a week in.
The situation seems to call for out-side help. The “locals” are the victims here. Why don’t we help them before we start slandering them?
I did not refer to locals generally, but to the individuals who were intended to be the first responder coordinators. They are in many cases not competent, and that is not slander.
Well, as far as slander is concerned, you may recall that one of the reasons that FEMA gave for its slow response in New Orleans was that it was a violent hellscape and too dangerous to enter. The stories of goings-on inside the Superdome were grotesque and, almost entirely untrue.
I am sure the USMC and /or Airborne would have protected them.
The governor of Nth Carolina is a Democrat, and he controls disaster relief and disbursement of the state national guard.
Cooper does not control disaster relief, the Republican legislature does. Thanks to the legislative Republicans, Cooper has been neutered.
I should like for those who think I am “slandering victims” to watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qIkm6Ctr4s
And know I am referring to the likes of those featured in it.
And then watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag-hb45J6MQ
Politicians rushing to be on the scene of any disaster are just getting in the way of any actual practical help; it’s political posturing, pure and simple, which just hampers any rescue work. There is no way that any political leader in the modern world can get any more understanding of the situation on the ground by being there than sitting behind their desk and being briefed by the experts at the scene, or rather in this case the many and varied scenes separated by long distances.
Very true, just like Patton showing up on the front lines in North Africa or Sicily didn’t change any events in progress. But, showing up for the troops and the folks back home to demonstrate what leadership looks like is worth its weight in gold when it comes to morale and hope for those involved. Showing up with half-hearted at best, non-existent in pratcice, efforts and a potential $750 check (you have to apply) when you have lost everything including family is nothing but a kick to the crotch. And yes, this entire mess is a political shit show.
Corrected for inflation, the defense budget has decreased every year of the Biden administration, as it did for the Obama administration.
The governor of Nth Carolina is a Democrat.
National disasters soon reveal both the incompetence/inflexibility of big government departments and the requirement for military back up.
In the days when, as a large animal vet, I had dealings with DEFRA, The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, over eg Brucellosis and TB eradication schemes, it was known as the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) and its representatives seemed inordinately fumbling back then. Its subsequent rebranding as DEFRA didn’t seem to help. The Foot and Mouth disease outbreak of 2001 in which over 6 million cattle and sheep were slaughtered on UK farms was a shambles. Initial differential diagnostic procedures (‘oh just kill them incase …’) the isolation procedures and ring fencing for infected premises, the presence of unlicensed slaughterers ( rumour was that a humane killer was worth more on the street than a Kalashnikov) the logistics of disposing of the bodies … you name it. This is not to mention the misery of generational farmers with carefully bred pedigree herds.
My husband was the head of the RAVC (army veterinary corps) at the time and DEFRA rang for help. The army, as a whole, made the logistics work. In addition to which, on March 26 2001, for example, army personnel buried up to half a million sheep and cows in a mass grave the size of a football field.
During Covid they helped with the building of the NHS Nightingale Hospitals – some of which have yet to treat a single case.
The UK army, however, is getting smaller and smaller. Arguing with management consultants over the privatisation of sectors within his own jurisdiction that could conceivably be handed over to SERCO or Group 4 (eg training and handling of arms explosive search dogs) occupied the bulk of my husband’s final two years of service.
We’ll have to be very stingy with national emergencies in the future.
For a long time, whatever people may say, the British armed forces and specifically the army has been competent, knowing how to pass on inherited know-how. A major fear of mine is that as each year passes, the politicians and civil servants go snip, snip, snipping away at the resources available; ‘strategic decisions’, or saying that because resource A and resource B can do a job, we can manage without one of them, or halving, halving,and halving again until left with but a token, or outsourcing to a commercial company, but one day, we will find that all of that know-how which was once pre-eminent in the world has evaporated unnoticed by the electorate, to its very great disadvantage, and it might even be terminal.
You’re absolutely right. One example I can cite is pack horses/mules. The RAVC had a repository of knowledge on pack saddles and the best way to load them for the animal’s comfort together with how to handle the animal itself. Had barely used this knowledge since the days of mules in Burma in WW2 but still kept doing the odd pack horse course for eg special forces. Then came the Falklands when terrain and rain and the need for stealth ruled out vehicles in places …
Britain’s decline is indeed terminal and now at terminal velocity
We need more information here. Northern Command is responsible to the federal government, but the National Guard’s website says it can be deployed by both state and federal governments. I seem to remember people criticising Tim Walz for not deploying the National Guard promptly during some crisis (was it Black Lives Matter protests?)
The states affected by Helene have a mixture of Democrat and Republican administrations. So did those administrations deploy – or request Washington to deploy – the National Guard in good time and sufficient numbers, or not?
This does not expose the weakness of the US military. It exposes the weakness of the current US leadership, and its fawning acolytes in the US media.
You need look no further than down to Florida, led by an actual leader, Gov. Ron DeSantis, where roads are being cleared, supplies and help are on site and working, and there is progress every hour. Florida had its teams stationed and ready to deploy before the storm hit, and they had their directives to move once the storm passed.
And when the longshoremen went on strike closing the ports in the Eastern US, Gov. DeSantis sent the Florida National Guard- or at least threatened- to the ports to try to keep product moving (though not sure how they could have done so without the longshoremen’s help). But…leadership makes a difference.
What has taken place in Western North Carolina and Tennessee are a different level, however. There are entire towns that have been wiped out and are now isolated. The response from our President was to spend the weekend of the storm at the beach up north, then tell the nation he was ‘on it’, then show up 5-6 days later for a slow, lumbering walk-through wearing a suit- which is what one always wears to a town destroyed by a mudslide and flood.
Then there’s Kamala- always ready for action. Just kidding. She’s the least ready potential leader in US history, and everyone knows this. She was off across the country seeking ever more campaign donations while the storm was hitting. Again- 5-6 days later, she showed up to stroll through a safe area, wearing a suit, showing her ‘interested’ face.
She then declared that FEMA- our government emergency relief team- will be sending out $750 to everyone hit in the storm. Well…that might pay for a half of a tree to be removed. Or perhaps some groceries, though at our current food prices, it won’t be much, and frankly, there’s no stores left, no refrigerators left, so…not sure what $750 will do if you’ve lost your home, or your wife. But gosh, thanks, Kamala.
Finally, our Secretary of Homeland Security (that’s a laugh), the feckless Alejandro Mayorkas, announced that FEMA, the supposed help to distressed and hit Americans, was out of money. They had already spent their wad- billions- on inviting and setting up millions of illegal immigrants all across America.
And through all of this, our Noble Press, those keepers of the truth, those willing to speak truth to power…or something- have said nothing about this at all, except that, Southeastern States got hit because they don’t believe strongly enough in Climate Change. Or Trump, who hasn’t been in office in 4 years, caused this by slackening our resolve on Climate Change. But no word of the lack of actual leadership in this country, aside from the State of Florida. Had this been a Republican Administration in Washington DC ignoring the massive and horrific damage around the Southeast, not coordinating our military with local authorities to help people quickly, the media- our Noble Press- would have been howling about it 24/7. We all know this.
This has nothing at all to to with our military. Everything to do with our lack of leadership, both nationally, and in the State of North Carolina. And a useless press.
Yes indeed. The USA is in a very strange place right now: weaker than ever at the federal level but extremely robust at the private and state level (at least some states like Florida that are not in hock to the swamp in D.C).
Where this leaves us I have no idea. Can it continue and if not, what ends it?
This current administration is why we cannot have nice things. Elections have consequences. All cliches apply.
Why didn’t Trump make America great again when he was president?
Thats a cute fairy tale from Sweden.
Isn’t it all about states power? Isn’t that what these majority republican run states are always screaming. Don’t the states control their National Guard?
What state policies have gutted investment in infrastructure and relief services?
There are many fingers to point but that does not solve the disaster.
Disaster relief has always had a federal component. There is even an agency called FEMA to underscore that point. Would you like to go and laugh at the folks who have been impacted because of their alleged political choices? Before you do, read up on Asheville NC; whatever it is, Repub-run is not on that list. And it’s in a state with a Dem governor. But do go on –
No, no such thing is correct. It exposes the ineptitude of the government (usually local) officials running the response . . . who in a few cases should be tied up, gagged, and sat on until the emergency is over.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8ICG0iaHqw
I suggest you watch the whole thing, but, particularly 8:04 & 10:23
Magically, without being trained in any way, 24hrs later he had the training* and was being begged to come back and help.
Why was there no official coordination between the airport executives and those locals in charge of the response? Incompetence by those locals running the response.
*Sarcasm, it’s a thing.
“Hurricane prone” has little to do with it. Florida is a place where hurricanes come ashore regularly, and they are dealing with matters fairly well. It is very rare for storms to make it into the highlands still dumping the sort of very fast local rainfall totals the NC uplands received. Literally the last time was over 100 years ago there.
The storm did not follow the expected track after landfall and turned more straightly north in the last 6~8 hours. It was supposed to head over central TN, but instead dissipated and split right over the NC highlands. Eastern TN had some flooding, VA had some flooding. NC mountains took the brunt of it.
Most vehicles, even 4 wheel drive vehicles, can not traverse a road covered 10 or more feet deep in loose boulders between head and house size, or, torn down to the irregular bedrock, or, 5 feet deep with mud — and this happened overnight and about 100 miles east of where the storm was though to be going. Tracked vehicles with high clearance are needful but tanks are really not intended for logistics, but to consume logistics. The Army will not be of much assistance as construction companies. Those whose homes were in the way of the water are dead and hung up in the downstream trees, or in wreckage. Those whose homes were up from the water cannot leave their homes but by walking, or in any case can not drive far. Generally these are elderly people whose adult children have moved to where the jobs are, and even if they have a full cellar and pantry, they need medications which are more time sensitive. Helicopters are useful for bringing people out and bottled water and medicine in. Most people have food, and many have intact homes, but there is no grid power to run pumps from wells because the power poles usually are along the destroyed road grades.
It is an unexpected mess not properly planned for by those local people who are emergency officials, who should have had the floods of 1916 in mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8chtkCi-gs
3:01 Getting around where such roads were requires a bulldozer/tracked vehicle,and even there you’d not uncommonly be throwing a track.
Most every little road throughout there in a valley looks like that. That’s why it was so crazy any emergency official turned away any helicopter help.
That is a serious mistake. The area needs airborne engineers. If need be, parachute in engineers,clear land areas for helicopters to bring in equipment. Then clear areas for aircraft. This was done to support Partisans in Jugoslavia in WW2 and Chindits in Burma. Use aircraft such as Westland Lysanders which can land in a small area on rough ground, use roads as landing strips.
Supply tents, generators, mobile kitchens and hospitals.
Think big – The Berlin Airlift of 1948.
div > p:nth-of-type(4) > a”>Berlin Blockade – Wikipedia
Were every engineer unit on the planet to be dedicated to that, it would not be sufficient to avoid the need for air dropped supplies and air evac of the isolated. The single lane, two lane rural road network built up over a century is gone. It can not be replaced in 24 hours, or 72. There are not enough bulldozers on the planet. What you are thinking of as thinking big does little good when people can not get to what is “big”, because they are old and need to eat and drink in the meantime.
Kyeyune knows Sweden and possibly other European countries but has little clue about the United States. That seems to be a running theme in his work.
Many people here in Sweden would argue that he doesn’t understand Sweden either.
Remember when “Strzok said he could “smell” the Trump supporters at a Wal-Mart store”…
I’ll never forget it!!
Part of the modern mindset is the assumption that bad things aren’t supposed to happen and that when they do it is at partially if not largely a failing of “the system”, the system being government, NGOs and other instruments of the state.
The implication is that we are always just some more resources and some better management away from avoiding otherwise unnecessary misfortunes.
FEMA officials don’t go and source water from Walmart because they are bureaucrats operating in a bureaucratic system, not entrepreneurs or dynamic problem solvers. That is not a failure of the system, it is the nature of the system. Slowness, inefficiency and wastefulness are absolutely inherent to people and organisations that don’t have to face competition.
The worst part of this mindset though is the delusion that with the right people in charge nothing need ever go wrong.
A hurricane is nothing like a nuclear plant meltdown. Hurricanes are inevitable and their physical effects inescapable. If I lived in a hurricane prone area I would do all I can to plan and prepare for dealing with hurricanes. The last thing I would do is sit around expecting the state to make it right for me whenever a hurricane hit.
This seems to be a common blind spot among the over credentialled classes that have had the common sense educated out of them.
To be fair to the author he seems to acknowledge towards the end that the system ain’t working.
If we continue to apply the modern mindset, then all we need is another 30 trillion in debt and some more competent and motivated bureaucrats to make it all right for us.
One reason the effects of the Hurricane is being ignored is that those suffering are ‘the deplorables’.
The state of the military was evident long before Helene rolled in. It’s why a lot of people were protesting against the madness of this administration’s pursuit of wars on multiple fronts. We can’t fund relief efforts because so much money has been squandered on Ukraine and prioritizing illegals over citizens. Yet, more money keeps being allocated for the criminal in Kiyv. The left pretends that a failed bill that would have sped up the processing of illegal entry was somehow a “bipartisan border bill,” leaving out that the bill said nothing about security.
In the govt’s stead, organizations like Samaritan’s Purse and Mercury One have stepped in, ordinary people have stepped in, because that’s what folks still do when their countrymen are in trouble. In some Internet fever swamps, there is joy over these “red states” being pummeled, some of it from people who are butt-ignorant about Asheville NC being as a blue a city as can be. Because that’s the sort of mentality that has been allowed to fester and grow, poisoning every aspect of human existence in this facing empire.
Re Ukraine have you Americans been told
Russia destroyed last week by wayof it’s Hypersonic missiles 9 No
F16 donated fighters one of which
That also killed a USAF pilot
Who’s wife only found out by way of foreign social media , her response is unprintable here
Also any of you care to give me the
Numbers of fit for purpose how many Western USA tanks , APC,s , Leopards and Challenger 2 tanks
Remain
“Today, the institutions are weaker, the deficits are bigger, and the US empire itself — then at the height of unipolarity — is critically overstretched.”
Twenty of the last 24 years have seen a Democrat in the White House, and their uniparty allies in control of government institutions far longer than that. Connect the dots.
Sixteen.
No, wait, it’s actually 12. Since 2000 it’s 12 of the Blue team and 12 of the Red team.
What are you talking about?
Nurse! Nurse!!
Please remind the Nurse to bring a Straight Jacket
And also a needle just in case
Learn to count
And this is why it never worked out well when I tried to help the kids with their math homework. Apologies.
Of far more danger, the US insurance and reinsurance industry being propped up by Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway, whose accounting is not FRS, and this disguising the billions of losses that BH has suffered, will cause economic chaos when either revealed, or BH pulls out.
The Chernobyl reference is a reach; it’s more American left “soft fascism”. The bulk of this article is spot on, but lay the blame where it obviously rest: at the feet of a decrepit president and an ineffective VP, helming an incompetent bureaucracy that is effectively an arm of Democrat party (given overwhelming tilt of political donations from the Exec branch employees to that party), none of whom will be criticized by MSM media for fear of torpedoing Kamala’s run and elevating Trump (essentially exact opposite of what MSM did during Covid).
The punchline is less Chernobyl, and more the “soft fascism” of the American left: a bundling together of gov, media, culture, academia, and big biz under a single political economic ideology of the Democrat Party evangelists, be damned what the majority of Americans think or want.
“When Iraqi militias fired missiles that killed three servicemen stationed in Jordan…”
The story I read was even worse. The militia involved later apologized. It seems they assumed that we would intercept the missiles. They were just threatening us; they didn’t mean to kill anyone. But it turned out that our forces were too hapless to even try to defend themselves.
Talking to friends across the USA the lasting significance of Helene will be to remove the last few doubts that many made climate change is a very serious problem demanding a response.
A response from whom, the same political and bureaucratic people who have screwed up the recovery, the same govt people who squandered money on Ukraine and illegals to the point where they are scrambling to provide aid? Just stop. Hurricanes are not new. Some of the strongest ones recorded long predate talk of climate change.
Either article or comment pointed out that similar disaster happened 100 years ago, well before any possible impact of industrialisation on climate.
Problem is that even if the West shut down completely it would not prevent climate change because of pollution generated in China, India and Africa.
Read Lombok books, especially “False Alarm”.
He believes in climate change but shows that current policies won’t reverse it and make us all poorer.
“the lasting significance of Helene will be to remove the last few doubts that many made climate change is a very serious problem demanding a response”
Why on earth would it do that, when this is nothing climatologically unusual? The last time this happened was about 100 years ago in that location — and there’s no reason to think it has not been doing so since the glaciers retreated.
You must have an impressive list of friends with impressive CVs.
Chernobyl was not “nothing more than a blip to the complacent authorities Moscow” and there was ample warning that Hurricane Helene was coming even before it made landfall in the Big Bend area of the Florida Gulf Coast as a Category 4 storm late in the evening of September 26, 2024.
From a review of Serhii Plokhy’s book ‘Chernobyl’ by Viv Grosko:
“The first sign to the outer world that there was something wrong came at a power plant in Sweden on 28 April 1986. A chemist responsible for measuring radiation levels noticed what seemed like a malfunction: the alarm kept going off. He examined the shoe of a co-worker. It showed radioactive elements not normally detected at the plant. The Swedes immediately suspected a Soviet accident. It took many days before anyone knew that something very bad had happened 1,500km away in Chernobyl,Ukraine”…
…”This book is a catalogue of delusions and self-delusions, from the politburo’s delay in evacuating 50,000 people and their refusal to tell the public anything for weeks, to the long-serving party members who allowed their children and grandchildren on May parades in Kiev even though they knew there was a risk of radiation.
It’s also a story of heartbreaking, reckless bravery, of the thousands of firemen, police officers, doctors and military personnel (and, yes, some politicians) who risked their lives and health in the weeks, months and years afterwards to investigate and clean up a site in conditions that were virtually hopeless.
Many of their actions were futile and some may have made the situation worse. Within three months, 31 people were dead of radiation sickness. It is estimated that a further 4,000 will have died of radiation causes since. The area surrounding the reactor will not be safe for human habitation for at least another 20,000 years…
Equally good is ‘Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster’ by Adam Higginbotham who describes young workers who were promoted swiftly to positions of terrific responsibility. In an especially glaring example of entrenched cronyism, the Communist Party promoted an ideologically copacetic electrical engineer to the position of deputy plant director at Chernobyl: To make up for a total lack of experience with atomic energy, he took a correspondence course in nuclear physics.
When the book arrives at the early hours of April 26, 1986, the accident unfurls with a horrible inevitability. Weaving together the experiences of those who were there that night, Higginbotham marshals the details so meticulously that every step feels spring-loaded with tension.
I have never been so physically affected by anything, fact or fiction that I’ve read.
What started as a long overdue safety test of Chernobyl’s Reactor No. 4 slipped quickly into a full-scale meltdown. An attempted shutdown using the graphite-tipped control rods of course had the opposite effect; the core grew hotter and hotter, and the reactor started to destroy itself”…
My cousin (with Physics PhD) worked in Swedish nuclear power station at the time.
They suspected it was incident in Russia because of wind direction etc.
They phoned Soviets only to be told that nothing happened.
Only when USA published satellite pictures of the disaster, Soviets admitted reactor meltdown.
Usual mode of operation of lefty cocroaches as we can see now in the West.
The death toll is already estimated to be in the thousands…
The latest I saw was 227. What are you talking about and why?
Local NC authorities should tell W DC that the mountains are filled with illegals scum. Millions of dollars of aid will immediately appear.
In this interview about Helene, Senator for South Carolina Lindsey Graham immediately pivots from the interests of his constituents and neighbouring states and starts advocating for Isreal. The ruling class aren’t senile, they are treacherous.
div > p:nth-of-type(2) > a”>https://x.com/KeithWoodsYT/status/1842145437010010195
What must they have on this snivelling queen and why has he not been charged with conspiracy to act as a foreign agent?
Proof indeed that America indeed is ‘ A Paper Tiger ‘
Drill baby Drill
Dig and Dig furiously
Why because the Fossil Fuel industries now run America
Why ‘ For a few dollars more ‘
Why cause Ellon Musk is going to relocate everyone to Mars
Why cause No one gives a Damn
Why cause it’s the American Way
Now go compare how China deals with Natural Disasters and how to rapidly as possible Decarbonise
Why because central to China is the tenets of Confucious
Which insists on good governance
With Empathy, Respect , Truth , Honour and Humility at its core
Every Child entering the education
System in China has great emphasis placed upon them to Build a Beautiful China and a better world for Everyone
America keep singing Star Spangled Banner
Welcome to your Future
J.Hendrix certainly struck the right notes playing it at Woodstock
While America is deeply troubled, the analysis you present, and the parties you blame demonstrate amazing levels of ignorance.
Go study the absolute calamitous Supreme court decision of many years ago
Ruleing that their is No limits to the donations of US Senator, Congressman or Presidential candidate standing for office
At a stroke this ruling trashed
Hundreds of Amendments to the constitution that were enacted all in order to avoid the Usurping of American democracy
And that’s exactly why America is now in the most dangerous situation it now finds itself and entirely at the mercy of greedy fossil fuel and defence industries and their vast army of professional lobbyists
Your National debt now stands
At 34,000,000,000 000 $
In October alone the USA has already borrowed 840,000,000,000 $
Interest annually shall next year pass 1, 000,000,000,000 $
Which shall represent 81% of all
Annual tax take
Not only are you a paper tiger
But a bankrupt one
Now who are the Ignorant here
Not I and I not a citizen of the USA
The only possible resolution of American problems is Civil War 2
I presume the mechanism is that the State in question asks for federal aid, if it thinks it is necessary? Have they asked?
Yes. That is the process. We are a federation of states, hence the name United States of America. We are not a single government entity. Our Constition defines the responsibilites of the federal governement and leaves all other responsibilites to the respective states. While there has been a tidal wave of mission creep by the Feds, the fact remains the federal government cannot mobilize any national level response within a state without being asked to do so, wheter it be military or civilian. The respective Nationl Guard units report to the state governor, not the Pentagon. That would explain to the author why 50,000 Marines are 2 hours away from Asheville locked on base and not engaging in rescue and recovery operations. They can’t legally do so without a request to and approval from the Feds initiated by the state governor. While FEMA may have organized 20,000 repsonders in acticipation Katrina, Mary Landrieu (then governor) didn’t ask for federeal assistance until the afternoon of the day Katrina made landfall. The idiot mayor of NOLA didn’t ask for state assisatance from the state unitl about the same time IIRC. Until they ask, FEMA can’t roll assistance on their own.
The obvious poor planning and potential political response from the Dems to the areas impacted are another discussion.
Someone said a politician is the lowest common denominator of wisdom of the people who voted for them.
This hurricane is highlighting the corruption of the bureaucratic state and the party they have collectively chosen to protect.
Twenty year retired military, and ~twenty year (post-Katrina) FEMA retiree here. I don’t know why I never thought to turn to the Swedes for advice on exquisitely American domestic challenges…free advice from the old world is worth every krona, I suppose. Of course every European is entitled to an opinion, given their intimate familiarity with decline. But enough venting, my friend.
Don’t confuse incompetence with incapacity. The United States has extraordinary capacity — I’ve seen it in action time and time again; I’ve employed it in many, many disaster responses. It’s never sitting idle waiting for our use; we always balance competing demands. And I employed it knowing that no matter how much we plan, how much we preposition, how much we anticipate, and how much we send, the response will never, understandably, be fast enough or adequate enough for the survivors. Every disaster — especially the truly catastrophic — has its own grammar and logic. Clausewitz might well have been describing a catastrophic disaster rather than war when he said “Everything in war is very simple. But the simplest thing is difficult.” How do you overcome those difficulties (friction, in Clausewitz’s term)? With talented leaders, experience, morale and discipline. You might be lucky enough to be blessed with leaders of genius (Craig Fugate, Brock Long are FEMA Administrators that come to mind), with an appetite for risk-taking and a mantra of “Go big, go early, go fast, go smart.” But what really made them successful was an unrelenting focus on FEMA’s core mission — preparedness and response, not equity and climate unicorns, or illegal migrant resettlement. Here are the top priorities in their FEMA Strategic Plan, and then those in the current Strategic Plan. See any difference?
Previously: “Strategic Goal 1: Build a Culture of Preparedness; Strategic Goal 2: Ready the Nation for Catastrophic Disasters; Strategic Goal 3: Reduce the Complexity of FEMA.”
2024: “Goal 1: Instill equity as a foundation of emergency management; Goal 2: Lead whole of community in climate resilience; Goal 3: Promote and sustain a ready FEMA and prepared nation.”
When political zealotry (welcome to 2024) steals mission focus, it makes the simplest things exceedingly difficult, and introduces more stultifying friction in the machinery of response. The “proficiency gates” of successful response become rusty or locked — due to distractions, turnover, low morale, inadequate training, and abandonment of merit as a criteria for promotion and responsibility. And if you place this nation’s wealth of resources in the hands of micro-managing asses, you get unforgivable lapses, hesitation, and disorder. Their confusion and intrusion inhibits initiative — whether by responders, volunteers, or survivors. A Prussian general once said about micro-management that he felt as though he had a “telegraph wire in his back.” In 2024 every Federal responder has a digital entourage of overseers in handwringing overwatch.
Were you aware DOD has “Immediate Response Authority” where, in certain circumstances, “military commanders and certain DOD civilians have the authority to immediately respond to requests for assistance from a civil authority “to save lives, prevent human suffering, or mitigate great property damage within the United States”? Why did DOD assets (Camp Lejeune and Fort Liberty) sit idle? Hesitancy, maybe. Lack of situational awareness? Doubt it. Here’s the dirty secret: if they use their Immediate Response Authority, there’s no guarantee they will be reimbursed from the Disaster Relief Fund for those missions, whereas a formal “Mission Assignment” from FEMA comes with funding. The same applies to the other Federal departments and agencies — “Give me a mission assignment and a funding commitment, then I’ll take your call.”
BTW, U.S. Northern Command does NOT “coordinate the overall effort.” I don’t recall how it works in Sweden, but in the United States Defense Support to Civil Authorities is coordinated by…the civil authorities.
On a final note, you make a good observation about contrasting what went before (e.g., Katrina). That said, I think you miss two key points: first, U.S. capacity is like an exceptionally large elastic bow. It takes attentive leaders and their sense-making muscles to turn and stretch that great machine to adequately prepare in advance for a looming catastrophe. Second, when you say “What is going on right now isn’t malice, it’s somehow even worse: it’s senility,” it’s actually something much more sinister: indifference. Senility is comprehensible, and can be accommodated (we should know, we’re apparently governed by assisted living caregivers at the moment), but the brutality of indifference by isn’t comprehensible or forgivable. A Holocaust survivor said “Memory is like a vaccine against indifference.” Sadly, to quote a senior civil defense official: “Learning needs a memory and the government is short on memory.”
Thanks for a thought-provoking article and forgive my gentle jibs — sometimes it takes a new set of eyes to point out the obvious to us.
P.S.: To clarify, the $750 “Serious Needs Assistance” is new and meant for *immediate* needs like water, food, formula, diapers, fuel, etc. Other forms of “Individual Assistance” for disaster-related expenses will also be available to survivors.
Well done. As someone on the years-not-decades level of experience, your analysis is clearly spot on.
Wow, thank you for taking the time to write that–very educational!
I expect at the beginning, FEMA had very rigorous selection, training and testing. All training does is cut and polish the stone. The more I look at the world success requires rigorous selection, training and testing and then resources. The people involved need to be able to think and act at the speed of the events. Rules are for the guidance of the wise and the obeyance of fools. As Nelson said ” I see no signal” when put telescope to his blind eye.
At a very simple level, if trees have fallen across a road or a house, one does not just cut branches as they can whip back. Also if a chainsaw hits a nail in a tree, say used to pin wire to a tree, it can whip back. So cutting away trees, which one has to clamber across, in dark, when it windy/sleety, windy, in early hours of morning when one is cold wet tired and hungry, is difficult and dangerous. People have been killed and injured.
When one looks at planning a good example of it going well is Air Chief Marshall Dowding Head of RAF Fighter Command from 1936 to 1940, which included the Battle of Britain. He designed the implementation of radar, telephone lines, operation rooms, pushed for Hurricane and Spitfire, designed procedures. Crucially unsuitable tactics were altered and planes improved.
Someone said if one looks at Dowding’s and Parks decisions during the three months of the Battle of Britain they could hardly be bettered.
A main problem for the West since 1945 is a massive proliferation in bureaucracy . Robert Michels, the philosopher, said all organisation become bureaucratic oligarchies. Organisation end up being run the benefit of those that run them.
The US federal government was not prepared for the scale of destruction from Hurricane Helene; there’s no question about that.
But should that be a surprise? In this American republic of states, the general rule is that states take care of their own problems until the problems exceed their capacity, at which time the federal government engages.
The federal response to Katrina was indeed feeble. It was rapidly apparent that the flooding of New Orleans would be beyond Louisiana’s ability to cope, and the problem was localized to one major city. Furthermore, it was predictable that the hurricane would make landfall near New Orleans. George Bush, Jr. screwed up big time on that one.
None of that applies to the current situation. There was no way to predict that the post-hurricane storms would move through the southeast the way they did, nor could anyone predict the amount of rain that would fall. With global warming and the changing climate, we are in uncharted metereological territory.
Furthermore, the damage from storm Helene is spread across a broad swath of land, from north Georgia to western North Carolina. That alone makes the logistics of much more complex. And as the author notes, there is no easy way in or out of the most heavily damaged areas. In flooded New Orleans, a flat-bottomed boat with an outboard motor could navigate almost anywhere. In the present situation, the most heavily damaged towns are along rivers and many of them are small towns tucked back into the hill country. Similar devastating flooding happened in New England and the Adirondacks area of New York about 10 years ago; some small towns were practically swept away.
So, yes this is a major catastrophe and should lead to better planning for future storms, some of which will be even larger. And yes, the Biden administration could do more than what we are seeing. But, no this is not a “Chernobyl moment” illustrating the collapse of America as a society.
I have’t seen the argument, yet, that the State must “allow” the Feds in, to help w/an emergency. ?
State Governors, not the military, control the pace of emergency responses. FEMA assistance must applied for by the Governor of the affected state. The National Guard, irt to civil matters, is only deployed the state Governor.
I live just outside Raleigh in North Carolina. We also got the storm which dumped over six inches of rain and one tornado that touched down. I watched TV for four hours because tornadoes were popping up everywhere. The station I was watching mentioned the western mountains many times, warning people to get out. My sister, who checks out the weather every morning on the station, said they were warning people there to get out the day before it hit, but it may be that people didn’t check the weather, because hurricanes wouldn’t hit them. Many people have moved to Asheville, believing they wouldn’t have to deal with fires, earthquakes extreme temperatures or floods. It was safe. Nowhere is safe. As far as Katrina goes, the biggest mistake was that help couldn’t get in became roads were impassable. But there was video of CNN vans driving across a bridge into New Orleans. The troops in the city didn’t have any clear orders from the officers, so helping people was patchy at best. Many of the deaths were in the 9th Ward, the poorest section in the city. Most had no cars to escape. Elderly residents had no one to help them. It wasn’t until the foul mouthed Gen. Honore arrived after the storm that things started happening. I’ve been hit with a hurricane in the state a couple of times. They are terrifying. My heart is with the people in those beautiful mountains. (Fort Liberty is not 50 miles from Asheville. It is a four hour drive.)
I am living in the middle of this, just south of Hot Springs NC, off Highway 209. It is useful to think of this geographically by rivers: French Broad River, its tributaries and the branches of those tributaries. I live on the Charlotte branch of Spring Creek, about 1 mile from its headwaters. The water rose 6-7 feet over 4-5 hours, flowed over our culverts and washed out our road. We walked for several days and were without power and internet for 3 days. Spring Creek flooded and many homes had water up to 2-4 deep (my family story can be seen on YouTube at “prettysweetacres”). These people have accommodation challenges for now, but our local emergency services have been superb. The French Broad crested at 24.6 ft (1916 flood was 21 ft). This was biblical. Our local city, Asheville, (pop 100,000) has one road left, no power and massive destruction. Our local town, Marshall, has ceased to exist. Hot Springs is devastated.
These people may be poor, but they are brave and resilient. Neighbors are providing massive support locally. As you can imagine, the story is more complex than reported and there is more going on beyond the federal response. The true disaster is along the French Broad.
Sorry to hear of your problems. I hope you receive the help you need.
The figures you quote mean then water was rising up to 21 inches per hour. The water would also be moving very fast. There would be maximum depth which most vehicles could cross a stream or people wade. Inches can make the all the difference when the water is at critical heights . 6 inches is equivlent to 17 minutes.
The most critical time is when the river rises so that it overflows it’s banks. There is no indication that the authorities are ware of how quickly they needed to react in this situation.
Who IS Malcom Kyeyune? Has he been to Tennessee or North Carolina or lived in such an area?
To equate a natural disaster in a mountainous relatively remote area with a nuclear catastrophe caused entirely by humans is a false equivalence of laughable proportions. Until more communications are restored and a fuller picture emerges I think the article should be titled “Hasty meets Hyperbole”.
I don’t think he was comparing a hurricane directly with a nuclear plant disaster. I believe he is suggesting that Hurricane Helene may hasten a breakdown of the current American political structure in a way similar to how Chernobyl arguably led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Yes, this is the real connection;
The real reason Chernobyl looms so large in stories about the last days of the Soviet Union was because of all the lying, the governmental incompetence, and the shared sense that the Soviet Union itself was a senile construct that no longer had any real point.
The fact is that hurricanes are a part of life for Americans that live on and near the Gulf of Mexico. Some are worse than others, but their occurrence is hardly rarity. Still, this one seems to have had an impact a long way inland.
This isn’t a military failure this is the failure of FEMA. They are actually getting in the way of private citizens rescuing people who are trapped and are being told they can’t distribute supplies. The cabinet member in charge of transportation has forbidden people from flying drones in the area to cover up FEMA’s incompetence
Are FEMA trained by Soviet Communists?
div > p > a”>We Never Make Mistakes: Amazon.co.uk: Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr Isaev, Blackstock, Paul W.: 9780393314748: Books
Haters gotta hate
Acts of God (natural disaster) cannot be prevented. Human suffering in these cannot be eliminated, only mitigated to a degree. This article reads like it’s advocating for utter totalitarian state to eliminate human suffering. Last time I checked with history, these regimes cause much more suffering than any act of God.
Just read tweet from Saint Anthony B. The US will send 175 million US dollar in humanitarian aid to Lebanon. Just imagine what a support this man is for the rule based order, the European values, the rule of law, democracy. Of course, the people in Lebanon have the advantage that they are not Christians and/or voters of the Republican Party. Has Sir Keir already shown his humanitarian face and his abundant grace? I expect at least 150 million BBP. Cannot be less as there are no Tories or Reform voters in Lebanon.
Actually, there are a lot of Christians in Lebanon.
I’ve got a mate who lives in Asheville NC and he says food and supplies are pouring in. It’s getting the infrastructure repaired that’s going to be the issue. And the 72 deaths and obviously many injuries.
So a lot of this is not an issue . . . and the kindest interpretation is that Mr Kyeyune has fallen prey to a bit of fake news.
I doubt that Europe would be any better if it had to deal with an event like Helene..
Indeed with the UK Government talking rubbish and doing nothing, Ukraine looking more and more like the Great War and the Eastern Mediterranean starting to resemble a charnel house, what is the point of anything anymore?
In her book Second Hand Time, author Svetlana Alexievich interviews dozens of Russians after the collapse of the USSR in the early 90’s; the inescapable conclusion is her book offers Americans insight into how our Republic will end: we will go broke. But that’s not all. All of the US lies will finally be told. Gorbachev opened the vaults and showed the world just how truly evil their regime was. That day is coming for the United States. And the world will finally know that the US govt is the most dangerous organization on the face of the earth, far outweighing Iran China Russia—combined. As Mark Twain once said, “I hate my government, I love my people.” Today, Americans are afraid of their government, but perhaps not for very much longer.
That sounds like false equivalence to me. The USSR was Communist, and Communism is the most grotesque of political philosophies. However bad the people of the US might think their government is, at least it isn’t Communist.
“Support has been outstanding. Don’t believe what you read unless it comes from someone in the middle of it.”
That’s from the horse’s mouth. This is a shitty story piggybacking on misfortune.
The only people with the expertise will be the USMC and Airborne with associated enginering and signals skills. Anyone who lacks fitness, training and suitable clothing will rapidly suffer hyperthermia and most people will be incapable of action after 24 hours without sleep. People will need hot drinks, probably 4500 calories per day, perhaps even 8000 calories and perhaps four pints of water because they will be dehydrated.
The right vehicles will be needed and training how to drive them. Vehicles getting bogged down and locking roads will make a bad situation worse.
It may be needed to parachute people into remote areas with supplies who then create drop zones, even airfields for equipment. One of the key achievements in WW2 in supporting the Partisans in Jugoslavia was building runways in mountains so equipment could be brought in and injured evacuated. The Westland Lysander was used as it had a short take off and could land on rough fields and was flown by specially trained pilots.
Simple way to weed out unsuitable in FEMA. Cross country orienteering, carrying 60lb in conditions of cold wet and rain in winter, at night, navigate using map and compass, ford rivers up to wast high in water, keep going for five hours, say 2 am to 7 am. A test of endurance.
Roman soldiers marched 20 miles a day, carrying 60lb and then built a fort.
For people still not understanding what the problem is:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aityyQ6STt0
There are many, many roads with only 1~10 familes on them that are dead ending up a valley who now can not travel by car the 1~20 miles to any place with a contiguous road connection to the outside economy. If they have water pumped from a well, they now have no power with which to pump it and then drink it. The power grid is as destroyed as is the road grid. The road is washed out randomly to bedrock.
What permitted them to have roads and power grid connection before was the accumulated wealth of over a century, it will not be restored quickly, not enough bulldozers and grid electricians exist, and thousands of miles total in grid copper, poles, and transformers must be replaced.
It can not be done that quickly.
The cold of November and December will see people at these high altitudes with no power, no water, and maybe no intact housing and no road grade.