Speaker of the Home Mike Johnson slammed the Biden administration’s dealing with of Hurricane Helene aid efforts, calling the federal authorities’s response an “abject failure.”
“At the federal level, this has been a massive failure. And you could just ask the people there on the ground. I have been there. I was in Georgia. I was in Florida, where Hurricane Helene made landfall there on the coast. And then we’ll be going to the hardest hit parts of North Carolina on Wednesday of this week. When you talk to the people who are directly affected, they will tell you that this has been an abject failure,” Johnson, R-La., informed Fox Information’ Shannon Bream throughout an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
Hurricane Helene has left extra than 220 folks lifeless after flooding devastated cities and cities throughout Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.
Johnson went on to say that the nation had greater than per week’s warning of the hurricane, and that FEMA ought to have been higher ready to help victims.
Speaker Mike Johnson mentioned FEMA ought to have been higher ready to help victims. (Getty Photographs)
“FEMA has lost sight of its core mission, I think, in so many cases. And the administration has not shown that they were prepared for this eventuality and this terrible disaster. The thing about hurricanes, Shannon, is that we know that they’re coming well in advance. You know, they had more than a week’s notice of this, and yet we still have people who have not been served and even rescued in North Carolina. It is a heartbreaking, tragic and infuriating situation to have the federal government fail as they have,” he mentioned.
A rescue crew paddles down the Swannanoa River on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. The remnants of Hurricane Helene prompted widespread flooding, downed bushes, and energy outages in western North Carolina. (Travis Lengthy/The Information & Observer/Tribune Information Service by way of Getty Photographs)
Republican elected officers, Elon Musk and volunteers have spoken out towards the federal government’s response to the hurricane, as crews proceed trying to find lacking folks and our bodies throughout the affected area.
HURRICANE HELENE: NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENTS FIGHT FOR THEIR SURVIVAL AS BASIC GOODS BECOME SCARCE
“There’s just a complete failure of weak leadership here in North Carolina, the federal government, and it takes mind-strong leadership in Florida to send us up here,” Florida Guard Particular Missions Unit’s Jon Howard, who’s helping rescue efforts in North Carolina, mentioned on Fox Information final week. “If it wasn’t for [Gov. Ron] DeSantis sending the state guard special missions unit up here, this never even would have happened. But there’s just no support here. There’s no leadership.”
Flood harm at a bridge throughout Mill Creek within the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Sept. 30, 2024 in Outdated Fort, North Carolina. (Sean Rayford/Getty Photographs)
“When we meet these locals on the ground, they’re asking, like, ‘You’re from the state guard?’ I’m like, ‘I am from Florida,’ and they’re like, ‘Where’s North Carolina?’ You know, they’re asking where their leadership is,” he continued. “They have no understanding of what’s going on, and then we’ve even had people, officials here, try to kick us out of Lakemoor, out of Chimney Rock… Nonsense stuff. They’re asking me for my authorizations to be here… It’s the most insane thing you would ever see. It’s like they want these people to die.”
Musk slammed FEMA on Friday for “blocking” shipments of Starlink satellite tv for pc web deliveries to North Carolina as ravaged areas attempt to get again on-line.
TRUMP TARGETS BIDEN, HARRIS OVER FEDERAL RESPONSE TO HURRICANE: ‘INCOMPETENTLY MANAGED’
“FEMA is not merely failing to adequately help people in trouble, but is actively blocking citizens who try to help!” Musk posted on X.
Musk mentioned later that day that the issue was “resolved,” crediting Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, with FEMA denying any claims it confiscated any provides for hurricane victims.
The remnants of a house are seen in Lake Lure, North Carolina, Oct. 2, 2024, after the passage of Hurricane Helene. (Allison Joyce/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
President Biden surveyed harm from the hurricane in North Carolina and South Carolina final week, in addition to spoke and met with victims in Florida and Georgia on Thursday, and known as on Congress to replenish funds for catastrophe aid applications.
Johnson continued that Congress will likely be again in session instantly following the election on Nov. 5 to handle extra funding to FEMA for potential extra hurricanes and pure disasters within the instant future.
ELON MUSK SLAMS FEMA OVER HELENE RESPONSE IN NORTH CAROLINA AS SPACEX LOOKS TO SET UP NEW STARLINKS
Home Speaker Mike Johnson speaks throughout a information convention in Washington, D.C., on June 26, 2024. (Alex Wong/Getty Photographs)
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“Congress will do its job. Remember that before we left Washington, the day before Helene hit, by the way, made landfall, Congress appropriated 20 billion additional dollars to FEMA so that they would have the immediate dollars they need to address the immediate needs. Then after that, Congress always takes its – the due approach of providing what is necessary,” he mentioned, explaining that Congress first must see estimates on the harm from states, which he mentioned can take time to calculate.
