In late September the extra warm waters of the western Carribean created Hurricane Helene. After hitting Mexico and Cuba the category 5 storm headed northeast. The Florida Panhandle was struck hard on September 26 and 27 by Hurricane Helene dropping twelve inches of rain and pummeling coastal towns with 140 mph winds. Even worst was that the hurricane maintained its destructive power to devastate inland Georgia and North Carolina. Over 200 dead and an estimated $150 billion of damage. Landslides and floods were on a biblical scale.
As the federal government swung into action Donald Trump flew to North Carolina to survey the damage. According to The Guardian Donald Trump spoke in front of a furniture store gutted by Hurricane Helene in Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday, claiming falsely that Georgia’s governor had not been able to reach Joe Biden.
Upon landing in Valdosta, Trump claimed to reporters the president had been “sleeping” and that Brian Kemp, the governor, had been “calling the president and hasn’t been able to get him”. He repeated the false claim when speaking in front of the store.
Kemp refuted the allegation earlier in the day. He said he had been playing phone tag with Kamala Harris but also said: “The president just called me yesterday afternoon and he just said: ‘Hey, what do you need?’ … He offered that if there’s other things we need, just to call him directly, which, I appreciate that.”
During the White House press briefing on Monday, the homeland security adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall said Biden had offered Kemp “anything” Georgia needed in terms of storm response.
Of course we all remember Trump throwing donated paper towels to a group of survivors in San Juan, Puerto Rico two weeks after Hurricane Maria left 93% of the island without power. MAGA supporters asked, “Where is Biden?”
In the White House coordinating the relief effort. Since a week ago FEMA has delivered approximately 6.1 million liters of water and 4.1 million meals. More than 70,000 people have registered for individual assistance through FEMA. Power has been restored to more than 800,000 customers according to https://ncnewsline.com/
It will take years to recover from this storm and Hurricane Milton is expected to strike the Tampa area shortly. Another category 4. Prayers and thoughts won’t help, since few news agencies or politicians aren’t discussing how the global climate change is showing its muscle. The tipping point was passed in 2011 and there’s no turning back. Bible thumpers get your prayers ready. Just understand that we are doomed, but we’ve survived the Ice Age. We will this time too. With the help of the horseshoe crabs.
