Hurricane Helene had devastating effects on Western North Carolina. Many residents are still displaced. Some of them are even living in tents right now.
Why then has FEMA and the North Carolina National Guard ceased operations in areas most impacted by Helene?
Mercury One executive director JP Decker joins Jill Savage on “Blaze News Tonight” to share what the nonprofit is doing to fill the gap in the government’s absence.
“The devastation is still there. Nothing has really changed in regards to some of those buildings in Asheville or Black Mountain,” says Decker, adding that there’s still “20- to 30-feet tall piles of debris.”
By the looks of the North Carolina National Guard’s social media pages, however, it would seem that they’re working tirelessly to help the victims.
But when Decker was on the grounds with Mercury One, “There was no FEMA, there was no National Guard.”
In addition to other nonprofits, he says, “It was the everyday person who was standing in the gap and doing what the government should have been doing.”
Making matters worse is the fact that the city of Asheville, North Carolina, recently installed a single-unit public bathroom that cost a pretty $400,000.
“This shows how important local government elections are when you have people who are willing to do something like this when there’s people that are suffering and living in tents,” says Decker.
Blaze News editor in chief Matthew Peterson points to a recent article written by Blaze News investigative journalists Steve Baker and Joseph Hanneman, in which they report the same story.
“The Army, Air Force, and National Guard have pulled most personnel from Western North Carolina. The temporary shelter need is ‘extremely urgent’ as winter looms,” they wrote.
Baker, who spent time in North Carolina helping with relief efforts, has a difficult time speaking about the tragic abandonment of the North Carolinians.
“We made relationships with these [government employees] and became very friendly with them. We were seeing each other every day; we were going out to the disaster relief site … going out with their dog teams, going out with their people, helping recover bodies and also help removing debris and clearing people’s property,” he says. “And then to see these forces removed … I get very emotional about this.”
“Last week … I drove over a 100 miles through the most devastated areas in the western part of the state and mile after mile after mile, tent after tent after tent, where people won’t leave their property because they’re afraid they’re going to lose it if they leave,” he recounts. “And not one military vehicle, not one troop on the ground.”
Shocked at what he was seeing, Baker said he called the public affairs offices to inquire about the egregious abandonment.
He was met with responses, such as, “You’re right, Mr. Baker. We withdrew.”
But when Baker asked the obvious follow up question — Why? — he was met with silence.
“There is no answer because there is no logical answer,” he tells the panel.
To hear more of the story, watch the clip above.
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