Helene Death Toll Passes 200, FEMA Accused of ‘Seizing’ AidLegal Insurrection by Leslie Eastman Friday, October 4, 2024
The man-made disaster that is FEMA: Whistleblower details ‘waste’ of taxpayer funds and staff waiting in hotels.The official death toll from Hurricane Helene is now 213, and desperate aid and recovery efforts continue throughout the American Southeast.
Searches for missing loved ones grow more desperate each day as officials say hundreds are unaccounted for. Rescue crews are hindered by cell service outages and ruined roads and bridges as federal officials warn money to help people get back on their feet is tenuous with 57 days still left in the official hurricane season.
…A massive relief effort is underway across the region to restore shredded power grids and rebuild damaged water and cell infrastructure. Transportation infrastructure across the region also has suffered “unprecedented damage” after Helene ripped up and washed out roads and blasted through bridges, Polly Trottenberg, deputy secretary of the US Transportation Department, said Thursday.
Hundreds of roads remain closed, hampering efforts to send aid to hard-hit communities. And for those who left before Helene, the closures have delayed their return to check on family, friends and the state of their homes. Some areas are so inaccessible supplies are being delivered by mule and air.
The death toll is likely to be much higher when recovery efforts are complete, based on reports streaming in from social media.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) faces backlash over reports that claim the agency supplies indirect aid supporting illegal aliens. Then Mayorkas announced FEMA had no money for a second hurricane response.
The agency’s solution was an attempt to gaslight Americans…which was a poor choice.
Now the agency is facing allegations that relief workers are sitting idle without orders — and that those who are working are “seizing” aid deliveries and slow-walking distribution of Starlink satellite internet equipment.
The allegations were outlined by Elon Musk, the CEO of Starlink operator SpaceX, and by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), citing on-the-ground whistleblowers as the death toll topped 215 across six states, making the storm the deadliest in America since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
“Just received this note from a SpaceX engineer helping on the ground in North Carolina. @FEMA is not merely failing to adequately help people in trouble, but is actively blocking citizens who try to help!” Musk wrote on X.
The note read: “Hey Elon, update here on site of Asheville, NC. We have powered up two large operating bases for choppers to deliver goods into hands. We’ve deployed 300+ starlinks [sic] and outpour is it has saved many lives. The big issue is FEMA is actively blocking shipments and seizing goods and services locally and locking them away to state they are their own.
..[Congressman Matt] Gaetz, meanwhile, wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that “my office has been in contact with whistleblowers in numerous emergency-management functions at the federal, state, and local levels, and they all point to the same critical mismanagement issues.”
The FEMA whistleblower allegations are quite damning, especially in regards to the deployment of first responders.
A letter from a whistleblower to Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. details how the department has wasted and misappropriated funds in the wake of Helene and is now ‘exacerbating the emergency.’
The letter also alleges ‘hundreds if not thousands’ of first responders and service members have been ‘without deployment orders’ with some waiting around in hotels while others ‘have sat idle’ as Americans throughout the southeast are in dire need.
…’FEMA has wasted taxpayer funds misappropriated funds, and left other federal, state, and local responders without deployment orders on the ground,’ Gaetz, a close ally of ex-President Donald Trump, wrote.
More:
https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/10/helene-death-toll-passes-200-fema-accused-of-seizing-aid/
