Tell that to the families who lost loved ones in the flood.
While tragic, it doesn't have anything to do with FEMA. FEMA doesn't raise the dead. I've never seen FEMA hand out a hot meal. I've never seen FEMA provide emergency supplies. I've never seen FEMA replace a pole; string conductor; repair a washed-out road; or so much as cut a tree out of the highway. I have, however, received a hot meal from churches, the Salvation Army, and volunteers. I've seen electrical crews come in from out of state (and in many cases part of those crews were our employees). I've seen state DOT repair roads; I've seen locals with tractors and chainsaw take it on themselves to clear away trees that weren't wrapped in power lines. What does FEMA do? FEMA comes along later with a check. I've seen FEMA reimburse utilities after disasters. I've seen FEMA pay for contractors to remove debris. I've seen FEMA offer applications for assistance. And this week I saw FEMA supplied/paid for trailer connected about 319 days after Hurricane Helene came through.
Not quite what people think FEMA does, is it? Guess what: That's what FEMA is designed to do, courtesy of fears in the 1970s that revamping Civil Defense could make the Soviets think we were preparing for a first strike. It takes roughly three days for outside help to come into a disaster area, and to date I haven't seen FEMA among them.
On the off chance anyone cares (which is doubtful), this is what I have observed post Helene: First response comes from locals, followed by state. Daybreak following Helene had everyone assessing damage, and locals start doing what they could to clear highways. Power lines down everywhere made that difficult. I was only able to drive out after someone hit and broke a cable. From then it was trying to find a way in to check on a family member we couldn't contact due to the phones being out. God kept both of us safe through the night: the family member was in a pocket with minimal to no damage, and had no idea things were in such bad shape. From there it was trying to make it in to work. That was successful, though ended up driving on the shoulders of the road around trees a few times. Work was concentrating on restoring power to what little we could and getting outside help. When I made it home that day, think I'd put over 200-250 miles on the odometer, and I'd filled up the evening before and set it to zero. The number "256" comes to mind, and maybe that or close to it was on the odometer. That's how far I I'd had to drive and back-track that day.
That was Friday. By Monday I saw state people setting up operations and coordinating getting outside help in. The local churches that had frozen food thawing had already cooked it on gas or grills and distributed it. Saw church volunteers from elsewhere come in and set up. Know the Salvation Army was involved in some of it. Saw the National Guard come in. Saw literally hundreds come in from other utilities to help us restore power. Didn't see FEMA, but I didn't expect to see FEMA. That Monday or Tuesday, someone came by the house to let us know where we could get a hot meals and other donated items. I wasn't there so I can't say they weren't FEMA but I suspect they were volunteers. By but must likely before Friday, someone had put up portable bulletin boards made out of plywood make into an "A" frame with notices for where to get assistance. FEMA had instructions on one how to contact them for assistance. Note that assistance was funding (see the above about FEMA coming along afterwards with a checkbook). God blessed us with very little damage, so we didn't apply for assistance.
About a month after Helene had come through, two people identifying themselves as FEMA reps did come by, maybe to to make sure everyone who needed assistance knew how to apply for it. And FEMA, I was told, funded private companies clearing away debris. But it's also my understanding that those private companies were coordinated by the state and counties. FEMA also usually gives financial assistance to utilities. FEMA might pick up some or all the tab, but FEMA didn't do the coordinating.
That says something about instances going all the way back to Hugo where donated items were warehoused instead of distributed. This was attributed to FEMA but I suspect states and locals had more to do with it.
One thing I've noticed over the years is that FEMA seems to have more hoops to jump through, but the nature of the hoops has me suspecting it's to curb funding abuse. If you hear that FEMA sometimes requires three bids, that's true, and has been for a long time. I think it predated Katrina. After a while many of these storms start running together in memory. Power restoration doesn't work that way, but they allow/allowed you can have preexisting contracts and work agreements. As it happens, when practically everything is on the ground, assessment is about all you can start with.
All this is probably stuff no one wants to here, but is what I've seen and is the truth. The remains the truth whether anyone accepts it or not.
www.yahoo.com
