PrairiePundit

  The Federalist Wire: ... Vice President JD Vance has taken the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to task for failing to swiftly allocate relief funds to victims of Hurricane Helene, which devastated Virginia, North Carolina, and other states late last September. Speaking in Damascus, Virginia, alongside Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, Vance highlighted the gap between congressional action and FEMA’s response, saying billions of dollars authorized for hurricane recovery remain largely undistributed. Vance, 40, accused FEMA of “holding up some of the aid here,” pointing to the stark disparity between the $4 billion earmarked for hurricane relief and the mere $47 million distributed so far. Many of the affected residents, he noted, lacked vital flood insurance, exacerbating their financial hardships. “The thing that I heard most when I was in western North Carolina before the inauguration,” Vance stated, “is that there are people who wanted to put trailers or other temp...

 Daily Signal: ... Yet is Hurricane Helene really proof that man-made climate change is making life more dangerous in the U.S.? The Heritage Foundation special report “ Keeping an Eye on the Storms : An Analysis of Trends in Hurricanes Over Time” answers definitively in the negative. In the report, Joe D’Aleo, visiting fellow in Heritage’s Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment, and Kevin Dayaratna, chief statistician in Heritage’s Center for Data Analysis, break down the data. Hurricanes have long plagued the continental United States, tracing back as far as the Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635, which hit the Jamestown Settlement and the Massachusetts Bay Colony only 15 years after the founding of Plymouth Plantation. From 1900 to 1960, no fewer than 112 hurricanes hit the continental U.S., long before the burning of fossil fuels on a mass scale. The deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history did not take place after the burning of fossil fuels, but before. The Galveston Hur...

  American Action News: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is short on resources after spending hundreds of millions on migrant services and “equity” programs, failed to answer roughly half of the phone calls made by survivors of Hurricanes Milton and Helene. Between Oct. 14 and Oct. 20, days after Milton hit Florida on Oct. 9, FEMA received 900,000 calls from survivors, but failed to answer 47% of them, Politico reported . The large number of missed calls was partially attributable to staff and resource shortages at the agency. FEMA, however, spent nearly $1 billion on providing services to illegal migrants and allocated $12 million for a grant program designed to increase equity in disaster responses by making greater investments in communities with high concentrations of racial or sexual minorities. The 53% of survivors who did have their calls answered waited an average of one hour and five minutes to speak with someone from FEMA, according to Politico. Dur...

  American Action News: Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gave a history lesson about hurricanes in Florida to a reporter who attempted to link Hurricane Milton to climate change during a Thursday press conference. A reporter asked DeSantis about how many storms throughout history have formed “as rapidly” as Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which both caused mass flooding and high winds throughout Florida. DeSantis pointed to a series of hurricanes that struck Florida in 2004 and in the 1940’s. “Speaking of history, sir, how many storms formed as rapidly as they have between Helene and Milton?” a reporter asked. “Oh, I think most people remember 2004 where it seemed like you had them every other week in 2004,” DeSantis said. “Then there’s also time periods, you know, we had from 2006 to ’16, we had no hurricanes at all in Florida. There’s also been times where we had a lot. The 1940s, we were getting hit a lot. Now more recently, we’ve had a spade of more. So that’s just kind of th...

 Newsmax: Hurricane Milton barreled into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday after plowing across Florida as a Category 3 storm, pounding cities with ferocious winds and rain, whipping up a barrage of tornadoes and causing an unknown numbers of deaths. It compounded the misery wrought by Helene while sparing Tampa a direct hit. The storm tracked to the south in the final hours and made landfall Wednesday night in Siesta Key, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Tampa. The situation in the Tampa area was still a major emergency as St. Petersburg recorded over 16 inches (41 centimeters) of rain, prompting the National Weather Service to warn of flash flooding there as well as other parts of western and central Florida. The storm knocked out power across a large section of Florida, with more than 3 million homes and businesses without electricity, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports. The fabric that serves as the roof of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays...

 Newsmax: Hurricane Milton is barreling toward Florida’s west coast, currently a Category 5 storm that is expected to bring 10 to 15 feet of catastrophic storm surge to the Tampa area that will result in “few places that are safe,” according to a simulation by The Weather Channel. At 3 feet, “water is already life-threatening,” according to The Weather Channel’s Stephanie Abrams in the simulation. “It’s too late to evacuate. Water can knock you off your feet,” she said. “At 6 feet, vehicles get carried away and structures start to fail,” she said. Above 9 feet, “first floor of structures are completely flooded and there are few places that are safe when the water rises this high.” Milton is expected to get bigger but weaken when it makes landfall late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning as a Category 3 hurricane. ... The 180 mph wind is also expected to cause major damage to the area and may impact highrise buildings whose upper floors would not ordinarily be impacted by the ...

 Daily Mail: Hurricane Milton live updates: Mayor warns 'if you stay you will die' as millions scramble to flee Florida as unprecedented 180mph hurricane barrels in threatening to be the worst storm in 100 years If such a hurricane were headed my way, I would leave, too. This one looks like it is making a beeline for Tampa, but it is big enough to damage most of Florida.  I suspect the storm surge will also be significant causing flooding well inland. See also: Thousands are trapped in Florida's Hurricane hell as traffic queues clog roads and gas is running out while monster storm Milton closes in and officials warn residents to 'flee or die' And:  FEMA accused of playing the victim after insisting criticism of Helene handling is 'dangerous:' 'The audacity' 'It has a tremendous impact on the comfort level of our own employees to be able to go out there,' FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said And:  Special ops vets form ‘Redneck Air Force’ t...

 Newsmax: Tech billionaire Elon Musk took to X on Friday afternoon to claim the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is "actively blocking" volunteers who try to help the struggling citizens of western North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene. "Just received this note from a SpaceX engineer helping on the ground in North Carolina," Musk wrote . "@FEMA is not merely failing to adequately help people in trouble, but is actively blocking citizens who try to help!" "Hey Elon, update here on site of Asheville, NC," Musk said his employee wrote. "We have powered up two large operating bases for choppers to deliver goods into hands. We've deployed 300+ starlinks 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," the post continued. "It's very real and scary how much they have taken ...

 Red State:   For people who have lost their homes, this does not begin to cover the damage.  It suggests that the administration values illegals more than it values citizens.  The administration wants to send more money to Ukraine than to American victims of flooding. See also: Joe Biden's Dawdling in Ordering Federal Troops for Disaster Relief Is Incompetent, Malicious, or Both And:   Biden, Harris Comments in Hurricane-Affected Area Raise Questions and Anger; Elon Wrecks Them in Tweet

 Streiff: It has been a week since Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina, and Joe Biden has finally announced, on behalf of whoever is running the country, that he has  authorized 1,000 federal troops  from Fort Bragg (I will never call it anything else) North Carolina, to assist in disaster relief operations a mere 250 miles away. ... The critical resources needed in the hardest hit areas of Western North Carolina are helicopters for getting stranded people out of danger and bringing supplies to areas cut off by flooding. As of Wednesday afternoon, the only military aircraft available are 11 from Florida, two from South Carolina, seven from Tennessee, and one from Virginia. Some of those may be in use in North Carolina as both Florida and South Carolina have sent National Guard contingents to North Carolina. ... A lot of hard questions are being asked about the lack of military support. ... Back to the video. Here's the problem, I'm going to tell you everything tha...

  Dementia Joe is already practically brain-dead.  I am not as old as Joe Biden but I am old enough to have experienced hurricanes some stronger than others.  History shows that before we had weather satellites and other means of tracking them some were more deadly than others.  I remember my mom and dad living through one in San Benito about 20 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico while I was in Quantico Virginia, training to become an officer in the Marine Corps.  People who live along the coast have learned to prepare for them and know that storms never last but pass with the wind. What made Helene somewhat unique was the rainfall once it got inland in the Carolinas.  It should be noted that hurricanes are at their lowest level this year compared to any time from 1861 to 1870. T. Ford    @ChimayBlue Joe, please go back to the beach so we don't have to hear your voice any longer. You were never running things anyway. 6:01 PM · Oct 2, 2024 · 352...

 NY Post: The death toll from catastrophic flooding in the Asheville area of western North Carolina more than tripled on Monday to at least 40 — as survivors in remote mountain towns described seeing the bodies of victims stuck in trees. Nationwide, there have been at least 133 fatalities from Hurricane Helene , which has cut a path of death and destruction across the Southeast since making landfall last Thursday. ... “There were bodies in trees. They were finding bodies under rubble,” said Alyssa Hudson, whose home of Black Mountain — a village of 8,400 people about 12 miles from Asheville — was all but destroyed. The rains smashed the mountains of Buncombe County, which contains Asheville, washing away whole communities in floodwaters and mudslides. Roadways were buried or dissolved altogether, leaving victims cut off from rescue crews. ... “We started seeing videos of our house posted to Facebook,” Hudson said. “Our floors are caved in, our walls are gone. We had a shed in our...

 Fox News: Biden admin's FEMA 'equity' plan faces backlash amid historic hurricane damage: 'What an embarrassment' FEMA states on their website that 'diversity, equity, and inclusion cannot be optional' You want people coming to the rescue to be selected on merit, not DEI.  When the going gets tough you need tough people coming to the rescue.  By the way, the NFL and NBA teams do not select players based on DEI. See also: Trump assassination attempt: Secret Service to face new lawsuit over DEI quota The proposed lawsuit against the Secret Service takes aim at a reported agency goal to reach a 30% female workforce And:   Biden gets defensive when pushed on who's 'commanding' Hurricane Helene response The president got testy with a reporter when questioned on White House's response over the weekend And:   North Carolina mounts massive search and rescue operation in wake of Helene Crews on Monday airlifted emergency food and water into remote No...