After Hurricane Helene, questions arise about government response | Real Time Headlines

There were long lines at gas stations. The shelter is full. More than 300 roads are closed. Severely damaged water systems may take weeks to repair.

Hundreds of miles from where it made landfall in Big Bend, Florida, Hurricane Helen causes unprecedented destruction In western North Carolina, at least 49 people died, dozens missing.

“The level of devastation is unbelievable,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said at a news conference Monday afternoon. “Even if you prepare for something like this, this is something that has never happened in western North Carolina.” matter.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency reported Monday that it had delivered about 1 million liters of water and more than 600,000 meals to North Carolina. More than 5,000 families have contacted FEMA to apply for assistance by phone and online.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell, who joined Cooper in Asheville on Monday, said more than 1,200 federal workers are now on the scene to respond to the worst outbreak in North Carolina’s history. one of the disasters and vowed: “As long as there is time, we will work here.” The time required to complete this response and continue recovery.

However, some residents also criticized They believe there is a lack of preparedness for a catastrophic storm.

Devonna Brown, an Asheville business owner, said she feels the city is failing residents. “They should have been more prepared. They knew this storm was coming,” she said. “We’re very frustrated about it. I mean, there’s no way in, there’s no way out.”

Sara Legatski, another Asheville business owner, said officials should have expressed more urgency and provided emergency water sooner.

“There should be a more urgent call for people to prepare,” she said. “Do they know how fragile our water system is and are they holding water up in the mountains ready to be trucked here? None of this is surprising. Anyone who acts that surprising hasn’t been here long enough. , also not from the mountains, don’t understand how water works.

Spokespersons for the city and Buncombe County, which includes Asheville, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on residents’ criticism.

Cooper said at a news conference Monday that people are working around the clock to provide food, water and assistance. Flooding and rising rivers have kept first responders from accessing some communities, he said.

At a news conference earlier Monday, Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder expressed frustration with what she said was a slow response to requests for supplies.

“We’ve been asking for water, but we’re only getting it, and it’s still very little,” she said. “There are great needs in our communities, and we want to see a different response from our state partners, a better response from our state partners,” which is being met through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

At a White House press briefing on Monday, Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall told reporters that FEMA focused its prepositioning efforts on the Great Bend, Florida, area and that the effort saved lives. Once logged in, it “surges capacity to where it’s needed most.” She noted that western North Carolina has now been identified as the hardest-hit region.

Rep. Chuck Edwards, a Republican who represents western North Carolina, said state emergency officials couldn’t tell him what happened to 400 pallets of food and water sent by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for hurricane relief. Edwards staff said two counties in particular, Haywood and McDowell, are in dire need of water. FEMA said in a news release that it has delivered 25 trailers of food and 60 trailers of water to North Carolina.

State officials are currently distributing the items, but Edwards’ staff said they can’t yet determine where or when they will go. A state official told Edwards’ team via email on Sunday that the state would make announcements to counties about food and water distribution locations. “If the public were simply told that water etc. was being dropped at point X, we might see people actually fighting over who gets what,” the official said.

When asked by NBC News on Monday if the Federal Emergency Management Agency knew what was happening to the water and why it wasn’t getting to those who needed it most quickly, Criswell said the agency was ” Provide as many resources as they ask for” and try to “push” the water in. ”

“We all need to work together to make sure we understand where communities are that maybe we haven’t provided those resources to them,” she said.

NBC News also asked FEMA spokesperson Jaclyn Rothenberg about a Sept. 17 request for more resources, which cited “critical shortages” for some disaster response teams. Rotenberg acknowledged that staffing is an issue. “It’s true that we have performed many missions in many disasters,” she said. That’s why the agency called for a so-called “surge force” in mid-September.

On Monday, about three days after Category 4 Storm Helen hit Florida, survivors in North Carolina were searching for food and clean water and traveling from shelter to shelter.

The hurricane, which followed a torrential downpour that dropped more than half a foot of rain on parts of western North Carolina, was downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved north, causing mudslides, downed trees, destroyed bridges and roads. It was destroyed, killing thousands of people.

“The damage is very severe,” said state Transportation Secretary Joey Hopkins. “This is an all-hands-on-deck event.”

Meanwhile, water, electric and cellphone service outages remain widespread in Buncombe County and other parts of western North Carolina, officials said.

Asheville Assistant City Manager Ben Woody said the city’s critical infrastructure has been damaged, including the water system. “The damage to Asheville’s water system is catastrophic — our water system is severely damaged.”

Drew Reisinger, Buncombe County’s recorder of deeds, said more than 11,000 people have requested help trying to locate loved ones they can’t reach because of spotty cellphone service. Reisinger said officials have narrowed the number of priority missing persons cases to 150, most of whom are elderly or medically dependent, and crews have been deployed to homes and other locations to try to find them.

State and federal officials said Monday that crews are still working frantically to distribute water, restore cell phone service, repair damage to utility infrastructure and more than 300 roads that remain closed across the state, mostly in North Carolina. west.

Pinder said staff have been distributing some bottled water to residents of Buncombe County public housing. Separate water distribution centers were also set up Monday, with officials limiting water supply to a day’s supply per person (about 3 gallons).

Before the storm hit last week, the county tried to avoid water shortages by requesting water and other supplies, Pinder said.

“We asked for water before the storm even started because we knew, not that it was going to fail, but we asked for water so people could have extra water,” Pinder said. “We want food, we want to Ask for anything as we feel some people will be cut off due to the coming heavy rain.”

Pinder said such requests would be submitted to the state, which would fulfill them with assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Despite the advance request, Buncombe County received its first shipment of water at 2:30 a.m. Monday, Pinder said.

When asked if the county had its own water reserves to handle such emergencies, Pinder admitted it did not.

“We don’t have county inventory,” she said. She added that the county relied on contractors for water reserves, but said the county was unable to immediately obtain water from the main local supplier it normally relies on during emergencies because “Swath The Nanoa River cuts them off from us and we can’t go to that stockpile.

During the press conference, Cooper assured residents that the state is working to meet their outstanding needs. “What we want to tell people is that more help is coming,” he said. “That’s our main mission right now, this is a massive coordinated effort to help the field.”

Additional reporting by Jon Allen.