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To: didjuneau who wrote (437233)	10/7/2024 8:16:04 PM
From: didjuneau	1 Recommendation Recommended By Thehammer Respond to of 454165

'Still No FEMA, Still No Military': Volunteers Blast Helene Response on CNN newsweek.com Published Oct 06, 2024 at 6:10 PM EDT Updated Oct 07, 2024 at 10:12 AM EDT By Mandy Taheri Weekend Reporter During a CNN interview on Sunday afternoon, volunteer pilots and relief organizers criticized the federal government's response to Hurricane Helene, saying there's "still no FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency], still no military" in North Carolina, which was ravaged by the storm late last month. Hurricane Helene made landfall on Florida's Big Bend region on September 26 as a Category 4 hurricane and then tore through the Southeast region of the United States. It hit parts of Western North Carolina particularly hard, washing away roads, destroying homes, and leaving millions without power. According to the Associated Press, 227 people have died across six states as a result of the storm, with the number expected to rise as relief efforts continue, making it the deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. On Sunday, directors of two major volunteer relief groups, Operation Airdrop and Operation Helo, somberly described the realities on the ground to CNN host Omar Jimenez. Operation Airdrop chairman Doug Jackson struggled to explain the destruction he saw in the region, "Their homes are gone. What they have around them is all they have left in this world. It's absolutely devastating for them. It's hard to describe, never seen anything like it." The volunteer group uses planes and pilots to deliver life-saving supplies to people in need in more remote and inaccessible locations. Jackson said the operation "had flown 673 flights, delivered over 400,000 pounds by air, and 700,000 pounds by truck, for a total of almost 1.2 million pounds of supplies out of one airport." Limited by fixed-wing planes at the Concord-Padgett airport outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, Jackson said he spoke with his friend Matt McSwain, who quickly co-founded Operation Helo to deploy helicopters to hard-to-reach areas. Operation Helo is based out of Hickory Regional Airport in Western North Carolina. McSwain said Operation Helo has "forged over 400 LZs [helicopter landing zones] over the mountains into the remote locations," adding that the operation is "flying over 400 missions per day, we have over 90 helicopters registered." During the interview, McSwain called out the federal government, explaining that when the operation began, "there was no military presence, there was no military help, there was no FEMA, there was no nothing." He continued that today, nearly a week-and-a-half after the hurricane hit, there's "still no FEMA, still no military, still no nothing, we're begging—this is day eight, nine now."