In the wake of Hurricane Helene's impact on the Florida coast on September 25th, leaving a path of destruction through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee, the areas that received some of the worst destruction were the unlikeliest places. Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina were devastated by Helene. However, in the aftermath, the story did not receive the attention of past natural disasters. To me, this event felt like a Hurricane Katrina-level disaster, without a Katrina-level response. For one, the media seemingly moved on from the story quite quickly. There were no celebrity telethons, nor was there an immediate activation of United States military personnel to the area.
As someone who served seven and a half years as a logistics officer in the United States Army, in both the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions, I understand that both units are uniquely skilled to enter an austere environment and conduct sustainment operations. In 2005, the 3rd Brigade 82nd Airborne was used specifically in New Orleans after Katrina hit. In 2010, the 2nd Brigade 82nd Airborne was sent to Haiti after a massive earthquake hit the country. So why was Helene's response different? I traveled to Asheville, NC, to find out for myself.
I had three goals. First, I wanted to see the role FEMA was playing on the ground, especially in light of conflicting reports of their involvement which spread online in the days after the storm. Were they providing supplies or stealing them? Were they shutting down volunteer organizations and preventing civilian helicopter pilots from flying Starlinks to cut-off areas, or assisting them? My second goal was to see what the organizations on the ground needed to continue providing support. Lastly, I wanted to talk with the locals, to see if they felt supported.
In the days after the hurricane made landfall, rumors swirled about how the federal government had responded. First, it was said that the FAA was grounding civilian rescue flights and those delivering supplies. After Elon Musk posted about it on X, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg responded, and the air was opened back up. Then there were reports of FEMA doing very little to help, but also actively making it harder for volunteer organizations to operate. There were even some rumors about agents stealing supplies off trucks. I did not personally witness these things happening and could not verify the witness stories I did hear. There is a likelihood that these were simply looters acting as federal agents to steal supplies. The entire time I was there I only saw two FEMA agents accompanied by two ATF agents. The only other federal employees I encountered helping in North Carolina were US Special Forces working in coordination with volunteers at a staging area they called 'FOB Savage.'
I arrived on Saturday, October 5th, just over a week after the storm hit. I had heard that Vice President Kamala Harris was supposed to be in the area to visit those affected. Thankfully she visited Charlotte, about 120 miles away from the heart of the clean-up effort. Sure it would have been good for her to see the devastation firsthand, but it would have also grounded all rescue flights for most of the day.
In Asheville and surrounding areas, the volunteer response was/is incredible. FOB Savage was started by retired Green Beret and founder of Savage Freedoms, Adam Smith. The ad-hoc group consisted of former Special Forces members, volunteer medical personnel, civilian helicopter pilots, and volunteers managing supplies. I was even informed by one person that elements from the North Carolina National Guard were reporting to them because they were previously being under-utilized. The group sent highly skilled members into the mountains and dropped them off to locate people in the remote mountainous terrain. Once they knew where people were located, they were able to send up supplies, along with generators and Starlink systems so they would be able to communicate their needs more efficiently.
My second day was spent around the Asheville city area looking for FEMA. I wanted to see their operation and maybe dispel some of the rumors. First, I went down to the river. Along it, I saw the devastation firsthand. First responders and search and rescue teams searched the area. There were cars stuck in the mud; Some flipped over. The remains of PVC pipes from a manufacturing plant were scattered down the river. I went to the River Arts District, a spot I visited in 2021. The coffee shop I once bought coffee in was falling into a hole. The cafe where I had lunch had collapsed. Buildings that once had murals painted on them were gone. Other buildings barely stood, with just the frame holding them up. There I ran into people cleaning up the debris. A man told me they had been getting support from FEMA to clean up the area. This was the first positive that I heard about the organization helping, though they were not on site for me to confirm they were helping.
From there, I was given a tip to see what was happening at Asheville's Register of Deeds office. Outside, there were lines of volunteers gathering to do wellness checks on people in the area. I was told by one volunteer, who was organizing much of the activity, that everyone working at the site was a volunteer. Asheville city center was not affected by the hurricane because it sits atop a hill, hundreds of feet above the nearby rivers. So the day after Helene hit, the office started receiving calls because they had not been able to contact loved ones and were looking for help. The head of the office decided to open the location for volunteers to run operations out of to make sure their citizens were taken care of. However, Monday was the last day they would be operating as the office needed to open for regular business on Tuesday.
I then went to see the operation at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, where I spoke with Pastor Skopak on the recommendation of friends. The church has an internal national network set up to bring in needed supplies. I watched volunteers unload a semi-truck filled with goods from the Orphan Grain Train organization. They were doing what I would expect a church to be doing, taking care of the people, and supporting the community without reliance on the federal government.
I stopped at every location listed on the Blue Ridge Public Radio website where FEMA was supposed to be located if people needed help applying for assistance. They were nowhere to be found. They were like an urban legend, people said they were there and around, but I seemed to keep missing them.
So why was the response in Western North Carolina different from New Orleans? Geography. As it was explained to me, 'New Orleans is a bowl. Water filled up the bowl, water left the bowl and you could see all the devastation.' In New Orleans, you could walk through the destruction, it's flat. In the mountains, people are more spread out and the only way to see much of the damage is via helicopter. Even in a helicopter tree cover still conceals much of the damage. It also seems that a lot of people can't comprehend a hurricane hitting the coast and causing the most damage nearly 500 miles away in the mountains. It's similar to the reaction to snow in the south. The people who deal with it year after year, don't understand how an area that never experiences snow, wouldn't be prepared to deal with it when it does come.
FEMA should be prepared though. I was told by one source in Asheville, 'I have little support for an organization that can't perform their sole function. If your sole responsibility is to prepare and respond to natural disasters, you should have a plan for every situation humanly possible.’ If FEMA wants to do the job it receives millions of dollars for, it needs to learn how those in the Department of Defense operate. Military units are better qualified to handle these kinds of situations, and if they weren't being used overseas, they would be better positioned to react than FEMA.
After being on the ground, I was really able to see how tone-deaf the response from the federal government was. They have offered $750 in immediate assistance to those affected, however, the bulk of those affected still don't have power and access to the internet to apply. On top of that, none of the stores are open, so that money is currently useless. The people need their basic needs met, and in the current environment that will not come from money. It comes from organizations across the country and is handed out through volunteers in the area. In reality, money is nothing to those who need assistance, but it is invaluable to those providing assistance.
