When Hurricane Helene hit land in Florida, it had developed into a Category 4 storm, and everyone watched the Sunshine State to see how it would respond. Florida did take some major damage, but the worst of Helene headed instead for the western Carolinas and southern Appalachia. 

As CBS News and USA Today report, the devastation has reached "biblical" levels, or perhaps even "apocalyptic," as this report from CBS suggests. More than 100 people have been killed, and as yet, it does not appear that the federal or North Carolina governments have prepared for the scope of the catastrophe:

More than 2 million people remained without power late Sunday across the Southeast in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, including more than 430,000 in North Carolina, where the deadly storm pulverized homes, trapped residents, spawned landslides, and submerged communities under raging floodwaters.

At least 90 people have died across multiple states since the record-breaking storm hit Florida's Big Bend as a Category 4 hurricane with 140-mph winds Thursday, before moving north through Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas and weakening to a post-tropical cyclone. The death toll is expected to rise.

On Sunday, North Carolina officials were still trying to grasp the level of devastation. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said at a news conference that at least 11 people died in the devastated state, "and tragically we know there will be more."

So what is being done about it? CBS reports that North Carolina is attempting to get water and other supplies to the devastated area. The Federal Emergency Management Agency only gets a mention at the end, however:

The state was sending water supplies and other items toward Buncombe County and Asheville, but mudslides blocking Interstate 40 and other highways prevented supplies from making it. The county's own water supplies were on the other side of the Swannanoa River, away from where most of the 270,000 people in Buncombe County live, officials said....

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell toured south Georgia on Sunday and planned to be in North Carolina on Monday.

"It's still very much an active search and rescue mission" in western North Carolina, Criswell said. "And we know that there's many communities that are cut off just because of the geography" of the mountains, where damage to roads and bridges have cut off certain areas.

Ahem. There are ways to deal with "geography," and obstructed roads and bridges. Where are FEMA's air assets and personnel? The National Guard has already begun its aid missions and has their own air assets. Are they being deployed? What coordination has there been?

So far no one has reported any such deployment, which has John Schindler concerned:

National Guard is in action with rescues & recovery after #Helene. Inside NC alone, DoD has 200+ helos & rotary-lift aircraft, between Ft Liberty (formerly Bragg) and MCAS New River -- are they in action? Maybe they are, but I haven't seen it reported.

If not, why the hell not?

— John Schindler (@20committee) September 30, 2024

Once Helene turned in that direction, the potential for this devastation should have been clear. FEMA and the state governments along its projected path should have staged rescue and aid assets in close enough proximity to launch as the storm ended. Florida staged its assets, including electricity-grid repair assets, to ensure prompt reaction when the storm passed. They also sent assets that turned out to be unneeded to North Carolina to assist in rescue and recovery. Thus far, however, the federal government hasn't given much indication of substantial preparation or response.

Joe Biden did approve an emergency declaration for North Carolina, opening up funds for recovery, but that's a longer-term response. The White House has tried to reassure people that both Biden and Kamala Harris are on top of developments, but this picture doesn't really inspire much confidence:

I was just briefed by @FEMA_Deanne Criswell on the latest developments about the ongoing impacts of Hurricane Helene. We also discussed our Administration's continued actions to support emergency response and recovery.

I also spoke with @NC_Governor Cooper about the ongoing… pic.twitter.com/nlZPB0h3mO

— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) September 30, 2024

That might be comforting, except ...

Why aren’t your headphones plugged into your phone? https://t.co/lkPykBzwdD pic.twitter.com/EHrXJuPE6E

— Still Boneless (@still_boneless) September 30, 2024

Writing from North Carolina, Sister Toldjah has more at RedState on the lack of strategic thinking in the White House:

Indeed, Biden was vacationing (again) at Rehoboth Beach this weekend while Harris was wining and dining at left coast campaign fundraisers. In fairness, Biden had already done the official things presidents typically do when clearing the way for federal assistance. But the insensitivity of him relaxing beachside and Harris clinking glasses at megadonor fundraisers, while Katrina-like destruction was unfolding elsewhere, wasn't lost on their critics.

It is perhaps with that in mind that Harris (or her handlers) posted a photo to the Twitter machine late Sunday night showing her with her cell phone in front of her, a pen in her hand, and wearing her earbuds, looking like she was doing official work ...

There are a couple of things that I find super-annoying about the photo. First, if she indeed really wasn't on the phone (and FWIW she's been known to play games with her earbuds before), it's just more fakery on top of fakery from a candidate and team who try reinventing her as a "great leader" just about every single day.

It also looks like a case of too little, too late:

The other thing and more importantly is that not one person in this country who is heartbroken and praying for western North Carolina families should be impressed with the photo and caption considering it was posted two days after the region got hammered by Helene and after Harris had other priorities that didn't include expressing anything beyond the bare minimum concern for the hundreds of thousands who have been negatively impacted in my state.

Hurricane Katrina itself caused over 1300 deaths and $125 billion in economic damage. This storm was a little less powerful, and it didn't hit a concentrated urban area, so we can expect the economic damage to be somewhat lower -- but the human cost of Helene could be in range, given the more remote and disconnected rural communities it hit. Politically, it's too early to assess, but so far both the president and vice president look very disconnected from the catastrophe ... literally, in Kamala Harris' case.

Don't expect the media to paint it that way. They will avoid the comparisons, especially as it relates to the narrative they spun about George W. Bush in 2005 with far less justification in the first couple of days. But if the Biden-Harris administration can't get ahead of this quickly, the incompetence will be impossible to ignore.

Addendum: David will have more on Biden's messaging in the next post. 

Update: Like most of the Biden administration, Job One at FEMA doesn't have anything to do with emergency response:

According to FEMA’s website, storm preparation doesn’t even rank among the top two priorities of the federal relief agency. FEMA’s stated goals include, first, instilling “equity as a foundation of emergency management,” and second, to “lead whole of community in climate resilience.” The goal to “promote and sustain a ready FEMA and prepared nation” ranks third under an administration obsessed with promoting identity politics at every level of the federal bureaucracy. When President Joe Biden was sworn into office, one of his first appointments was former White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice to lead the Domestic Policy Council. She was tasked with requiring agencies make “rooting out systemic racism” a focal point of their mission.

At least their failures will be equitable.