Year in review: Explosive report verifies troubled FEMA actions

By Alan Wooten
The Center Square

FEMA’s second of at least three consecutive years of significant North Carolina conversations was punctuated in October by the explosive report saying it politically discriminated against Americans under former President Joe Biden.

The Federal Emergency Management Association, always a target of critics during times of disaster while helping struggling survivors piece together their lives, was pivotal for western North Carolinians when Hurricane Helene spun into the state on the last weekend of September 2024. The response, then and continuing this year, has made it a hot-button issue.

Including for the 2026 midterm elections. Already, it is central to ad campaigns and talking points from U.S. Senate hopefuls Roy Cooper and Michael Whatley – the campaign and party of the former taking swings at Whatley’s role related to hurricane recovery within the Trump administration, the latter punching back on the embattled North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency created by Cooper after Hurricanes Matthew (2016) and Florence (2018).

The internal probe by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said reports of FEMA disaster assistance teams in 2024 bypassing homes displaying signs supporting then-presidential candidate Donald Trump were true and were indicative of a pattern tracing back to Hurricane Ida in 2021. The 22-page analysis made available Oct. 21 said FEMA violated the Privacy Act of 1974, treated individuals unfairly based on political beliefs, and these actions stemmed from systemic issues in FEMA policies, processes and practices.

As an example, on the Homeland Security report’s map, two notations for North Carolina include instances in October and November last year. The first says, “The survivor had a sign that read … NRA, we do our part,” and the second said, “Survivor stated that homes have been damaged, but there are Republicans on the grounds with guns so please be careful.”

Helene killed 108 in North Carolina, 237 in the South, and caused estimated damage between $60 billion and $80 billion in the state. The storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Dekle Beach, Fla., on Sept. 26, 2024.

Debris clearance allocated to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from FEMA exceeds $2 billion; FEMA Public Assistance has eclipsed $2 billion, money that is used for rebuilding public infrastructure like roads, schools and utilities; and FEMA Individual Assistance has topped $555 million. The latter is money via application going to survivors for housing and other needs.