Recent reports out of Western North Carolina claim that the Biden administration’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) planned to end temporary housing assistance for thousands of residents during a snowstorm in which temperatures dropped below freezing. Months after Hurricane Helene, North Carolinians are still struggling from the devastation that occurred in the Fall.
Reportedly, the housing program was supposed to end on Friday but moved to push back the deadline to Saturday. Ryan McClymonds, founder of volunteer group Operation Boots on the Ground, which has assisted in Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee, explained that some families in the state are set to lose critical resources.
“I’m actually talking to several people that are losing the FEMA vouchers,” McClymonds told Fox News Digital last week. “They’re terrified that they’re going to have nowhere to stay for their families after today. But we did find out last night pretty late … that FEMA is extending it a whole whopping 24 hours,” he continued, illustrating residents’ concerns.
Furthermore, the Biden administration is facing backlash over the response to Hurricane Helene. “Biden and Mayorkas bankrupted FEMA to pay for illegal immigrant housing, and now American citizens who lost their homes in Hurricane Helene are essentially being told to screw,” Trump spokeswoman and incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said about the matter. “This is unfair and arguably criminal. The good news is: President Trump will be back very soon to put Americans first again.”
Reportedly, local leaders such as North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein “and state emergency officials continue to urge FEMA to grant an additional extension so western North Carolinians have a safe and warm shelter to ride out this storm,” communications director Kate Frauenfelder said in a statement last week.
Moreover, as the largely uncontained wildfires continue to rage throughout Southern California, many have called for the federal government and FEMA to extend aid to those who have lost everything in the costly natural disaster. Following a video statement from First Lady Melania Trump extending her condolences to Californians, many reacted, arguing that the government has failed to prioritize North Carolina.
“The fires in California, it’s devastating. I’m thinking about those people, and I pray for them,” the first lady said. “So many people lost their homes, and I have a gentleman here on the crew working with me, he lost three homes. It’s devastating,” she continued, explaining the magnitude of loss in the state. Melania added that she hopes those in need are given necessary help. “And i just hope that everybody evacuated, that they are safe. And I hope that the government and FEMA is there for to help them,” she said.
However, users on social media pointed out that those in North Carolina are still suffering. “Let’s see who they help first North Carolina or California this is going to get real interesting,” one comment read. Another user echoed this sentiment, writing, “Maui and North Carolina are still suffering with no homes, heat, or resources. They have been ignored by FEMA. FEMA is tone deaf. People who lost everything were told to get online to register for aid. Areas still do not have heat or power. How can they access the internet. Someone that lost THREE houses surely has resources to draw on unlike mountain people.”
Watch Melania below:
Featured image credit: Bill McMannis, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Devastation_in_Asheville_after_Hurricane_Helene.jpg
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