When natural disaster strikes, the legacy of Ronald Reagan haunts

It’s long been a cliché that Republicans are against the government until disaster strikes. At a 1986 press conference, Ronald Reagan uttered the words “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help” as an irony-laden expression of Republican distrust and suspicion of the federal government. An argument could be made that Trumpism has only amplified the anti-government ideology that has been the heart and soul of the GOP for decades. Yet those exact words are expressed by the actions of thousands of federal government employees fanned out over the states of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina and Virginia to help with rescue and cleanup operations in the wake of Hurricane Helene last week.

Congressman Jeff Jackson, who represents the 14th District of North Carolina, located to the west of Charlotte, sent a message Monday outlining the needs of the mountainous region of the Tar Heel state, hardest hit by what he called a “once-in-500-year flood.” Governor Roy Cooper’s request for a declaration of disaster was swiftly approved by President Joe Biden, who did the same for Florida before the storm even touched down.  The North Carolina National Guard has dispatched hundreds of troops, large trucks and other vehicles capable of driving through high water, helicopters, and tents to the region. They’re delivering badly needed food and water to areas of the state that are completely cut off because of flood damage to roads and are supplementing search and rescue teams that have surged into North Carolina, Georgia and the other hard-hit states searching for flood victims. According to Jackson, the National Guard has done more than 100 rescues of people cut off by floods, and the search for more continues. 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has sent more than 3,000 employees into affected states to help with search and rescue operations and to supply needed food and water to affected areas. North Carolina Department of Transportation has 1,600 people on the ground clearing fallen trees and power lines so that roads can be reopened to reach villages and towns cut off by the floods. News film from North Carolina has shown at least one town completely wiped out by massive flooding. States not hit by Hurricane Helene are sending rescue crews and electrical linemen to help restore power. According to Jackson, two days ago, there were as many as a million people without power, a number that has been reduced to 400,000 as power lines are repaired and substations that were flooded are cleaned up and rehabbed. 

Communications are being restored by emergency cell towers that have been erected in areas of Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee where they were knocked out. The emergency towers will provide “disaster roaming” so that cell phones using any network can access them. 

Helene was one of the largest and most powerful hurricanes to hit the United States in decades. Coming ashore as a Category 4, the storm was hundreds of miles wide and caused extremes of rainfall hundreds of miles inland from the Gulf Coast, where its storm surge flooded towns, knocked out power, and caused widespread devastation. By late afternoon on Monday, more than 130 people had been killed by flooding, fallen trees, and other disastrous results of the hurricane, and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper told reporters that he expected that number to go up.

So many bridges were destroyed throughout the region that the Army Corps of Engineers is moving emergency “bridging solutions” into Tennessee and North Carolina and Georgia, according to NBC News. Damage in the Lake Lure/Chimney Rock area of North Carolina is being described as post-apocalyptic, with the lake’s surface almost completely covered by debris from destroyed houses, docks, and commercial buildings. 

Only state governments and the federal government are large enough and have access to enough resources to deal with devastation of this magnitude. After rescue operations and the supply of immediate food, water, and shelter needs are concluded, it will take months just to clean up the damage done by the storm. Photos of some of the towns show carpets of two-by-fours and roof rafters where homes and businesses once stood. Cars and light trucks were tossed around by the flooding as if they were toys.   

Donald Trump visited Valdosta, Georgia on Monday. The campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris canceled her scheduled events Monday and she returned to Washington D.C. for in-person briefs on the recovery efforts. She is expected to begin visiting affected areas on Tuesday.

Politics will inevitably enter the picture of the reaction to this storm as it has after others. Already, a Tennessee legislator has been quoted as saying that the federal declaration of emergency necessary for FEMA relief was “finally” given, as if the White House was late in granting it. Actually, the White House approved a federal disaster declaration immediately after the governor of Tennessee asked for it. All states affected by Hurricane Helene have received a federal declaration of disaster, setting in motion federal emergency relief through FEMA and other federal agencies.

In 2019, Donald Trump redirected $271 million, including $155 million from FEMA, to efforts on the Mexican border to stem the flow of refugees, reducing the amount of disaster relief available to Puerto Rico for Hurricane Dorian. In 2020, Trump took $44 billion from FEMA’s disaster relief fund to pay for a $300 per month supplement to regular unemployment benefits. Trump looted the FEMA funds because he refused to urge Congress to approve a bill to extend the additional $600 a month unemployment relief passed by the CARES Act when it was held up by Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in the Senate. 

Politics and disaster relief don’t mix. The money being spent today to help victims of Hurricane Helene in southeastern states does not come from “spending,” to use Republican’s favorite word for federal money that doesn’t go into the budget of the Department of Defense. It comes from a rational and empathetic desire to help people in need. 

Sure, those are voters in North Carolina and Georgia who need help from the federal government. But they’re taxpayers, too. It’s their tax money that will be spent to bring the affected states back from the disaster that hit them. It’s all of our tax money, and it’s from our federal government, and it’s there to help, and support for it shouldn’t have to be dragged out of one of our two political parties every time a FEMA bill comes up for a vote.