After Hurricane Helene, Frustration and Misinformation About Aid Fuel Distrust

Photo: Allison Joyce Agence France-Presse According to many survivors interviewed by Agence France-Presse in North Carolina, it was primarily volunteers who came to the aid of residents on an individual basis.

Ulysse Bellier – Agence France-Presse in Pensacola

Published at 14:53 Updated at 17:21

• United States

Janet Musselwhite is angry. In the hurricane-ravaged mountains of North Carolina Helene, frustration over aid from the US federal government that is perceived as too little and too late, due in particular to lies from Donald Trump, is fueling resentment against the authorities.

Federal agents “did the same thing for Katrina [in 2005], they waited, waited, waited and people died,” bitterly alleges this woman in her sixties, who is eating in a small fire station converted into a shelter in Pensacola.

Ten days after the devastating floods caused in the southeast of the country by Helene, which caused the death of at least 230 people, the subject of aid is still as burning.

Donald Trump and the Republicans accuse the federal government, in the hands of Democrats, of having done too little, too late, to provide assistance to the victims, something that President Joe Biden and his vice-president Kamala Harris, candidate in the presidential election on November 5, strongly deny.

As a new very powerful hurricane is heading towards Florida, the political stakes are crucial: North Carolina – like neighboring Georgia, which was also hit – is one of the handful of states that will swing the race for the White House, which is still very undecided.

Lie

According to many survivors interviewed by AFP in North Carolina, it was primarily volunteers who came to the aid of residents individually faced with the lack of access to water, electricity, food.

“The locals were great,” says Janet Musselwhite. What about the authorities, the federal state ? “It's the government,” she says. Understand: she doesn't expect anything from him, especially if he's a Democrat.

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Next door, her friend Randi qualifies: “It's still a little early” to castigate the authorities.

Is it because of criticism from Republicans or because of a real lack?? In any case, Joe Biden ordered, over the course of the week, the deployment of 1,500 additional soldiers to assist the population.

Donald Trump had accused the Democrats on Thursday of having “stolen money” from the Federal Disaster Response Agency (FEMA), “so they could give it to their illegal immigrants.”

Denouncing a “dangerous” lie, the White House spokeswoman on Monday lambasted “crooks” and “people who put politics before people” by spreading “misinformation” about federal aid.

“This must stop immediately,” urged Karine Jean-Pierre. The White House reiterates that nearly 7,000 federal employees are on the ground and that $210 million in aid has already been distributed.

But Janet Musselwhite echoes these misleading statements: “Now we hear that there is not much money left for FEMA because it was given to immigrants. »

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All “online”

In the devastated rural areas of North Carolina, which are rather Republican, these allegations hit home because they echo very real difficulties in accessing federal aid.

In Swannanoa, Shelby Holzhauser would like to claim an emergency allowance to compensate for her loss of wages, since the daycare where she works was damaged. But the procedure “is entirely online,” which, she regretted Sunday, is not easy with a network that is still very sketchy.

She also cited misleading information from billionaire Elon Musk, a Trump ally: “From what I’ve heard, FEMA isn’t really letting people come help.” While authorities have blocked some small roads, most of the region remains accessible.

Three days earlier, Shelby Holzhauser assured AFP that the authorities’ help was “great,” without a doubt.

Photo: Allison Joyce Agence France-Presse Furniture is stuck in the mud in Green Mountain, North Carolina.

“Shut up!”

At her makeshift volunteer vet stand, Audria Pace hears the rumors that spread by word of mouth and via social media.

“Someone went so far as to say that Biden fabricated [this natural disaster] to kill Trump voters,” she fumes into the brown dust, a lingering reminder of the cataclysm.

“It’s really hard,” the Democratic voter says, her voice cracking. “If you have time to share your hate, then you have time to come help. So shut up!” Audrey thunders.

These people “have no idea what’s going on here. We’re picking up our dead, we’re easing our pain,” she says. “It’s not helping us.”