Will natural disasters help unite Americans?

No. Right wingers believe that Kamala Harris and the Democrats created and steered the hurricanes to devastate republican controlled states.

North Carolina had a YAHOO armed; threatening FEMA workers https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fema-crews-relocate-reported-threats-armed-militia-hurricane-helene-relief/

. . . and some members of the Trump cult are refusing any government / FEMA help ! ! https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/hurricane-father-in-law-fema-help-trump-b2627440.html

No.

I thought COVID would have united us, but it only divided us further. It’s such a sad state of affairs, really.

Clearly not from the news as cited above.

Just look at the above answers and tell me people don’t see the world in a self-affirming bubble. The first two posts went right to nasty politics. If a natural disaster wiped out people’s ability to hide behind a keyboard and stay in said bubbles then people absolutely will be more united.

What you cited above is what I meant by the rumors. People are believing some of the most inane ideas being passed around.

Do you think the reports of militia looking for FEMA workers are true or made up? If you think it is made up, who do you think is starting those rumors. It disrupted FEMA workers from doing their jobs, and then people will say FEMA was not doing their job and blame Biden or Harris for it.

The state of affairs in the US politically is so completely depressing.

Yet, here on the ground, people are helping each other, and very little politics comes into play. When people try to inject politics there is a revolt against it, with people not having time for the bullshit when they have no electricity and are worried about getting gas and food.

I do have facebook friends who I actually know, but I would not call them real life friends, many are from childhood, who believe the Democrats possibly created the hurricanes or strengthened and directed them towards red states. Unbelievable. How can anyone start to stupid rumors? I think it might start with foreign enemies putting it into social media, but no matter what or who, it’s baffling people believe it.

How many people really believe that. I’ll wager not very many but it keeps getting highlighted because of some people’s need to call it out and get that dopamine hit to feel good. They fuel a market for those stories in the process. I don’t doubt one or more idiots are out there threatening FEMA workers. I’m also confident that the media and/or keyboard warriors are completely exaggerating it.

@Blackwater_Park They asked Governor Desantis before Milton hit if FEMA was going to block people from returning to their homes. Remember he was putting out evacuation orders and literally DeSantis and other local government officials were saying, “you will die,” or “you will most likely die if you stay in Zone A or B” in the counties with orders. They did not sugar coat at all. He gave this marginally right wing answer along with a reasonable answer, it could go either way depending on your political leaning. He basically said, “No, this is our state the federal government can’t stop people from returning to their homes. We will be immediately allowing people to return if it is safe. If it is not safe there might be some delay.” I paraphrased there, but that was the basic idea. He was being factual, but still added in a little bit of we aren’t going to let the fed push us around. He was excellent in my opinion leading up to the hurricane overall, I give him credit. What a shame he very often adds in some sort of right wing extremist talking point or dog whistle.

You don’t need a lot of people to cause huge disruptions. To create a significant change in a country.

@ragingloli Which is funny because those same right wingers say that humans are not responsible for climate change.

As far as the Democrats being able to control the weather, my favorite comeback to that conspiracy theory is that if we really could control the weather, we would have taken Mar-A-Lago out a long time ago.

Haha! I just saw this
https://www.gocomics.com/mattdavies/2024/10/14

I will say that in general I do think neighbors come together to help each other after a disaster but in terms of them changing the larger political landscape, as it were, I don’t think so as we see.

@janbb This.

On a smaller scale, communities work together, help each other, and contribute to the recovery effort. Do disasters cause united political messaging? Well no, definitely not, but nothing does these days (and sometimes that’s actually a good thing—when we’re politically united, we invade Iraq and pass draconian crime bills that lead to mass incarceration).

Conspiracy theories and rejection of federal aid occur every time there’s a disaster, but it’s not a majority of people. It wasn’t that long ago that “Jewish space laser” rhetoric was bandied about after destructive wildfires in California, but was that coming from the people who were actually affected by the disasters or from opportunists who use every disaster to spread their BS political messaging? People I knew who had lost their homes weren’t saying that kind of crap; it was coming from internet freaks in rainy climates who have no concept of how wildfires work looking to laugh at “coastal liberals” watching their livelihood go up in flames.

It’s unfortunate that opportunistic anti-government types can disrupt a recovery effort, but I don’t think it’s broadly representative of what communities actually do in the wake of a disaster.

I started following some NC news outlets on FB after Helene to see the damage that was caused. There are many locals who believe the lies being told by Trump and other MAGA. For the most part though I do believe communities do come together after a disaster.

@Caravanfan Thank you for that link. Lol.

Unite Americans as in what, changing the way how lots of people see Trump, accepting him as presidential rather than a dangerous clown douchebag? NO.

Trump is the natural American political disaster brought on by his voters.

In moments of chaos, leadership is key.

Although Trump is not currently holding any office, he HAS severely negatively effected efforts of restoring order.

My understanding is that there was a single “sovereign citizen,” who was armed and claimed to desire to harm aid workers.
That turned into a “truck of armed men,” and eventually I was reading about “militias” threatening aid workers.

This is where many conservatives will point to the “liberal media” as the problem.
That is incorrect.
The ONLY reason why the embellishments were believed, is because they ARE feasible.
Trump has talked his sheep into worse. If he wasn’t spreading lies about baseless conspiracies, it’s likely that FEMA would not now have this excuse for their lack of capabilities.

Trump was in office, when I lost EVERYTHING 3 Septembers in a row.
FEMA contacted me the first two times. They NEVER came on the third occasion.
After the first flood, FEMA gave me $715 for losing everything.
They cake back the second flood, but never gave me a penny.
The third time, I was given the runaround until it wasn’t worth it to keep pursuing it.

Trump did not, to my knowledge, have any direct involvement in why FEMA was so useless to the people they’re supposed to help.

History, is full of abandoned cities and places, caused by total destruction from a natural disaster. Humanity has suffered from such things, from our beginning.

That Trump would use such an awful disaster, to attempt to facilitate more violence and division, is astonishing.
The only thing more astonishing, is that his sheep still listen to his lies…

@MrGrimm888 Did you have flood insurance?

No. 9/11 was a fight against the enemy outside the US. We are now in a fight of a derisive enemy from inside.
The political rhetoric that is spewed from the GOP recently is palpable.

Has anyone seen the movie, “Don’t Look Up”?

That and “Idiocracy” might as well be documentaries about the U.S.

9/11 helped unite Americans, I think partly because it was from an enemy that was outside the country (foreign).

I think now, there might be so much suspicion that it’s a conspiracy or it’s made up, or something.

I’ve seen conspiracy theories about the recent hurricanes being geo-engineered and it’s such total lunacy, but then again, it goes with chips in vaccines from Gates and all that other crazyness.

I think so, but it seems to unite clusters.
Tiktok is full of hurricane victims, sheriffs, etc upset with the current administration so either all those people are lying or theres something to it.

When I hear about locals (locals to the hurricanes) threatening FEMA officials and workers, it’s senseless and not justifiable, even if they’re mad. They are supposedly blocking the FEMA workers from coming through and doing their jobs. I guess there are three sides to every story but still, i don’t see any justification for physical violence even if you’re mad.

@jca2 At one point they were saying FEMA was blocking aid deliveries to locals. Not getting them body bags. Just a lot of really bad stuff.
I didnt really believe it but then I saw local law enforcement confirming and several videos, its hard not to believe.
I saw mule trains and horses, being taken up mountains because FEMA hadnt sent copters to the rescue. Locals fixing roads and doing rescues…they just said why is our military nit here helping us.

@KNOWITALL Yeah, I am following a FB page of a mule team that was going up into the mountains because the roads were ruined.

No doubt, three sides to every story like I said.

@ragingloli Funny how it changed from “hurricanes are punishment for accepting gays”. A desperate response to a rapidly changing climate. Easier to blame it on what you already hate than to accept that these changes are likely irreversible and will only get worse.

@KNOWITALL I have been seeing local government saying FEMA has been helpful and they are frustrated with the false rumors about FEMA.

I don’t doubt FEMA also isn’t getting to everyone. It is impossible for any level of government to be perfect and in all places at once with widespread disaster areas. I’d guess you would agree with the difficulty.

I think the main point is do we have trust that our government wants to help people be safe and have basic needs met during these horrible times. Then it is a matter of getting the info to the county, city, or FEMA so they are aware of the needs. If people who are constantly told to gate the central government are then told Biden and FEMA won’t do anything for them, they might not even know or try to apply for help. All levels of governments need to be working together.

What’s really rich is people who don’t want to pay federal taxes, who don’t buy flood insurance, who criticize people living near the coast, and then they have a flood disaster and fully expect and want federal help. I am not including poor people who can’t afford extra expenses, and moving from where they have lived their whole lives is a very difficult thing to contemplate.

^People don’t trust institutions in general anymore, let alone FEMA and the central government. And any response is going to be hampered by bureaucracy and red tape, and if it’s inadequate, people are going to see it as a conspiracy against them. The fact is of course that this country has a history of inadequate and botched disaster responses, Katrina being the most egregious example.

@Demosthenes So you think that armed militias preventing FEMA from going in is a valid response?

Nope. And if you read my first response, I was pretty critical of anti-government types who take advantage of these situations to push their agenda. But I do think there is an explanation for why disaster responses are sometimes met with resistance and skepticism.

Katrina was terrible. I completely agree there is reason to be skeptical and frustrated. Katrina response was horrific at every level of government.

I have people just southeast of me in a facebook group who a few days ago were saying they need help and other participants are telling them where they can get some free food and how to apply for help. The local community is usually the most important the first few hours and days following the storm.

People abuse FEMA too. They get free generators and money when they really are not desperate. I probably could have received money and a generator 3 separate times and never tried. That takes away from people who really do need it.

Look. For people who are lucky enough to have never been through something like this, this IS normal.
It certainly feels personal. Because you may have lost everything, and well “that isn’t fair and really sucks.”
But. THAT is how these things ALWAYS go.
If you’re house is gone, and you and your family have nowhere to go, that’s terrible. But. There are people that are far worse off.

This was a NATURAL disaster.
When they hit us on the coastlines, it destroys all of our stuff too. After Hugo, we had thousands of boats all over the streets, and the entire area looked like we had been bombed or something. It happens, a LOT.

A lot of these people in Tennessee, and western NC, aren’t accustomed to these storms, and it showed.
Of course it’s unfortunate, but you can’t plan for everything.

By far, most “help” in the first couple weeks after a bad hurricane, is from each other.
Whatever aid that comes in, is quickly gobbled up.
I’ve waited 5 hours, in line for dry ice, water, and stuff before, and sometimes they run out before it’s my turn in line. It sucks, and you just try to get to such places faster next time.

It’s traumatic, and frustrating, and I know that pain.

The government, unfortunately, doesn’t have the resources for the vast scale and complexity, of the hurricane.
THAT’S why they told EVERYONE, to evacuate.

If you don’t evacuate, then you have given yourself to circumstances that you will have little control over. Including the aftermath. That’s why it’s ideal, to simply not be where the storm is coming. That’s a whole other mess, but THAT comes along with living in certain places in America.

The storms, catch you by surprise, if you haven’t been through them before. It’s impossible to think that such things really happen. The sheer power of such storms, is really impossible to describe. You just have to experience a big one.

A lot of these Tiktock people, are just going through something like this, for the first time. So. They think it’s the government’s fault.

The islands, in the Caribbean, are often mountainous (they are mountain tops, after all.)

☆For those who don’t remember.
In 2017, Puerto Rico, was severely damaged by hurricane Maria. Over 3,000 people died.
Trump’s administration, was found to have withheld $20B, from PR, and of course Trump publicly blamed Puerto Rico for their lack of preparedness for cataclysm.
THAT was a BIG deal.
THAT was one of Trump’s monumental failures, and should be brought up EVERY time he is trying to insight violence by lying.

It’s possible that in the future, we will be able to look back and see if things could have been handled better with “Helene.”
Right now, we’re still trying to get a handle on the damage, and where the most aid is needed.

So. I hear again today, that now there are people in Tennessee, threatening the FEMA workers.

If anyone has any questions about the man who started the rumors, it was William Parsons.
He was the guy I was talking about.
Today, the story was more clear.
He had made online threats, and spoke of people gathering to fight the FEMA workers, and then headed to one of the FEMA assisted cities.
He claiming that he was motivated by things that he heard online, that turned out not to be true. He HAD planned on action, but when he saw the devastation, he just volunteered to help. He was still found, and although he had a legal sidearm, he was not a threat.
He had two other legal firearms, in his vehicle that they searched.

This guy, was ready to kill for his community, that he thought was being threatened by the actions of FEMA. In statements I have read, he seems like someone who was upset about being duped (much like many J6ers.)

^^Wow. So, we need to find the people doing the duping and we need the people who have been duped and now know better to speak out.

You’re right about evacuating, it’s not only so you don’t die when the storms comes through, but also so people don’t die in the days afterwards when help might not get to you right away.

@MrGrimm888 No, what happened in NC does not happen a lot. it was a 1 in 500–1000 year event. You honestly cannot plan for it. Nobody was told to evacuate. Nobody knew this was coming. Coastlines get battered all the time. Often you get warning. Infrastructure planning takes this into consideration. It’s much easier to recover. If this had happened over East Tennessee and not Western North Carolina it would have been even worse because all that rain would flow through the tributaries eventually to the Mississippi river causing complete devastation along the way.

What will unite Americans is for the douchebag to shut up and just play golf. Stop riling people up.

The country’s challenges and the world’s as well are already too complicated for most citizen-voters to get a handle on. The last thing America needs is a sociopath, psychopath and narcissistic doofus in the White House.

This douchebag is more dangerous than natural disasters.

@Blackwater_Park Interior flooding happens all of the time, but I don’t know how flood prone these specific areas were. Obviously, this is more extensive than imagined, but possibly (I will go with probably) some of these areas were already considered to be flood zones. You do not need to be near the coast to flood. I have no idea if NC, GA, and TN did any evacuating prior to Helene, they might have.

@JLeslie They did not nor was it advised. Interior flooding like this does not happen all the time. It was a 1000-year flood event.

^^ These 1,000 year events are happening and going to happen much more frequently!

^^Penguins might lose their ice habitat!

@Blackwater_Park I would bet money some of those areas are prone to flood. The news is saying areas that flooded are in X areas, but that does not mean all of the areas that flooded are. I think they are leaving out specifics. There was already some flooding in NC before Helene, so it was sure that the flooding would continue or get worse.

We could check the FEMA map, maybe I will later just out of curiosity. I don’t have time now.

@mazingerz88 Sob!

@JLeslie I grew up there. Places flooded that were nowhere near water sources. It was that bad.

^That’s correct. It was really bad.
I never disputed that.
I won’t speak for all the people in the affected areas, but watching the storm on TV, yes a LOT of those areas were in the oranges and yellows of the storm path. I was TOLD by meteorologists (as the storm approached,) that “residents in those areas, where advised to leave.” Forgive me please, if that was not the case.
I have great empathy, for these people.
But… This was a 300+ mile wide hurricane. They wobble, almost always, and change occasionally quickly.
In MY experience, if you’re anywhere close to where the storm is coming, you make a decision.
In cases when I was younger, my ex-special forces/Vietnam vet father stayed with us in each storm. It was I’ll advised, in retrospect. But. I survived, each time. AND learned to appreciate, what they can do.

When my house flooded the first September, it was a “1,000 year rain event,” according to local news. We were expecting 22 inches of rain, in a day or so, and warnings went out.
I personally dug up, and slapped hundreds of lbs of clay out of my yard (with giant leaves,) all around the house.
As it dried, my roommate and I inspected it and felt like we were fine.
I was outside, waste deep in water and constantly working on the mud wall during the heavy storm. It was lightning, and red ants were all over me, but I was determined to keep the water out.
Well. My wall didn’t fail, but the water came up through the foundation anyways. Quick enough, to get everything in my house. It seemed to level off then. But. The damage was done. Regardless of efforts, I lost everything to the water.
We learned as the months after went along, that there would be severe mold issues, and other things that our landlords took their time to do little about.
FEMA, gave me like $700, for my loses. I had an agent from FEMA come in, walk around and take notes. He asked a lot of questions, and I felt like perhaps my government would actually help me out (not that I “expected” anything.)
After a few weeks, I got a check for the $700, and that was that.
It was my friends, family, and community, that helped me get enough to lose in my second, and third flood. If anyone is under the impression that the government “owes” them, they will likely be greatly disappointed.

An article I read today, claimed that NC had not qualified for millions in “disaster management,” like dikes, sewage extention, flood walls, and other programs designed to prevent the type of damage that NC incurred.
The article claimed that NC had voted it’s housing regulations be done every 6 years, instead of 3, (something like that,) and that THAT had cost them around $20 million in projects over the previous years that could have helped the symptoms of these storms. Something about NC’s change in that area, disqualified them from much of that money.

But. These were (in many instances,) sleepy old mountain towns. The housing and buildings were likely old, and not remotely prepared for such devastating conditions. The terrain made it worse, as ALL that water, has to follow gravity down hill. It’s a massive chain reaction.

If I lived in one of the worst affected places, I may be dead too. I’m not invincible, but I usually can tolerate more aggressive storm conditions, because ultimately, they are similar to being caught in a storm in a canoe (something I plenty of experience with.)

A LOT of people ride out such storms, because they have nowhere else to go. THAT is just another pathetic reminder that our government has NEVER gave 2 F’s about people like that.

Some people were quick to judge the population of New Orleans, for the disastrous aftermath.
NONE of these hurricanes make landfall, leave, and then we all say “thank God for the government doing so well.”
They are ALWAYS a “disaster.”
That word, gets thrown around a lot. But this storm was a disaster.

Our government is FAR more concerned about it’s military, so it can have a big roll in how the world works.

This storm, was unquestionably the product of global warming. Humans could have taken steps to avoid shit like this decades ago…..

As we saw, people had barely started picking up the debris in Western Florida, before they had an incoming possible Cat 5!
That’s how it’s going to be, going forward.
The storms will be mote frequent, far more powerful, and we will see the worst ones potentially in bursts at the end of hurricane season.

If you go to certain places in my area, you can still see some of the damage from previous hurricanes.
For 15 years, 85% of the trees for miles in an area north of Charleston were all laying down on the side of the roads.
It was crazy driving for miles, and seeing most of the forest destroyed.

MTG, is a special type of crazy. But. It would be nice, if we could control the weather.

@Blackwater_Park I’m not questioning that. I am agreeing some of the flooding has never been seen before, unpredictable, and that bad.

You said no areas were evacuated. I’m saying there probably were some areas that should have been, areas that are predictable. Other areas were impossible to predict. They new a lot of rain was coming and strong winds.

It’s like Milton in Florida, I think the deaths from the tornadoes on the East Coast they were not under evacuation orders, not even a suggestion to evacuate. If they had been on the west coast of FL or near Orlando where the predicted path was, it would have been at least suggested to evacuate because they were in mobile homes, but tornadoes during the beginning of the storm at that force on the East Coast are extremely unlikely. There were evacuations of mobile homes in some areas, but not in others where it was unlikely.

@MrGrimm888 There was a mini series about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina centered around a hospital in the flooded area. If the information about why they weren’t rescued sooner is true, it is so beyond government being overwhelmed. The government wishes they could use that excuse. There was money and politics in it that made no sense. There were services that could have gone in, ready to go in, but it didn’t happen. They were told no.

I agree with you that people can’t expect the help to come right away during a disaster. The response will be imperfect, it is impossible to be perfect, but we can expect some integrity from our government, at least trying to do the right thing.

^At this point, I cannot see evidence, that the government isn’t “trying to do the right thing.”

The response to the storm, has seemed to be on par, with the normal response that I always see.

Many of those people, were probably shocked by the damage. Although, as I said, very similar circumstances occurred in 2017 in PR.

Anybody, can go look at those photos, and see similar images.

Trump should probably have an investigation on his deliberate mishandling of that situation, but he has even higher crimes to be hunted for.

Which brings me back to NC, and Helene.

Let’s do some research on the people that were worst affected by the storm.
Hmm. I’m looking at an article from CNN Politics, where it breaks down the election results from 2020 in NC.
I pulled it up, because I was suspicious of the majority of those residents being Trumpers, and therefore would be more susceptible to lies from Trump about the situation following the storm.

It did not surprise me, to see that ; A. NC was won by Trump in 2020. That’s less than 3 years, after they watched him FUCK Puerto Rico.
There is even a map of the red/blue districts in NC.
As I suspected, all but one, west of Charlotte was red…

This is NOT to troll the victims in Western NC.
But observe the facts.
The majority of people (according to their voting history, amongst other things,) in west NC, were not bothered by Trump’s withholding of aid, or handling of THAT situation. (AGAIN, over 3,000 dead,) and Trump blamed the people of PR.

To me, Trump sees that most of these NC victims, are ALSO victims of him. So. He is now using these people AGAIN, by stirring their fears, and lying to them, TO HELP HIMSELF.
Trumpers, for whatever reason, always believe him. So.
Now, they believe that the democrats deliberately attacked the redest places with a hurricane, and are writing blank checks to the (“vermin”) illegal immigrants.

Public opinion, will often outweigh, fact. THAT is a big part, of what I see.

Again. I am ot saying that these NC victims deserved the damage. But. I am highly suspicious of their ability to understand the situation. Especially, since they generally don’t believe in global warming, and believe that God only punishes places that allow homosexuality…

If there are right-wing idiots, making content and doing podcasts about how unfair all this has been, they could help the victims the best, by not spreading false information, and maybe picking up a broom, instead of a mouse.

The mess created by this right-wing BS, WILL hamstring disaster relief. And has already forced FEMA workers to open operation centers, instead of going door to door. So. NC’s Trumpers, in my mind, did a great job hurting themselves.
What’s perhaps most interesting, is that those same people, who NOW care about hurricane relief, and have been told by their actual (republican) leaders that Trump lied about ALL of this important stuff, will STILL vote for him. Still claim that fact, is fiction.

MOST of the videos taken in those areas, during the storm, tell me a LOT about why the damage and deaths were so bad.
Water, runs downhill, some of these people were in single wide trailers on the sides of mountains…

Sorry folks. Nobody is wrong, for wanting relief for those who need it. But you are wrong, if you think the American government was going to be sending swarms of Blackhawks and prioritize individual rescues, over breaking dams, and higher population centers.

I saw one of these helicopter pilots who’ve been doing rescues land on a video recently, next to a house where people were waving for help.
As the helicopter touched down, it caught a black tarp in it’s tail rotor. Luckily, the helicopter had just landed, or it would have been a terrible crash.
THIS is why first responders, don’t want amateurs doing stuff like helicopter evacuations.

There are a lot of skilled helicopter pilots. But. They almost always have a ground crew, helping them land, or training to do it the safest.

They aren’t “deliberately keeping people from being rescued.”

The people believing the lies, and spreading them, are responsible for whatever ramifications that come with it.
We all know, Trump doesn’t care about his lies killing or hurting people, and that’s because he’ll NEVER be held accountable.

@MrGrimm888 Is it that they don’t believe in global warming, or they just don’t believe man is accelerating global warming?

DeSantis seems to focus on being ready to handle the climate change and ignore that maybe he could do something to slow down the change. Is that not how most Republicans think about it?

De Santis, above of almost ALL, should be trying to prevent it, he’s not going to be able to keep parts of Florida above water for much longer.

Last time I was in Miami (over 10 years ago,) it flooded on high tides. It flooded giant buildings that were under construction, as if the builders didn’t care.

Our species, could live underwater, if we had to.
But is it ethical, to destroy the future, because we won’t have to deal with it?

There ARE plenty of people, who would rather pay $1 less/gallon for gasoline regardless of the means destroying the world of tomorrow.

De Santis will likely cost Florida Disney World/Orlando, and no amount of prayers will raise the state 50 ft above sea level…

With hundreds of thousands of people losing their insurance, and hurricane seasons actually somehow worsening for FL, the future (well, reality,) will be bleak.

I can’t speak for Republicans. However. I do believe that I can infer some things, from their voting history. And THAT voting history, possibly led directly to this new era of hurricanes.

^^DeSantis is only going to be governor for two more years and then he has to go unless they change the rules. Florida alone can’t change the warming, we need a buy in from the whole country or most of the world. I don’t mean Florida shouldn’t try; everything counts. Florida is one of the best solar states, although I do think FL could do much more.

Supposedly, the new fast train here has very low emissions and takes thousands of cars off of the road. That is a private venture not the government.

We frack in Florida, I’m pretty sure we do it a lot, but DeSantis limited some of it. They went after him about it in the presidential primary. I’m not sure if that helps reduce global warming or not. I don’t understand why some Republicans want to frack everywhere they can.

Florida has all of these people moving here! That has to be adding to the carbon output. Especially, since so many are here only part time. Second houses put cement where green used to be and adds AC being used.

I’m glad DeSantis increased the fund for disasters and I’m glad his team focused on plans to handle disasters, but I wish his rhetoric wasn’t dog whistles that play to the anti-science crowd in his constituency.

Switching to specifically where I live, I heard (not verified) that my community is waiting for federal funds to do the final clean up here. The final would mostly be removing the piles of palm fronds on the side of the road. I have a hard time believing that, but maybe. I think it would be pretty awful if they do use tax payer money for that. I hope it’s not true.

Also, back to utilities, my section of The Villages is all electric, but the newer sections are built with gas again. They are tankless water heaters, but I wish they weren’t using gas. I bought a house there and my gas bill is $25 a month using no gas at all. I think I finally convinced my husband if we ever move again and have the choice we will not do gas again. I didn’t have a choice in that house.

I’m glad to hear De Santis has some endearing qualities.
I believe that many “Christian” politicians, try to do what they consider “good” things at least occasionally.

I am not scrutinizing De Santis’ personal contribution to Florida’s efforts in reducing their environmental impact. Pretty much all politicians have to allow the greedy to get something, or they won’t be in office long.
I have serious problems with DS in regards to his public stances on issues ranging from LGBTQ+ to book banning/injecting his religion into schools.

I take most seriously his (and other’s) aligning with the radical right. He never had a chance against Trump. But he is still one of them. Regardless of his future in politics, he will help push the P25ish agenda.
That includes “drill baby, drill.”
Personally. That type of thinking, is precisely why most of FL (and many places near me,) will be under several feet of water in the next 50 years.
That’s just the sea level.
The conservative party’s agendas will poison our water, air, and food supplies.
I will stop there, but he’s a bad actor, often acting in his own self interests which includes spreading lies that F this country up.

We always have debris piles on the streets, after hurricanes.
I never really thought of “who” was directly responsible, but eventually (and I mean it could be weeks) the big equipment comes out and scraps up the stuff. That process can take a long time, as far as things starting to look “normal” again.

As in many of these unfortunate scenarios, I believe that some towns that were in Helene’s path, simply won’t really exist anymore. Even the roads in/out of some remote areas, are no longer really there.

I remember the aftermath of the tsunami in Fukushima, Japan years ago. It was absolutely catastrophic. I remember thinking, where do you even begin to start to “repair” such damage. Miles of land was just mud. I recall thinking, just pave over it…

All we can do, is survive such disasters, and press on regardless. “Home,” is were you make it. Cars, boats, houses, etc, are things that although they are extremely difficult we can work with the remnants.
We can’t replace life.

I’m sorry for ALL hurricane victims. Some, need to learn that living through such a disaster should be considered a victory. Everything else, is a distant second.

DeSantis is definitely still one of them.

@JLeslie I have read that after the past years’ hurricanes, fewer people are thinking of moving to Florida. I think the real estate boom there will be slowing dramatically.

Charleston SC, is growing extremely fast. In the past 20 years, “natives” have been gentrified to far flung suburbs.
People seem to flock here, and many places in the south.
Although they will likely complain often, about how great things were back up north.

It’s more of a weather shock, than culture shock probably.
They claim often that they hated snow, but 6 months of dodging and occasionally being hit by hurricanes, has to give them some regret.

I’m fairly well traveled, and I have learned that often the most beautiful places, have the most extreme weather.

I’ve counted no less than 6 alligator/American croc videos, from FL, during the storm.
I’ve personally been in floodwaters before, many times, but admittedly wasn’t thinking about gators.

@janbb After Irma in 2017 and after Ian 2022 they were saying the same thing. Floridians want people to stop coming. Lol. We pass around memes saying “Florida is closed.” We want the tourist revenue, but it’s too crowded now with all of these people living here.

The population in FL has grown about 6% between 2017 and now. That’s more than double the growth in the US at large and Florida doesn’t have some sort of exceptionally high birthrate accounting for that.

I don’t doubt some people are scared off by the possibility of hurricanes or priced out by housing or insurance costs, but for the most part they keep coming. The Villages (TV) sells 400 homes a month, 200 are new homes, and that’s back down from the covid years when the numbers were even higher. Maybe people are more reluctant to be on the coasts? The Villages is central. I only mention TV because I know the stats here. A lot of people say they want to be closer to the water though, so it might be 50/50 on that.