"I'm all in favor of helping the folks hit by the fires in California... Just be aware their are folks in North Carolina that probably don't know or at least care about these fires since they are trying to survive in tents and don't have Cable or Satellite TV anymore ... or a house."
I too feel a lot of heartache for those in Ca. that have been burned out. Help them if you can.
But just today,, I went to Asheville NC. One of the areas of WNC that was devastated by Helene. I had to take a very different route,, in a very popular area of Asheville,, because the road is still out. Over 3 months out now. And when I got to my customer's house,, he pointed to an area just below his house,, where 10 houses USED to be. Washed away,, completely. I also saw several places where tents were set up,, being occupied by people. And I even saw 2 people near one of the camps,, wrapped up in coats & sleeping bags,, trying to stay warm.
And locally, on the news,, there are about 3000+ people that have been put up in a hotel,, that has been paid for by FEMA money. The interesting part? FEMA has extended the payments for these rooms twice so far. But ONLY after serious pressure from the media & published reports. And right now,, they say the payments will end on 1/27/25. And the local news folks have interviewed these people,, who say that nobody at FEMA,, (when they spoke to someone,) offered any REAL assistance. In fact one lady,, who's in a motel with her 87 yr old mother,, say that the FEMA person she spoke to,, was very rude & didn't offer any help.
One guy,, who has a kidney disease,, is in a motel,, and his home is currently listed as "uninhabitable" (mold & water damage,) has not been able to get anybody from FEMA to help him either. Apparently,, FEMA thinks all these displaced people have access to internet,, and do not try & offer help, unless they "First file a report online,, and set up an inspection of their property." Well, with roads out,, and many not having internet or a computer or such,, they try to CALL FEMA,,, but get NO response.
So due to the inefficient management of the disaster by FEMA,, we may have 3000+ homeless people soon.
Now,, I know that's nowhere near the numbers in So. Ca. But still,, you'd think that after 3 months,, FEMA would have been able to reach out to people DIRECTLY to see if they could actually help them.