SWANNANOA, N.C. — The site right outside of Asheville being used by military veterans and volunteers to distribute supplies and dispatch rescue teams used to be a Harley-Davidson dealer. Though the inside of the store is damaged from the historic flooding from Hurricane Helene, that has not stopped the effort to help people farther up the mountains.
The Harley-Davidson store is a prime location to be a supply hub, with the owner’s permission. Not only is the parking lot big enough to store supplies, but there is a field next to it that is big enough to serve as an impromptu airport for the helicopters constantly flying in and out. The dealership has the feeling of a forward operating base, with so many veterans organizing communications, supply deliveries, and personnel allocation while being armed.
Blaze Media got a firsthand look at how people are working together to help the western part of the state as the federal response has been, at best, extremely slow. Congressman Cory Mills (R-Fla.) has been on the ground for the past week in collaboration with Mercury One, a nonprofit started by Blaze co-founder Glenn Beck for disaster response.
An Army veteran, Mills has made it a personal mission to help U.S. citizens when it seems the federal government that he is a part of is not doing enough, he says. This is why he helped organized rescue operations for U.S. citizens in Afghanistan, Haiti, and Israel.
“It’s simple: People need help. People’s lives matter. I could be sitting on a beach right now, but helping people is more important,” Mills said while on a supply flight from Florida.
What makes the disaster response to Hurricane Helene victims in western North Carolina difficult is how entire communities have been cut off by washed-out roads, making them only accessible by air or hours-long treks on foot or pack animal.
This is why there were problems when President Joe Biden visited the region on Wednesday, and a no-fly zone with a 30-mile radius was implemented. Supply runs and rescue operations were put on hold for hours until the restriction was finally lifted. Biden had previously promised his visit would not disrupt missions.
‘This is going to go on for months. This is going to go on for a long time.’
Mills called the visit “irresponsible” at a moment when time is of the essence for places that have been isolated for days. The helicopter flight Blaze Media was on with Mills had finished a supply run to Elk River Airport before the no-fly zone was put in place, and we sat on the tarmac for two hours.
Locals and volunteers who have been conducting their own relief operations had similarly expressed frustrations with the Federal Emergency Management Agency because now after arriving in force days since the storm has passed, its bureaucracy is now getting in the way.
While cities like Asheville have been stabilized, the pressing concern is for people up in the mountains who have no power with fall and winter approaching. In Pensacola, North Carolina, officials are now mainly asking for generators, fuel, portable stoves, and tools to fix the roads themselves.
“This is going to go on for months. This is going to go on for a long time,” Pensacola’s medical officer Mark Harrison told Blaze Media regarding the town’s recovery.
The last supply drop to Pensacola on Thursday included a generator, chainsaws, oil for the chainsaws, and fuel.
On Friday, Mills announced the new shipment from Florida that will be arriving to North Carolina includes over 60 generators.
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