Friday, nearly 700,000 homes and businesses were still without power in six states, most of them in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
This is an improvement from five days ago when over 2 million electricity subscribers were affected. In North Carolina, power company Duke Energy is betting that many of its affected customers there will have their power back by Sunday evening.
But some electricity customers, around 100,000, live in places where the damage caused by the hurricane is enormous, and these may be without power into next week or even longer, the company says.
The storm also damaged water supply systems so severely and over such a large area that a federal official says it could take several weeks to restore access to water.
Even water that is unsuitable for drinking is hard to find. In some places, people have been fetching water in buckets from a stream to flush their toilets. In one place, people have been advised by the authorities to collect water for non-drinking purposes from a local swimming pool.
Helene hit Florida’s northwest coast on 26 September as a Category 4 hurricane, ploughing a devastating path northwards. The vast powerless areas were visible from space.
More than 220 people have died in six states, making Helene the deadliest hurricane to hit the US mainland since Katrina in 2005. Hundreds of people are still unaccounted for. (NTB)
A week ago, the TV anchors started saying that the Democrats had buyer’s remorse, that they regretted dumping Biden. It’s even harder to hide that Harris is an empty shell than Biden, who after all floats on routine. These views must have reached Biden because now he’s woken up and wants to show that he can. On Friday, he appeared in the press room for the first time in his time in the White House. A senation.
He said something different and even worse: He kept Kamala abreast of everything his administration was doing. Kamala was on board. In other words, she couldn’t come and say she stood for something else. Biden knew full well the impact of what he was saying: Kamala wasn’t going to get away with distancing herself from his policies. The new labour figures were released on Thursday. Biden thinks things are going well. He is provoked by Kamala trying to distance herself. He thinks he could have won on 5 November, but thinks she will lose.
Biden is what the Americans call “mean”, petty, ugly, vile.
After the press briefing in which journalists practically kissed his shoes because he condescended to visit them, Biden was asked how the storm was going. What storm? Biden asked, perplexed. Then he caught himself. -“Oh, you mean North Carolina? Yes, the people are doing great. They’re happy.
Everyone affected by the typhoon knows that people are not doing great. They know that the authorities are nowhere to be seen. The Department of Homeland Security has spent all its money on illegal immigration. The crisis management has been disastrous. Non-functioning.
The same goes for the Secret Service. The organisation is ranked the lowest of all federal agencies. 1,400 have left and it’s the best that are leaving. Ideology can destroy institutions if the wrong people are promoted based on the wrong criteria. It’s happening in the army where people are leaving and the wrong people are being recruited. DEI has reached a level where it breaks down institutions and makes them dysfunctional. The US cannot win wars with this kind of leadership. They have lost the ability and desire to win.
Biden is the symbol of this seesaw politics. Kamala is the continuity. Under her leadership, the United States would be destroyed. The fact that our media celebrate her says something about how far removed from reality they are.
They foment war with Russia, but want to force Israel to lose. Israel won’t put up with that.</p
But we might lose.
Incompetence becomes critical in a crisis. Right now, things are burning on many fronts: The Middle East above all. There, too, Biden stepped into the breach when he said that Israel should not bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities. Earlier he said they should spare the oil industry – he’s afraid of high petrol prices. Commenting on what another country should do in a war situation is unheard of. But the media does not perceive that Biden is interfering and giving advice on an open stage.
Our national news agency NTB has completely switched to propaganda and tries to twist everything Biden says in the Democrats’ favour and Israel and Trump’s disadvantage.
Trump is showing himself as a leader. He put the campaign aside and visited North Carolina and Georgia, before Biden/Harris showed up. Trump cares, the others just show up.</p
He talks less about nicknames and more about policy.
The heroes have a political side. The counties that were hardest hit are Trump country, blue collar, white working class. Biden and Harris don’t mind them suffering, especially if it prevents them from voting.
That’s how cynical Washington is.
NTB ignores Biden stabbing Kamala in the back and Trump emerging as the nation’s leader in a time of crisis for the country.
Nearly 700,000 homes and businesses in the southeastern United States are still without power, more than a week after the devastation of Hurricane Helene. Many also have no water.
US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have visited three of the hurricane-stricken states in the south-east of the US. Donald Trump has also been on a tour.
Biden visited South Carolina on Wednesday, where he was briefed on the rescue and clean-up efforts. He then flew by helicopter over the flood-stricken city of Asheville, North Carolina, where extensive destruction was visible from the air, including broken bridges, crushed buildings and washed-out roads.
“What I saw was heartbreaking,” Biden said afterwards.
“But back on the ground, we witnessed neighbours helping neighbours, volunteers and workers standing side by side, people supporting each other. That’s America,” Biden said.
US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas travelled with Biden. Mayorkas described Hurricane Helene as an extreme weather event of “historic strength”.
There are cities that have literally disappeared. This is a reconstruction effort that will cost billions of dollars and take many years,” says Mayorkas.
Harris, who is the Democratic presidential candidate, travelled to the state of Georgia on Wednesday. There, she assured people that federal authorities are coordinating efforts with local governments. During her visit, Harris helped distribute food to families who have lost their homes.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump visited Georgia before Harris.
Thursday, Biden travels to Florida to look at the devastation there.
Storm Helene has claimed at least 180 lives in six states. Several are still missing (NTB)