What about NC Joe

The federal govt should be pouring money in to help rebuild infrastructure.

Individual assistance can only be more temporary. I saw a lot of people complaining about “only $750!!!??? My government failed me”, so I guess these people wanted the feds to immediately give them $5000 or $10,000 in cash. I’m sure a lot of people do end up with federal assistance in the thousands, and that might be the reality of what it costs to get people through a few months. But ultimately if they didn’t have insurance the govt can’t be making them whole or else it’s obviously unfair to those who pay to have insurance. It’s just about helping them figure things out for a few months or through winter. Beyond that low interest or subsidized loans would also be a good idea for rebuilding. How did FEMA ever get into the “trailer” business? That always seemed weird to me in the first place. Does the govt maintain a huge inventory of mobile homes somewhere?

In FL after hurricanes the most visible thing about FEMA is the debris trucks which haul away huge piles of trees and household waste piles (furniture and belongings which were flooded). I’m sure they are contracted, but everyone refers to them as “FEMA trucks”. Seems like we might as well have a permanent fleet of them down here now.

 

No one is saying 71 deaths and destroyed homes wasn't a traumatic event. The accusation from you is that there was no help there. That is BS. You are talking about inconveniences, not life threating issues. A line at publix? Driving further to get gas? OK. I am sorry for your inconvenience as well as my brother's who was out of power for 5 days and had no potable water for 2 weeks while thousands of people worked to restore it.

FEMA's job isnt to remove the trees from the road. They provide funding and coordination. A local dude working for a local company plus people fly/drive in from other companies to aid local and state companies to remove trees and they are paid by the state which is reimbursed by the federal government - FEMA. Most of the heavy lifting is done by the state. Do you think there are thousands of FEMA vest wearing tree guys sitting in an office waiting for a tree to fall down and get on a plane to fly there? Come on. That's not how it works. FEMA mostly hands out checks and coordinates. They do hire local people temporarily for some jobs. If you are in Gainesville here is a job opening. Most of FEMAs job openings are financial and insurance specialists but this is local hire to help volunteers for 120 days.

USAJOBS - Job Announcement