CHUCK DEVORE: Comparing Helene and Biden's botched response to past disasters

The US Army helicopters remained on the ground for five days.

The Biden-Harris administration's response to Hurricane Helene was slow, weak and deadly – but outside of Fox News, you wouldn't know that from major media outlets.

Hurricane Helene made landfall on Thursday, September 26 at 11:10 p.m

The following Thursday, a reporter asked President Joe Biden about the storm zone. Biden responded: “Oh, storm zone? I don't know what storm you're talking about…” Biden then recovered, claiming, “They're getting what they need and they're very happy across the board.”

WHITE HOUSE REPORTERS DON'T ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT HURRICANE HELENE TO SURPRISE BIDEN

The day before, five full days after the storm dumped up to 30 inches of rain in some mountainous areas, Biden ordered 1,000 active-duty troops to provide assistance with 22 helicopters and tactical vehicles from Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg), 250 miles east of the hard-hit area Asheville, NC

There are approximately 50 utility helicopters in the 82d Airborne Division's Combat Aviation Brigade at Fort Liberty. The military installation in Fayetteville, the largest in the U.S. Army, has nearly 100,000 active and reserve soldiers available for the presidential call-up — so Biden sent 1% of Fort Liberty's personnel and less than half of its desperately needed helicopter inventory the base.

Meanwhile, the federal government's emergency management arm, FEMA, warned that it is running out of money after spending $1.4 billion on aid to “sanctuary cities” overwhelmed by illegal immigrants and mostly fake asylum seekers. FEMA said it had sent 150 generators to the affected region. But within an hour's drive of any typical city, there are at least double the number of generators available for purchase.

Displaced citizens in the Appalachian region affected by Helene are at risk of disease from contaminated water – and from human traffickers who prey on the confused, weak and vulnerable. The hundreds of military police officers from Fort Liberty's 503rd Military Police Battalion and the 82nd MP Company could prove a powerful deterrent in shelters – if activated.

A rescue team paddles down the Swannanoa River on Sunday, September 29, 2024. The remnants of Hurricane Helene caused widespread flooding, downed trees and power outages in western North Carolina. (Travis Long/The News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

How does Biden-Harris disaster relief compare to other recent events? The media and Democrats heaped scorn on President George HW Bush's federal response to the L.A. riots in 1992 and then again on President George W. Bush's actions during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

During the 1992 Los Angeles riots, I was a captain in the California National Guard. Within three days we had 10,000 guardsmen on site and were able to suppress looting and arson. The riots began on the evening of April 29th. The following evening a National Guard MP company was on site. The next day, 4,000 Guardsmen were in the city and President Bush ordered the deployment of active Army and Marine forces and 1,000 federal law enforcement officers. On May 2, 10,000 Guard members and 3,500 active duty soldiers and Marines maintained order in LA

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So three days after the emergency began, the elder Bush ordered 3,500 active-duty troops to Los Angeles, while Biden took five days to decide to send 1,000 troops to help.

Hurricane Katrina made landfall around 4:30 a.m. on Monday, August 29, 2005. At the request of Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, President George W. Bush issued an emergency declaration on Saturday, August 27, two days before landfall. A day after the impact, US Coast Guard helicopters were already in action and rescued around 350 people from rooftops. Bush observed the devastation from the air on August 31 and was heavily criticized for flying over rather than seeing things on the ground. On September 1, Bush asked Governor Blanco to agree to a federal takeover of the relief effort, which by then included 15,256 Guard members and was expected to grow to more than 40,000 personnel from neighboring states.

Bush visited the site of the disaster just two days after landing. Two days after Helene, Biden was on the beach in Delaware and, he claimed, “commanded” phone calls for two hours. Vice President Kamala Harris raised donations on the West Coast.

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The US military's chain of command for this disaster extends from Biden through Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to the commander of US Northern Command. Biden's slow and confused response to Hurricane Helene — he took two days longer to get the crisis under control than his two most recent predecessors — reflects a president out of touch and out of touch with the task.

The Biden-Harris administration's sluggish and half-hearted disaster response has put hundreds of thousands of Americans at risk in the path of Helene's destruction. Biden's lackluster showing in the world's most powerful office puts the entire nation at risk as the world descends into chaos, while Harris focuses her time and energy on running to succeed Biden while hiding from the media.

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