Biden Blames Hurricane Helene on Climate Change, FEMA’s Financial Shortfall Addressed
- Milton Quintanilla Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
- Updated Oct 04, 2024
President Joe Biden, major media outlets, and the CBS News moderators of Tuesday's vice presidential debate blamed the recent Hurricane Helene and the damage it left in its path in the southeastern US because of climate change.
"Nobody can deny the impact of the climate crisis anymore — at least I hope they don't. They must be brain-dead if they do," Biden said during the briefing in Raleigh after surveying the damage in western North Carolina. "Scientists report that with warming oceans powering more intense rains, storms like Helene are getting stronger and stronger."
Biden: "Nobody can deny the impact of the climate crisis anymore, at least I hope they don't. They must be braindead if they do." pic.twitter.com/JzqrANS8Pw
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) October 2, 2024
As reported by The Christian Post, multiple media outlets also attributed the hurricane's destruction to man-made climate change and that even inland mountainous regions were no longer "safe havens."
"Deadly Asheville tragedy shows there are no climate change safe-havens," a headline from ABC News reads, which attributed the claim to experts.
According to The Washington Post, Helene was described as a hurricane "with the fingerprints of climate change," quoting North Carolina's state climatologist Kathie Dello. She previously told the Associated Press that former President Donald Trump was spreading "dangerous" misinformation about climate change in 2018 when she was a climate scientist at Oregon State University.
An article by CNN titled "Asheville was called a climate haven. Helene shows nowhere is safe" also quoted Dello, who told the outlet, "Canada has fires, Vermont floods, West Virginia has severe drought, there are heat issues in Phoenix. Where do you run from climate change?"
On Wednesday, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, shared that The Federal Emergency Management Agency lacks sufficient funding for the remainder of the hurricane season.
"We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have," Mr. Mayorkas told reporters on Wednesday while en route to meet with officials in South Carolina. "We are expecting another hurricane hitting — we do not have the funds, FEMA does not have the funds, to make it through the season."
Per The New York Times, Mayorkas' announcement comes as FEMA is conducting search-and-rescue operations in remote sections of Appalachia six days after Helene made landfall in Florida and moved north. At least 183 people across six states were killed in the aftermath of the storm, which caused widespread damage.
On Monday, President Biden implied he might need to summon lawmakers back to Washington to approve extra funding for disaster relief after a stopgap bill for funding the government that passed last week did not provide FEMA enough money to deal with multiple disasters.
The following day, a bipartisan group of 12 senators from the states affected by the hurricane urged colleagues in a letter to be prepared to return from recess and send the agency more funding.
"Although the true level of devastation is still unfolding, it is clear that Congress must act to meet the unmet needs in our states and address the scope and scale of destruction experienced by our constituents," the letter said. "This may even require Congress to come back in October to ensure we have enough time to enact legislation before the end of this calendar year."
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Mark Makela/Stringer
