The legislature’s disastrous disaster response

The Bottom Line from NC Newsline

Debris and a mobile home are piled up along a tree line in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Sept. 29, 2024 in Old Fort, North Carolina. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images)

On any list of key governmental functions, natural disaster response is near the top. If public services and structures don’t provide relief and spearhead recovery when disasters strike, communities can literally and permanently fall apart.

And tragically, this appears to be happening in parts of western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Thanks in large part to the slow and woefully inadequate response of state lawmakers, businesses and farms are failing, unemployment and evictions are rising, morale is sinking, and some once vibrant cities and towns are disintegrating as residents simply pack up and leave.

Rather than heeding Gov. Cooper’s call for an aggressive, all-hands-on-deck response that would provide a critical financial lifeline to thousands and spur community hope and optimism, Republican legislative leaders are sticking to their usual shortsighted and cheapskate ways.

The bottom line: The problems in the west are massive and state government can’t solve them all, but by largely turning its back, the legislature has irresponsibly shirked one of its most basic duties.

For NC Newsline, I’m Rob Schofield.