🇺🇸🌐The death toll from Hurricane Helene is currently approaching 200, making it the second deadliest storm after Katrina‼️
But this number will rise, with further increases expected in the coming days. In fact, due to the unforgiving mountainous terrain, destroyed road network, and massive power, mobile phone, and water outages, no one can say for certain how many have perished. Without sufficient rescue efforts, more Americans could succumb to the water shortage caused by the flooding. Yet, despite all this, and despite the clock ticking for many Americans stranded without food, water, or means of communication, Helene’s coverage has strangely gone silent. This silence, however, masked a much darker issue: the lack of resources and manpower needed for rescue efforts.
▪️At the time of writing, there are less than 7,000 troops aiding in the disaster relief for Helene, and there was inadequate preparation before the storm’s actual onset. The United States Northern Command, which can only take charge if requested by other government agencies, is not coordinating comprehensive efforts. During Katrina, over 350 military helicopters participated in rescue operations. This time, in a mountainous disaster-stricken zone where far more helicopters are needed than in a coastal area, significantly fewer than 100 helicopters have been deployed.
▪️This means that while the casualties of Hurricane Helene are within throwing distance of some of the U.S. military’s major bases – Camp Lejeune and Fort Liberty both in North Carolina – very little assistance has arrived. In the west, there’s still the belief that despite recent setbacks and losses, the U.S. military is a force nearly god-like: if it truly desired, it could fill the sky with countless helicopters and black out the sun. jets, whenever and wherever it wants.
▪️Nearly a week after the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, those countless helicopters have not materialized. And as America gears up to send more troops to the Middle East potentially to engage with Iran, it’s evident that they can’t show up, at least without breaking something elsewhere. Troops and planes occupied in Tennessee or North Carolina cannot be deployed to Jordan, Iraq, or Syria. Theoretically, the U.S. military exists to protect Americans’ lives – that’s why it falls under the Department of Defense. In practice, Americans have been mostly left to fend for themselves, 50 miles away from their military bases, in case these troops and helicopters are needed on the other side of the world.
▪️Contrary to popular belief, Hurricane Helene is not “just a storm,” in the same way that Chernobyl is not “just an accident.” Beyond the broken roads, flooded cities, disrupted power grids, and stranded American families, Helene also signals that the United States’ political system and military are dangerously close to moral and physical exhaustion.
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