Been Unable to Post
Storms - Storms Everywhere
I haven’t been able to get online to post due to dealing with damage from Helene. No, we did not get a full hit, and I am grateful for that. Compared to other places we were both lucky and only minorly impacted. Minor, when talking about the devastation of Helene, is a very subjective term. Our flooding was significant, some people’s homes were damaged, but no one lost their life. The homes were damaged but not beyond repair. Our small community is virtually untouched by comparison. Even the tornadoes didn’t hit anyone’s home and remained in unpopulated areas nearby. Power was out, the flooding had us on a boil order for a while, and net was out - but that’s it. Really, by comparison that’s almost nothing. Make no mistake, I’m very grateful to report this fact.
What is disgusting to me is the rumors that Donald Trump, JD Vance, and the Republican party in general are spreading in the wake of this tragic disaster that has impacted millions of people. Entire communities will never be the same. People are dead. Lives have been destroyed beyond repair. Places I used to go to to play when I was young simply no longer exist. It is heart wrenching on a level that is impossible to explain. It is something I hope that none of you reading this ever have to experience. Hearing Donald Trump lie about the relief efforts in order to try and win an election angers me on a visceral, primal level. It shows how little he cares about the people he claims to want to lead. Many of these victims are people who believe everything that comes out of his mouth, and right now that means they are afraid to ask for the help they need to begin to try and rebuild their lives. This is not something to make into political theater, if ever there was a matter to come together and show the country that differences can be put aside when lives are on the line - this, and the Milton storm, are IT.
He cannot even do that. He will not do that. He would rather watch his supporters have everything ripped away from them when it could have been prevented - than to cooperate with the current administration. He is incapable of considering the welfare of others over his own desires. It is disgusting.
I will post something more thought out soon, but for now that’s all I can even stomach saying after what I’ve survived, and what those less than a couple hours drive away have suffered. I have some funerals to go to, too. Yes, my community didn’t suffer any deaths, but that doesn’t mean the circle of my friends didn’t.
Be safe. Listen to evacuation orders if you are able to get out - get out when told to. And for all that’s sacred - FEMA is not trying to steal anything from you. Get all the help you are entitled to.