In chilled North Carolina mountains, white-hot heat rises on FEMA

As the chill and snow of a winter storm blanketed western North Carolina, blowtorch heat is white-hot on FEMA and Administrator Deanne Criswell.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency program for Transitional Sheltering Assistance, primarily using hotels, has more than 5,600 households from within the state enrolled.

Through last Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said only 93 families had been placed in FEMA direct housing – 320 less than the same timeframe after a hurricane six years ago when Florence devastated the southeastern part of the state.

Matters grew worse into the weekend, hotel vouchers were scheduled to run out Friday – with snow forecast at 2-8 inches in and around Asheville and Buncombe County, underscored by one-tenth of an inch of ice. The snowfall ended up being about 2 inches, FEMA at first extended the vouchers 24 hours to Saturday and eventually to Tuesday.

In a Saturday social media post, Democratic Gov. Josh Stein said, “At our request, FEMA has extended temporary shelter assistance through Tuesday in light of the winter storm impacting western North Carolina.”

Regardless of who FEMA did or did not listen to, Asheville temperatures are forecast to be in the teens six of the next 11 days. Rain and snow are coming again on the weekend.

And the first request of Tillis and Budd noting the number FEMA has transitioned remains a concern.

“This is unacceptable,” Tillis and Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., wrote in a letter to President Joe Biden last week in reference to FEMA’s inability to transition people to housing. “The people of western North Carolina cannot wait any longer for assistance. Therefore, we again demand you deploy all available federal disaster recovery resources, especially direct temporary housing assistance, and waive any undue regulatory burdens that may impede progress toward getting families out of hotels and back on their property in a warm and safe home for the winter.”

Criswell, in a Friday presser for the California wildfires at the White House, said FEMA had received $27 billion “to support the ongoing recovery efforts for all of the disasters that we have been supporting.” President Joe Biden’s media briefings since the letter was sent have not included the situation in North Carolina, which has since entered its 16th week of recovery.

There were no questions or other references to North Carolina during the briefing’s 52 minutes, including a wide-ranging assortment on national and international matters after Criswell left. Meanwhile, in the mountains, social media showed long lines – some said to be 3 miles – of people waiting to fill propane cylinders for heating and criticisms of FEMA for saying Thursday it would be closing its office assistance locations early because of the coming storm.

On Friday, U.S. Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., and Budd requested Criswell consider additional extensions. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., responded to complaints of FEMA not answering its hotline with an offer to call him at 223-FIX-FEMA.

Edwards and Reps. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., and Tim Moore, R-N.C., sent a letter to Criswell on Saturday urging extension of the temporary sheltering program.