Janet Musselwhite is angry. In the hurricane-ravaged mountains of North Carolina Helenefrustration around aid from the American federal state perceived as too little and late, in particular due to lies from Donald Trump, is fueling resentment against the authorities.
Federal agents “did the same thing to Katrina [en 2005]they waited, waited, waited and people died,” bitterly alleges this woman in her sixties, who is eating in a small fire station transformed into a shelter in Pensacola.
Ten days after the devastating floods caused in the south-east of the country by Helene, which led to the death of at least 230 people, the subject of aid is still as hot as ever.
Donald Trump and the Republicans accuse the federal state, in the hands of the Democrats, of having done too little, too late, to provide assistance to the disaster victims, which President Joe Biden and his vice-president Kamala Harris, presidential candidate of November 5, strongly contest.
As a new, very powerful hurricane hits Florida, the political stakes are crucial: North Carolina – like neighboring Georgia also affected – is one of the handful of states that will swing the race for the White House , still very undecided.
Lie
According to many survivors interviewed by AFP in North Carolina, it was above all volunteers who came to individual aid to residents facing the lack of access to water, electricity and food.
“The locals have been great,” assures Janet Musselwhite. What about the authorities, the federal state? “It’s the government,” she blurted. Understand: she doesn’t expect anything from it, especially if he’s a Democrat.
Next door, her friend Randi adds: “It’s still a little early” to castigate the authorities.
Is it because of criticism from Republicans or because of a real lack? Still, Joe Biden ordered, over the week, the deployment of 1,500 additional soldiers to assist the population.
Donald Trump accused Democrats on Thursday of having “stolen money” from the federal natural disaster response agency (FEMA), “in order to give it to their illegal immigrants.”
This lie, which he has since repeated, has been loudly denounced by the White House, which insists: nearly 7,000 federal employees are on the ground and $210 million in aid has been distributed.
But Janet Musselwhite echoes these misleading statements: “Now we hear that there would not be much money left for Fema because it was given to immigrants. »
Everything “online”
In the devastated rural areas of North Carolina, which tend to be Republican, these allegations hit home because they echo very real difficulties in accessing federal aid.
In Swannanoa, Shelby Holzhauser would like to claim an emergency allowance to compensate for her lost wages, the daycare where she works having been damaged. But the procedure “is entirely online”, which, she regretted on Sunday, is not easy with a network that is still very approximate.
She also mentioned misleading information from billionaire Elon Musk, Trump’s ally: “From what I’ve heard, FEMA doesn’t really let people come and help.” Although the authorities have effectively blocked certain small roads, most of the region remains accessible.
Three days earlier, Shelby Holzhauser assured AFP, without a doubt, that the help from the authorities was “great”.
“Shut up!” »
At her improvised stand of volunteer veterinarians, Audria Pace hears the rumors that spread by word of mouth and via social networks.
“Someone went so far as to say that Biden had fabricated (this natural disaster) to kill Trump voters,” she says angrily in the brown dust, a lingering memory of the cataclysm.
“It’s really difficult,” said this Democratic voter, her voice cracking. “If you have time to share your hatred, then you have time to come and help. So shut up! », thunders Audrey.
These people “have no idea what’s going on here. We collect our dead, we ease our sorrows,” she said. “That doesn’t help us. »