“It’s worse than Iraq:” Marine veteran and YouTuber trying to reach Hurricane survivors as Army is repairing a road and power in NC town

Construction crews are working to remove debris in Chimney Rock, North Carolina, a river community along the Broad River, which was devastated by Hurricane Helene and is still recovering.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has been coordinating with a contractor to deliver generators provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency at critical facilities, such as temporary shelters and water resource stations.

The Pittsburgh District is the lead office for USACE to coordinate the emergency power program. They coordinate Planning Response Teams from across the nation to deploy to disaster areas within 48 hours to communities in need.

USACE is working in partnership with the local, state, and federal response to Hurricane Helene.

261 USACE personnel are deployed, coordinating with partners in the affected areas.

Additionally, 65 USACE personnel are supporting response efforts via reach-back, and has 218 contractor personnel deployed, according to the Army.

USACE has received 35 (34 open / 1 closed) FEMA Mission Assignments (MA), including National Activation, Regional Activations, Temporary Emergency Power, Infrastructure Assessment, and Debris Management/Oversight totaling $343.39M.

Additionally, USACE has issued $3.725M in Flood Control and Coastal Emergency Funding (FCCE) for the provision of flood response technical expertise, and management of flood response supplies and equipment.

The Temporary Emergency Power Planning and Response Team in North Carolina consists of employees from the Pittsburgh and Honolulu districts as well as Soldiers from the 249th Prime Power Engineer Battalion, and contractors.

So far the team has installed 17 generators and more than 40 assessments to determine further emergency power needs.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides the generators while the Emergency Power Team from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers coordinates with a contractor to install the generators at critical facilities, such as hospitals, first-responder centers and water resource stations. The

According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District, Federal employees are working out of a FEMA mobile station, just a few miles outside of Chimney Rock, North Carolina, to provide survivor assistance to survivors in the area and register them into their system to provide financial support and other aid.

A civilian YouTuber, Jason Ward, and a Marine veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom claim they are also providing aid, such as food and generators to those affected in the Chimney Rock area.

“These people up here have not even been checked on,” he said in a video.

On Sunday, Ward and the Marine, identified as Billy, conducted a six-mile round-trip on a washed-out road.

During the hike, Ward said Billy received a Purple Heart while deployed and lost his home during the storm but has been volunteering since the storm passed.

“He’s been seeing stuff that he didn’t even see in Iraq,” Ward said. “Just the trauma these people have endured right here on their home turf,” he added.

Sunday was the 22nd day since Hurricane Helene destroyed the Chimney Rock community and Ward claims civilians on horseback found survivors who had not seen anyone since they arrived on horseback.

“The fact that YouTuber has checked on them, and only a YouTuber, at a place with this much devastation and destruction, to me, that is pretty horrifying,” he said in a video he posted on Sunday.

“I don’t know what’s going on here at all, but you get a chill down your spine,” he added.

Ward claims the world is not seeing what is going on in Chimney, and it’s the Appalachian people who have come together to provide most of the relief to those affected.

“I don’t care what anybody says, you can see what you want to on the news, you can see what people are telling you, but we’re right here,” Ward said.

“This has been ATVs, trucks, it’s been the people pulling together, and it’s been mules and horses, checking on people to make sure they are okay, and feeding them…”

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