I have seen a lot of people compare this storm to Katrina.  A few things that I noticed that makes them quite different.

The people affected the most by Katrina knew well in advance of the advancing storm and the potential devastation.  They had plenty of time in advance to prepare and/or evacuate, yet they chose to stay and were largely unprepared.

The people in NC and Tenn. probably never had any idea of the severity that Helene would cause them.  They prepared in advance, but never had any idea that a hurricane making landfall roughly 400 miles south of them would cause that much damage.

After Katrina hit, then President Bush ordered FEMA and other aid to go in almost immediately.  He was criticized for flying over to observe the damage and not being on the ground.  He stated after that he didn't want to be a distraction during the rescue/aid efforts.

After Helene hit President Biden was snoozing at the beach and claims that he was "on the phone for a couple of hours" supposedly directing rescue/aid efforts.  His Vice President commie-la meanwhile was in San Fransisco at a fundraiser.  Neither one could be bothered to change their schedules to at least make an appearance.  It took 4 days before any statement came from the White House.  Meanwhile President Trump visited while bringing supplies and also set up a "go fund me" money raising effort to help the people.  Elon Musk stepped up by supplying some Star Link terminals to get some communication going.  I have not seen any reports of FEMA or even the National Guard being on the scene.

After Katrina many of the victims had their hands out and were pretty much demanding everything that they needed from the government.  There were also many reports of shelters being trashed and wide spread looting.

So far I have not seen any reports of looting or people demanding anything from the government after Helene.  Almost every interview/report that I see from the people there they talk about helping one another out and doing what they need to do in order to survive.

About the only thing that Katrina and Helene have in common is the amount of devastation.

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