Hurricane Michael 2018

How about them apples?

 

Dual-Power in a Three-Way Fight: Critical Reflections on Hurricane Michael - It's Going Down

"Over and over, we found ourselves saying, “We’ve never seen anything like this.” We watched U.S. Customs and Border Patrol hoard food and water in an Altha, FL warehouse swarming with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents lying in wait to kidnap and deport undocumented migrants who were desperate enough to seek supplies. We fought through roadways burdened with debris to access rural communities where folks are literally trapped inside their homes without food or water while the Florida police stand around arbitrarily blocking traffic with squad cars, pussyfooting around with their hands in their pockets."



People in Lynn Haven, FL were told they had three days to clear their belongings out of their eviscerated homes in Pinnacle Apartment complex or their remaining belongings would be tossed in the trash. The tenants’ October rent was not returned as they were kicked to the curb.

Homes flattened. Community centers ripped asunder by tornadoes. And all the while not a single FEMA vehicle or distribution center in-sight.

The folks directly impacted by these disasters are often marginalized communities of color and ecological collapse breeds environmental racism. Disaster capitalists take advantage of these communities—as they did in New Orleans and Puerto Rico—turning these traumas into profits. Predators lurk in every corner, seeking ways to benefit from the disaster relief efforts of grassroots organizers. Politicians eager to pose for photo-ops with chainsaws or pizza dinners sit comfortably in homes powered by gas generators while many languish in the heat of the Sunshine State without energy to power their A/C or charge their electronics.

The state is not coming to save you. Capitalists aren’t going to rescue you. We are going to have to help each other. Mutual aid is a factor of evolution. Solidarity, not charity, is our refuge in times such as these.


Hurricane Michael is not a warning, it is a promise. This Category 4 storm reveals the limits of neoliberalism and the perils of our contemporary moment. We sit on a precipice, teetering on the very brink. As anthropogenic climate change accelerates the collapse of state infrastructure, working class and marginalized people are stranded in the mires of dehydration, starvation, addiction, and homelessness.

If we truly believe in the project of creating a better world, then we must possess the humility to shed our ideological purity in efforts to meet the material needs of human beings. We need to get offline and be organizing in the streets, practicing communication that centers those impacted by ecological crisis while simultaneously responding in an egalitarian manner than prizes consensus and snuffs out hierarchy and bureaucracy. Urgency is just as essential as strategy in the midst of these crises. These are just a handful of the lessons we’ve learned mobilizing for disaster relief here on the ground.



As the state cedes zones and territory to collapse—as it has in Flint Michigan and in Puerto Rico—we find opportunities to build new forms of community and fellowship in the ashes. We can flee, retreat, abdicate our responsibility to ourselves and to one another. Or we can recognize that it is the obligation of those who have everything to help those who have nothing. The maxim “From each according to their ability; to each according to their need” is not a trite axiom. We must develop robust ways to protect and defend one another if we are to survive.

To that end, consider this an invitation. Get organized. One of the predominant sentiments that community-organizers have returned to time and again in recent days is, “I wish we were more prepared.” Preparation is vital if we are to develop the resiliency to defend our communities from social and ecological crises. Building food kitchens, community-centers, and intersectional organizations is not extraordinarily sexy work—it doesn’t get lots of retweets or shares on the internet. But it will make a difference between whether or not people go hungry.



Community-organizers on the ground will continue to need your support in the days, weeks, and months ahead. If you cannot come to the Florida panhandle to participate in the ongoing relief efforts, please consider supporting the organizations doing this vital work on the ground.

Tallahassee DSA Fund

Mutual Aid Disaster Relief

Amazon Wishlist"

 

What I dont understand is why they didnt just fly those fighter planes somewhere else, they are like $50 million dollars each or something

 

When they tell you to leave. You should. If they tell you that if you stay you should expect to be on your own for 3-6 days and to stock up accordingly. You should.

FEMA can't get there until the roads are cleared. And yes they do have distribution centers they keep emergency supplied in. But they keep them away from the impact zones so they have something left to distribute. Probably someplace like Milton or Tallahassee or other inland locales.

The planes they didn't fly out they couldn't because at the time they were not flyable due to needing repairs.

And they would have loved to house them in hardened hangers that could have withstood the storm, except they had their budget cut and didn't have the money to. Thank you president Obama.

 

I smell a little bit of bullshit

 

Community members and autonomous relief folks can.

Again, community members and autonomous relief folks get supplies directly to the hardest hit neighborhoods, first.

Although perhaps you missed the point on why they mentioned that. It's not that the charity supplies were too far away, it's that they were inaccessible.

But you did highlight just as important of a point. Doing things yourselves instead of waiting for large charity beurocracies is significantly more efficient. As has been proven during many of the worst disasters in the past many years.

 

158,000 people still without power including 140,000 in Florida

 

You need a house in order to have power connected.

Not saying that as a joke, or to be a dick, because I saw a similar headline and thought it was weird. How many people just have a block of land with a concrete foundation where a house used to be, and we are supposed to give a shit because a couple neighbourhoods have to use a camp stove for a week or two

 

This is always the way it was supposed to be. FEMA and the Feds are not supposed to be whom you rely on.

The feds do provide $$ for the states to lay in resources for these type efforts. How they use it is often the problem. Power companies could bury electric lines to help minimize the loss of power lines. But they don't Etc Etc Etc

 

I think that the reporting on that is done because people empathize in different ways. You may feel empathy for those who lost their homes, but someone out there may be so totally wrapped up in themself that all they can relate to is that the cell service is out or something. It's probably something like that.

 

The logistics of the help needed are ridiculous.

There are people without medication, for instance. How do you get your medication if your car, your ATM, and your drugstore were smashed?

These people need clean socks, underwear, feminine hygiene, and baby diapers.

How do you get a tree off your house if you don't own a chainsaw and there's no gasoline to fill one with anyway?

The Florida Disaster Fund: benefits disaster and response in areas affected by natural disasters. You can text DISASTER to 20222 to make a $10 donation or DISASTER25 to 20222 to make a $25 donation.www.volunteerflorida.org/donatefdf
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The Red Cross: has set up a fund specifically for Hurricane Michael victims. www.redcross.org/donate
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The Salvation Army: has a web page dedicated to collecting donations for victims of Hurricane Michaelhttps://give.helpsalvationarmy.org
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GlobalGiving: The nonprofit crowdfunding organization GlobalGiving, which supports grassroots charity projects on the ground in areas affected, has launched a Hurricane Michael relief fund.globalgiving.org/projects/hurricane-michael-relief-fund
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AmeriCares: The health-focused disaster relief organization AmeriCares has deployed a response team to the Florida Panhandle to facilitate healthcare recovery efforts. They are accepting donations for emergency medicine and other supplies specifically for those impacted by Hurricane Michael on their websitehttps://secure.americares.org

 

Of course, people should never trust or rely on the government. And these hurricanes are teaching people that by the thousands. Even if it's the entire purpose of FEMA to exist.

And same for those large organizations like the Red Cross and Salvation Army that bring in multi-millions a year and yet show little for it when actually on the ground. After all that money goes through the beurocracy there isn't enough left. And same with executive orders. As people who are actually on the ground giving aid and relief say "they're too slow".

 

Because they wanted to get them damaged so they could write it off. The raptorsf22s are junk. Half the fleet was grounded before the hurricane even shown up. 150Mil each/

 

150 million each, jeezus

 

The deaths from Hurricane Michael are up to 33 now.

 

More than 1,000 remain missing a week after Hurricane Michael

There's still a lot of people unaccounted for

 

Yes; I'm afraid the number 33 is much too low.

 

Not hard to fact check it. Or maybe you just can't tell the difference between bullshit and well I don't know.....you.

Plenty of reports you can read in less than 5 minutes.