The chairman of a House Homeland Security subcommittee is asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency to detail what it did to prepare for Hurricane Helene after it became clear that catastrophic flooding would occur.
Helene made landfall in Big Bend, Florida, on September 26, causing flooding that devastated North Carolina, Tennessee and other southern states and claimed more than 200 lives.
In a letter sent Saturday, Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, chairman of the House Emergency Management and Technology Subcommittee, asked FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell for “information on FEMA’s advanced forecasting models, resource pre-positioning, and coordination with federal, state, and local partners in response. ”
A spokesperson for FEMA confirmed to NBC News that the agency has received the letter and will work with Congress on Hurricane Helene efforts.
D’Esposito, RN.Y., quoted a local official from Buncombe County, North Carolina, who claimed water was requested before the storm began but was delayed, exacerbating Asheville’s water shortage.
At the White House briefing on Monday, Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall told reporters that FEMA focused its pre-positioning efforts on the Big Bend, Florida, region and that the effort saved lives. After landfall, “capacity increased to where it was needed most.” She noted that western North Carolina has now been identified as the area hardest hit.
While former President Donald Trump has sharply criticized FEMA and the administration’s overall response to Helene, even going so far as to encourage disinformation about the organization, other Republicans in North Carolina have praised the federal government’s actions .
On Friday, Senator Thom Tillis defended the agency, telling reporters: “They are doing a great job. They can always work harder, there’s always kinks in the slinky, we work them out behind the scenes, but I think we’re all here to send a message that we work together, and I’m pretty proud of the effort it has been delivered.”
“Shall I now remain silent in areas where we can do better? No, but right now I’m here to say we’re doing a good job,” he added.
Rep. Chuck Edwards, a Republican who represents most of western North Carolina, had criticized the federal government’s response early this week, but on Friday he had written a letter to his constituents describing how his complaints had been immediately addressed .
“I heard from county after county that FEMA and the state were not meeting their food and water needs quickly enough and that there was virtually no cell service,” he wrote. “After trying to work through FEMA and NC Emergency Management with little luck, I demanded that the White House immediately deliver three pallets of water and two pallets of Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) to each of our seven toughest affected counties, and 20 pallets of MREs and 20 pallets of water for Buncombe County to hold them until the state funds were finally delivered. All 75 pallets were delivered the same day.”
Edwards says he also demanded temporary cell towers for six counties and all six received at least a temporary cell tower on the same day.
The organization has already provided more than $110 million in federal assistance to help thousands of survivors recover, the spokesperson told NBC News. More than 6,400 federal personnel, including FEMA personnel, have been deployed to the affected areas. FEMA has distributed more than 13.2 million meals, 13.4 million gallons of water, 157 generators and more than 492,000 tarps to support recovery efforts in the region, according to the FEMA spokesperson.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
