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The National Guard and the U.S. Army XVIII Airborne Corps have pulled all service members out of storm-ravaged Western North Carolina at a time when advocates for Hurricane Helene victims say some residents are living in tents while hundreds await word on temporary housing.
Joint Task Force North Carolina — a blend of National Guard and active-duty Army and Air Force troops — had 4,000 members working in North Carolina as of Oct. 29, but two sources told Blaze News there are no service members working on storm relief in the region. The National Guard pulled out within the past week.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is finalizing work on a water treatment system near Asheville. The Corps of Engineers is working to remove storm debris to a site near Asheville. An effort to document the high-water marks in North Carolina will continue for “a few more weeks,” the Corps reported Nov. 22.
'Your job is not done. There are people still sleeping in tents and in desperate need of help.'
Major Aimee Valles, a public affairs officer with the XVIII Airborne Corps, told Blaze News that all Airborne Corps personnel were removed “a little more than a month ago.” Army and Air Force units from XVIII Airborne Corps had 1,500 personnel assigned to Western North Carolina in October.
Blaze News contacted the North Carolina National Guard for more details on the pullout but was referred to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, which did not reply to a request for information. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s office also did not return a message from Blaze News seeking comment.
The commander of Joint Task Force North Carolina, Brig. Gen. Wes Morrison, penned a thank-you letter to the troops Nov. 21 that was posted to X on Nov. 25.
“This Joint Task Force rescued over 865 people, delivered over 22,000 tons of relief supplies, cleared over 1,600 obstacles while repairing an untold number of roadways, bridges, and culverts,” Morrison wrote. “Over 6,200 National Guardsmen from North Carolina and 15 other states, along with active-duty soldiers, have served in 17 affected counties.”
The withdrawal comes amid complaints that some residents who had been put up in hotels by the Federal Emergency Management Agency are now living in tents because their hotel vouchers expired.
“That’s not the only reason so many are choosing to live in tents,” a National Guard official told Blaze News. “They are afraid to abandon their properties [for fear] their land is going to be taken from them. True or not, that is what they’re afraid of.”
Woody Faircloth, founder of the Colorado-based charity EmergencyRV, has provided 35 free recreational vehicles to Western North Carolina residents since Helene struck in late September. The need will spiral as the weather turns colder, he said. Another 10-11 RVs will be delivered Thanksgiving week.
“It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” Faircloth told Blaze News Nov. 25 as he drove a donated RV through Tennessee toward Western North Carolina. “There’s a cold front coming in. That is going to be a problem for everybody there. Even ones in RVs. We’re going to have to make sure they get some insulation underneath them.
FEMA direct temporary housing units are set up for occupancy on a commercial lot in Old Fort, N.C., on Nov. 16.FEMA Photo by Greg Curtis
“People are staying in hotels that got denied by FEMA, and they’re going to run out of money,” Faircloth said. “When you live in a hotel, you’re going out to eat every night because you can’t make a meal. These RVs kind of solve that, but we won’t be able to help everybody up there. We wish we could. The need is increasing, not decreasing.”
According to AccuWeather, overnight temperatures in Swannanoa will drop to 26 degrees on Nov. 29 and to 18 degrees on Dec. 1.
One family EmergencyRV helped was originally provided with a donated tiny home, but Faircloth said FEMA “red-tagged” it as uninhabitable because it didn’t meet FEMA requirements.
“They gave the family a hotel voucher for three days, and the family doesn’t have anywhere to go after three days,” Faircloth said. “So they were planning to come back and pitch a tent there, but we diverted an RV that’s going to them and they’ll have that when they go back in.
'God and Santa Claus are going to be so proud of us.'
“I mean, this is how it works,” he said. “It’s like people helping people. Nobody else is going to help.”
Faircloth said EmergencyRV still has 300 requests for housing assistance. There are some 1,900 FEMA hotel vouchers that will expire “at some point” and greatly increase the need, he said.
Faircloth will be in Western North Carolina all week. He made the trip in a donated RV with his daughter Luna, who was one of the inspirations for establishing the charity. EmergencyRV began delivering homes to those displaced by the massive wildfires that struck Paradise, California, in November 2018.
Faircloth saw a fire survivor on television expressing thanks for having a place to stay for Thanksgiving, pointing to a nearby RV.
“I looked over at my daughter, who was 6 at the time, and I said, ‘Hey, why don’t we get one of those and we’ll drive it to California and we’ll give it to a family so they have a place to call home for Thanksgiving?’ She just got the biggest smile on her face. She said, ‘Dad — God and Santa Claus are going to be so proud of us.’”
— (@)Faircloth said EmergencyRV needs new or used RVs in good working condition. The charity will transport them from anywhere in the country. The group also needs financial support for things like new tires, fuel, and furnishings for the homes.
Nearly a month ago, a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Army told Blaze News the Hurricane Helene response coming from the Biden-Harris White House was “pathetic” and tainted by partisan politics. Casey Wardynski, assistant secretary of the Army for manpower and Reserve affairs under former President Donald J. Trump, said the Pentagon offered much higher levels of support for wildfires and other hurricanes.
The National Guard source — who has extensive experience working on the ground in Western North Carolina but is not authorized to speak for the Guard — said the Western North Carolina counties did not want Guard help for anything but food and water distribution.
“We were glorified spigot turners,” the source said. “The counties made a decision to use those limited funds to hire locals who have been displaced from their jobs. So they sent us home. We were never deployed in the manner we should have been. Our actual capabilities were never employed.”
The source said federal and local officials need to suspend regulations in this emergency so that no one is left out in the cold. He confirmed reports that dozens of tiny homes built by Amish carpenters and other volunteers won't be used due to building codes or other regulations.
'They are no longer here. I’m in complete disbelief.'
“These counties must issue a moratorium on those regulations. These people need immediate dry and warm housing. We can worry about codes and regulations later.”
Local residents who took to social media expressed feelings of abandonment and questioned the Joint Task Force’s frequently posted social media statement, “This mission is no fail, and we’ll continue to work around the clock until it’s complete.”
Some vented anger at Gen. Morrison on X.
Glenna Ryan posted, “Wow. What a disgrace Americans still suffering in tents, cars.” An account under the handle Deplorable Nicholas added: “What exactly are you celebrating? Your job is not done. There are people still sleeping in tents and in desperate need of help. Shame on you and the governor for even considering this.”
Matt Van Swol, an Asheville photographer who has shared the plight of locals on X throughout the fall, said hundreds of people are waiting for temporary shelter across the region, but only a handful of trailer homes have been delivered by FEMA.
— (@)“We talked to someone yesterday who said FEMA told them it would take ‘3 months’ to get their home,” Van Swol posted on X Nov. 22. “This incompetence is causing real-world harm to people.”
On Nov. 15 and 16, FEMA published photos showing manufactured homes and camper/trailers sitting unused in a staging area in Hickory, N.C. The agency was setting up a small community of the temporary homes for occupancy in Old Fort, N.C.
Blaze News reached out to FEMA for comment but did not get a reply by press time.
Van Swol was critical of the North Carolina National Guard for posting weeks-old photos on X because it creates the impression that Guardsmen are still at work helping people.
“The NC National Guard is literally posting pure propaganda videos on X, pretending they are still in WNC helping us,” Van Swol posted Nov. 25. “They are no longer here. I’m in complete disbelief.”
Van Swol posted drone video he and his wife took that shows tents being used for shelter in Swannanoa.
A 5th wheel RV from EmergencyRV is delivered to a displaced resident of Fletcher, N.C., in October. EmergencyRV provides free RVs to people who have lost their homes to natural disasters. Close to a dozen RVs will be delivered to Western North Carolina Thanksgiving week.Photo courtesy of Woody Faircloth. Used with permission.
Van Swol’s wife, Erin Derham, a documentary filmmaker, said they tried in vain to get mainstream media outlets to cover the ongoing tragedy from Helene damage. Fox News sent a crew last week, but otherwise coverage has been threadbare, she said.
“The community effort on the ground is stronger than any movie I’ve ever seen,” Derham told Blaze News. “People set aside political beliefs and any prejudices they had in the past and just helped each other. The same cannot be said for the response coming from the outside, particularly from government organizations and the media.”
Derham called and emailed media contacts she had through her filmmaking business, but no one wanted to cover the story, she said.
“Media outlets of all political affiliations have been reached out to by myself,” Derham said. “Some of which I had direct contacts with, including CNN. I got nothing. Zero response. Zero. ‘We can’t help with this right now but hope you’re OK.’
“Nothing. That is insane to me,” she said. “We have been harassed online for going on conservative news outlets, but those are the only outlets covering this story.”
The couple also posted recent video showing the massive amount work to be done to clean up unprecedented storm debris.
“Shockingly little progress has been made in the clean up efforts across the rural mountain areas of WNC,” Van Swol posted on X. “It’s hard to overstate the sheer volume of debris that exists in every town, everywhere across Appalachia. At the current pace it’ll take decades, not years.”
Readers on X were critical of a flurry of National Guard posts published since Nov. 21 that showcased work that was done weeks ago.
A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractor removes debris from Lake Lure, N.C., on Nov. 15, 2024.U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Photo by Patrick Moes
“Why are you showing old photos when you have pulled out?” one reader commented. Another wrote: “Do you still have any troops deployed? It’s being widely reported that all troops have RTB [returned to base] and that these pics are weeks old? You aren’t trying to gaslight light us now are you?”
One National Guard post on X from Nov. 24 showed cleanup efforts under way in Marshall, N.C. The photos in the post were taken Oct. 28, according to the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, which manages photos and videos for the military and federal agencies.
“Shame on you. Delete this post,” wrote reader Jill Shank. “Remember what you saw? Those people are suffering a bitter winter abandoned by their government.”
Another Nov. 24 National Guard post on X showed soldiers assisting in warehouse operations in Waynesville, N.C. The photos were taken Oct. 27 by Staff Sgt. David Hunt of the 382nd Public Affairs Detachment, according to DVIDS.
Faircloth said of the more than 100 families he has spoken to in the region since Hurricane Helene, none had flood insurance. They lost everything in the storm. He said this makes the donated RVs even more important.
“This is why we only deliver nice RVs. Some of these families will live in these things for the rest of their life,” he said. “That's just the cold, hard facts about it.
“But it’s incredible work,” Faircloth said of his charity. “God is definitely driving the RVs, if you know what I’m saying.”
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