Disaster Response to Helene and Logistics
People who are impacted by a significant disaster need help to arrive as soon as possible. In fact, it can’t arrive soon enough. The problem is that we are dealing with logistics and what I call, “The time space continuum.” Meaning, you can’t make things move beyond the human possibility of ordering the supplies, getting them loaded and then transported to the disaster zone. Even once they are in the immediate area of the disaster, they have to be distributed to disaster survivors.
When a disaster comes without warning the logistics system will take longer to kick into gear. In the case of North Carolina, I would think that they were not “number one” on the planning charts for FEMA to have prepositioned supplies in the immediate area. The record setting flooding that occurred there, while not totally unexpected competes with the “expected” needs in Florida where the physical impacts of Hurricane Helene was more predictable.
Adding to the misery of people and the delay in getting supplies into the mountain areas of North Carolina are the damages that occurred to the road network there in the area. Entire roads and bridges have been swept away, isolating homes, towns and small cities. Without roads, the ability to move large quantities of supplies by truck will be greatly restricted. While moving supplies by helicopter is an option, the restrictions there are the number of helicopters available and the greatly reduced cargo capacity of a helicopter when compared to transport by semi-trailer trucks.
Rebuilding all the damage and destroyed bridges will take many months, altering the ability of people to continue to live in some areas that the storm impacted. I wish I had better news, but it is what it is.
