Matthew Bracken (@Matt_Bracken)

The problem of restoring Appalachia is that it's not flat land like MS and LA after Katrina. When the storm surge flood waters went down after Katrina, trucks and heavy equipment could be brought in from many directions. Just clear the roads and drive in. Easy. Multiple problems could be addressed at the same time with help coming along many routes. In Appalachia, 100s of bridge and road washouts mean that the reconstruction can only happen one bridge and road washout at a time, because the heavy equipment must be brought in over the road as the road is repaired. One washout at a time. This will take months. (It took decades to build these roads, with all services functioning.) The new heavy main transformers, (that we don't have since they were sent to Ukraine), can only be brought in over the roads. Over the roads that are now ruined and impassible, and that can only be repaired one at a time. Crews must fix washout "A" then move to "B" and so on until they get to the ruined electrical substation or water treatment plant at "T". This is going to take months to years to complete. It's NOTHING like Katrina, in flat terrain, where dozens of problems could be tackled at the same time. In the meantime, people are reduced to using horses and ATVs, when what they need most is HELICOPTERS. For Katrina, over 300 USCG, US Navy, USMC, Army and Nat'l Guard helos were sent from all over the USA. The policy was, "Send them now, deal with the paperwork later." For Hellene (yes, two lls) the policy is, "FEMA is out of money, sorry." There are 100s of helos at Fort Campbell KY and Fort Bragg NC and elsewhere, sitting on the ground. People with private helicopters are being threatened with arrest. It's a national disgrace. Short term, the conservative folk of Appalachia will be unable to vote, tipping several swing states to the GD bastards who abandoned them. In the long term, Black Rock and other financial carpetbaggers will chopper in with "sell out and get out" checks to offer to Americans in utter desperation. Thousands of these people are on land their families have owned for generations. They are often cash poor but land rich. After Hellene, they will be cash poor and homeless. The land will be turned into lithium mines, and vacation homes and luxury resorts for our elite overlords in a cruel and much larger replay of Maui.