From Staff Reports

FAIRVIEW — Vice President-elect J.D. Vance called for the federal government to do “a lot more” for the people of Western North Carolina following massive damage wreaked by Tropical Storm Helene, citing “bureaucratic red tape” and “slowness” during a Dec. 6 visit to Fairview, the Asheville Citizen Times reported on Dec. 6.

Vance, accompanied by his wife Usha, visited more than “two months after North Carolina’s deadliest storm on record,” the ACT noted. (The storm ravaged the area on Sept. 27.)

Besides touring the Buncombe County community of Fairview, the vice president-elect visited its volunteer fire department and some homes impacted by the storm.

During an address while in Fairview, Vance was flanked by Republican North Carolina senators Ted Budd and Thom Tillis, and Republican U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia. 

Regarding Capito’s presence during Vance’s visit to Fairview, she wrote on Facebook on Dec. 10 that “on Friday (Dec. 6), I was honored to be invited by Vice President-elect J.D. Vance and my colleagues from North Carolina to visit Western North Carolina.

“As someone who went through severe flooding in my state, I can guarantee you the people of N.C. will come out stronger on the other side.

“Neighbors will continue helping neighbors and our Republican-led Congress and President-elect (Donald) Trump’s administration will be a part of that effort.

“We will NOT turn a blind eye to devastation when it strikes in our communities.”

Meanwhile, Vance, speaking generally, said in his Fairview address that “I know a lot of people in this neck of the woods feel left behind and forgotten.

“ I just wanted to make them feel that their government leaders actually care about them, because we do.”

Vance then voiced two immediate concerns based on his “takeaways” from his Fairview visit as follows:

• The need to allow people to live in mobile homes within designated floodplain areas. 

To that end, the ACT noted that Vance “mentioned that Tillis and Budd ‘explicitly asked’ President Joe Biden’s administration to grant a waiver through the Federal Emergency Management Agency that would allow residents to temporarily live in these structures through the rebuilding phase.

“‘They’ve started the conversation, but it’s up to the Biden administration to actually respond to this request and allow us to get the residences and the homes that we need, even if just on a temporary basis,’ Vance said.

“‘If it takes 45 days, that’s something that is going to change immediately under President Trump’s leadership.’”

• The need for major improvements in the country’s communication infrastructure.

“It is, frankly, a disgrace, given that we have Starlink, given that we have access to modern technology, that we (had) so many people unable to communicate with law enforcement, with EMS services and with their loved one’s weeks after this storm hit,” the ACT quoted Vance as saying.