From Staff Reports
 

Newly elected President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump visited the Asheville area on Jan. 24 to meet with supporters and families impacted by Tropical Storm Helene on Sept. 27, Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) reported later Jan 24.

“Trump’s overarching message was that ‘FEMA has failed the people of Western North Carolina...” the TV station stated. “Now I’m here in a position where I can do something” as the president.

“In his first official visit since returning to the White House, President Trump, and the first lady arrived in Asheville, vowing to help Helene victims as FEMA’s future hangs in the balance under this new administration,” News 13 noted.

Meanwhile, Trump said in Asheville: “FEMA just hasn’t done the job, and we’re looking at the whole concept of FEMA. I like frankly the concept when North Carolina gets hit, the governor takes care of it.”

North Carolina Democratic Governor Josh Stein was present at the Asheville Regional Airport to greet the president and to discuss a way forward for WNC, post-Helene.

“I’m really grateful that the president came here today,” Governor Stein said. “I made two requests for the president: one is for an additional federal package — that we need another $20 billion to help us recover from the federal government, and a 100 percent reimbursement on our cleanup for another six months.”

News 13 added, “FEMA’s efforts to help the thousands of displaced people throughout the WNC mountains continue to be the focus in the early days of the Trump White House.”

Also in attendance was U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-Flat Rock, standing alongside the president. Edwards reportedly arrived home to the mountains aboard Air Force One.

“FEMA has to either be eliminated or overhauled,” Edwards said. “It’s clearly a broken bureaucratic system.”

News 13 noted that “Edwards said that President Trump is looking to push federal money into WNC with the stroke of a pen.”

“We’ve seen a number of executive orders come out of the White House already, which seems to be fast-tracking a lot of the ideas that Congress has been wanting to accomplish over the last couple of years,” Edwards said.

“People are also rebuildingF their houses — how long does it take to build a house, right? It takes time, and I want them to build houses bigger, better, and nicer than they had before so they can at least get something out of this disaster,” President Trump said. “This was a real disaster.”

News 13 added, “In addition to President Trump meeting with supporters at the airport, there was talk of him doing an aerial tour of the hardest hit areas; but an aerial tour is not his M.O. President Trump instead opted for a boots-on-the-ground approach and headed to Swannanoa to meet with a family and other supporters there.

“This visit marked the president’s second visit to Swannanoa since the storm, with him arriving in the area which still shows signs of devastation nearly five months later.

“There, President Trump heard firsthand accounts from three families who lost their homes.”

Below are a few of their statements:

“We didn’t think we were going to make it at all — our house was 25 feet underwater.”

“It lifted his home and the house that I grew up in and crashed it into our barn.”

Before his departure, “President Trump announced that he would be signing an executive order to lift regulations, meaning roads in WNC can be rebuilt without permits,” News 13 reported.

“We’ll be at your side for the rebuilding — and no American is going to be left behind,” the president said during his visit.

Trump and Stein both said they will work together on a plan for WNC.

“FEMA’s efforts to help the thousands of displaced people throughout the WNC mountains continue to be the focus in the early days of the Trump White House,” News 13 noted.