I made a mistake. That’s fundamentally wrong. It’s an embarrassing mistake.
That was just days after Hurricane Floyd hit the coast on September 16, 1999. I had previously covered North Carolina politics for more than 12 years, writing a syndicated column and appearing regularly on radio and television. Our discussion show, NC Spin, had debuted on a Fox affiliate in the Triangle the previous fall and was expanding to about two dozen TV and radio stations across the state.
In a segment on the show dedicated to the devastation caused by Floyd, I asked North Carolina first responders, government agencies, utilities, private contractors, and relief organizations what to do and how to do it. I said something to the effect that I know. They didn’t need politicians holding press conferences and constantly ranting about issues that were beyond their scope.
He thought he was celebrating the skill and determination of those on the front lines of the response to Hurricane Floyd, which devastated much of eastern North Carolina and killed an estimated 85 people, including 51 North Carolinians. I thought I was defending policy expertise over political exploitation.
What I was actually doing was exposing my own ignorance.
One “NC Spin” viewer was particularly furious. Jim Hunt. One of the targets of my criticism has informed me through a mutual acquaintance that he considers my argument to be poorly founded. I don’t remember the details of what I was given, but it was to the effect that political leadership is important in times of crisis.
Emergency responders don’t always know what to do and when. Agencies collide with each other. Panicked public and private actors misunderstand, misinterpret, and inadvertently misinform. Sometimes they move too slowly and people wait too long for rescue or rescue. Sometimes they react recklessly, accidentally spending scarce resources on lower priorities rather than waiting to get a firmer grasp of the facts on the ground and make wise decisions.
It is the task of elected and appointed leaders to make such judgments, to focus minds, to adjudicate disputes, to comfort suffering, and to offer hope and reassurance to a panicked nation.
Now, as North Carolinians face the tragic aftermath of another superstorm, Gov. Roy Cooper and other political and civic leaders are trying to make sense of what Hunt did a quarter century ago. You have to face the challenges that helped you.
Helen devastated western North Carolina. Her path of destruction is wide, deep, and surprising. Homes, businesses, and entire towns were crushed or swept away. As of this writing, hundreds of thousands of people remain without power, some trapped by gaping holes and raging rivers. The already heartbreaking death toll will rise even further as more missing people are discovered.
North Carolina will recover. We will rebuild it. I’ve done it before. However, there is nothing automatic about this process. And we all have a role to play in that, no matter what our role is and no matter where we live.
If you have family or friends in the affected area, please keep in touch. Once you have done that, please give us help and comfort. If you would like to donate money, supplies, or volunteer time to relief and recovery efforts, organizations well-positioned to effectively deploy your donations include Samaritan’s Purse, Baptists on Mission, Catholic Charities USA, and Operation Airdrop. There are many.
At the state level, lawmakers have added $4.75 billion to rainy day funds and are carefully building up billions more in unfunded credit balances. That rainy day has arrived. Local governments, like utility companies, cooperatives and municipalities, will spend additional funds from their own savings.
There are many difficult decisions to be made now, in the weeks and months ahead, as a clearer picture of your needs and priorities emerges. This is also something we have learned from past disasters. Some of the funds originally earmarked for recovery after Hurricane Matthew in 2016 have yet to be disbursed.
Throughout this situation, North Carolinians will look to their leaders for guidance and reassurance. Please pray for them and for all of us.
John Hood is a director of the John Locke Foundation. His most recent books, Mountain Folk and Forest Folk, combine epic fantasy with early American history.