INTERVIEW: Wake Co. horse farm owner on Helene relief - undercounted death toll, FEMA seizing supplies?

Can we fully trust the information coming out of the mainstream media and government officials related to the aftermath of Hurricane Helene? The answer is no, according to local farm owner Hannah Stutts who has been travelling to Western North Carolina over the past weeks to perform volunteer recovery work.

I was able to interview Stutts at JAKS Stables, her horse barn in Wendell, about her accounts of the widespread destruction, as well as the undercounting of the death toll and FEMA seizing supplies (including in a video she posted last week on TikTok which has accrued over two million views).

@jaksstables#hurricanehelene #helene #wnc https://jaksstables.com/

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Stutts has been volunteering with Restoration Church and the Western Carolina Emergency Network in Swannanoa (Buncombe Co.) which have been involved in organizing relief, including distributing supplies, search and rescue, identifying and recovering bodies with cadaver dogs, and helping to restore or provide housing for affected residents.

The plight of the local farmers has particularly resonated with Stutts: "[it's] something that's really been touching me because I'm a farm owner, and I'm talking to farmers who lost everything...all their livestock flooded, drowned down the river, all of their equipment, all their cars, their sheds, their buildings, their hay...that's not an unusual story."

As to organizations and agencies who have been effectively providing aid, Stutts cites Samaritan's Purse as "one of the larger organizations" that is "actually doing good out there," as well as church groups and neighbors. Stutts says that the local authorities were most active in emergency and rescue operations immediately after the storm, with less involvement in the rebuilding process.

FEMA

In terms of FEMA, Stutts has seen many experiencing difficulty in accessing the resources which are offered, including possibly having to travel into Asheville to fill out paperwork. Stutts also pointed to the limited nature of FEMA aid, such as having to clear property and a driveway before FEMA was willing to place a temporary housing unit they had brought; she also reports having heard from "a lot of people" who have already been denied help for non-primary residences or washed-out bridges on private property.

Despite official claims to the contrary, Stutts' story backs up reports of FEMA taking over or "confiscating" supply depots on October 13th: "When I was volunteering with The Bridge Church, they were fielding phone calls on Sunday before last from...several schools that had called them and asked, 'Hey, can you come take our supplies? Because FEMA just took them from the school next door and we want to get them out of here before they make it here.'"

"I don't know what FEMA is doing with these supplies... I'm not here to speculate on that," Stutts clarified. "Maybe they're out there doing good things with it...maybe they're just taking it to a better redistribution spot. I don't know, but they are confiscating them."

Body Bags/Death Toll

The official number of deaths is also a subject on which Stutts has expressed skepticism based on the her knowledge of the corpse recovery operations as well as the "thousands of body bags" which they have been distributing.

"That doesn't mean that there's thousands of people dead," Stutts explained. "Sometimes these bodies are unfortunately in pieces, and every piece has to go in a separate bag, for instance, right?"

Stutts was hesistant to speculate further, "That could be a reason why it's being reported as so low, but there's also some other reasons that have been speculated that I don't have an opinion on one way or the other."

"The death toll in Buncombe County, I think they're reporting it at like 47 right now. You don't need that many body bags for 47 people, right?", Stutts questioned. "From my understanding, they are only counting identified bodies in the body count...there's not a lot of resources out there to sit there and identify the bodies that they found right now."

Marry Beth Poole, a fellow aid worker with Restoration Church and Western Carolina Emergency Network, corroborates Stutts' intuition on the undercounted death toll, describing the official numbers as "abhorrently incorrect" in a report by FITSNews:

Despite life-saving efforts provided under the purview of Restoration Church in Willow Springs, N.C., Poole repeatedly emphasized the totality of lives lost from Helene. She further noted the “abhorrently incorrect” number of fatalities being reported by mainstream media.

“Our guys have found bodies everywhere” continued Poole while sifting through a semi-trailer full of donations. “Anyone who’s been in this area knows how inaccurately Helene is being reported. And because of that, people don’t know how much help we desperately need.”
Source: Skilled Labor, Large Equipment Needed in Western North Carolina (FITSNews

Stutts says that none of the mainstream media who have been in touch with her has expressed interest following up with the information she is willing to provide.

Other Difficulties

Stutts also referenced issues with permits and/or flood plain rezoning getting in the way of rebuilding, as well as "price gouging" by gravel companies and for disaster debris disposal.

Readers wishing to donate or volunteer are suggested to visit the JAKS Stables website, Restoration Church, or the Western Carolina Emergency Network.

The video and transcription of the interview is available below: