SWANNANOA, NORTH CAROLINA—Four months after Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says the federal government will continue to provide support but also needs to get “out of the way” of recovery efforts and cut much of the red tape involved in getting assistance.
“I think that the federal government would do a much better job, much like [President Donald Trump] does, if we got out of the way,” Noem said to Wanda Harvey and her mother as they spoke outside what used to be the Harvey’s home in Swannanoa, 10 miles east of Asheville, on Saturday.
Noem was in western North Carolina to see the progress of the recovery efforts and the damage that still remained from Helene.
Rev. Franklin Graham, president of the Christian humanitarian aid organization Samaritan’s Purse stood beside the secretary as she…
