Vol. 80/No. 41      October 31, 2016

 

US hurricane deaths demonstrate capitalist gov’t disdain for workers

 
At least 43 people died in the United States from Hurricane Matthew, most from flooding. Capitalist government at all levels demonstrated its inability to carry out elementary preparations and the disdain that the capitalist rulers have for working people.

North Carolina was hardest hit, especially working-class towns such as Princeville, Lumberton and Fair Bluff, which were under water for days. More than 100,000 buildings in the state were damaged. The carcasses of 1.8 million chickens and 4,800 hogs — along with large amounts of bacteria-laden sludge from farm-waste lagoons — have contaminated much of the water.

After Princeville, settled by freed slaves in the late 1800s, was submerged by flood waters from Hurricane Floyd in 1999, the Army Corp of Engineers was supposed to improve the dike protecting the town. But the funds were never approved.

While the governors of Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina ordered people to leave, nothing was done to organize an orderly evacuation. Florida Gov. Rick Scott told people fleeing not to fill up their tanks, because there was not enough gas for everyone.

The New York Times reported Oct. 10 on Diamond Hansen and Darryl Clark, who left Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, when the evacuation was ordered and drove to Clark’s uncle’s house in Fair Bluff, North Carolina. When the town was flooded, they had to get out by boat, leaving their car behind.

The Times notes that of the cities that had evacuation “plans,” less than half had organized any details for those without their own vehicles, nor how to inform people who don’t speak English about what was happening, or how to help people with disabilities.

They have even less of a plan for how to repair damaged homes and businesses, much less for workers who lost everything in the storm.

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory told a press conference Oct. 17 that he hoped that FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, would provide aid. The agency’s response to Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was notorious for bureaucratic red tape.

“I don’t want to overpromise,” McCrory said, adding he was setting up a task force to figure out what to do next.
 
 
Related articles:
Imperialist plunder at root of Haiti storm disaster
‘Stop deporting Haitians!’ demands protest in Miami
Five months after Alberta fire, workers face capitalist disaster
New Zealand march protests contaminated water
 
 
 
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