Hurricane Irene left millions without power, flooded rivers and did billions in damage throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. According to The Los Angeles Times, the death toll from Hurricane Irene has reached 42.
Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin had some kind words for President Obama and the Federal Government after Hurricane Irene, downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it his state, slammed into the Green Mountain State. “We’re getting tremendous help from the federal government,” Shumlin professed to CBS News on Tuesday.
Vermont was particularly hard hit by the remnants of Hurricane Irene and will most likely require a significant amount of aid from the federal government. According to an update from the Vermont Emergency Operations Center, 13 communities remain inaccessible as of Tuesday. The Vermont State Police also have 130 Troopers providing 24 hour coverage throughout the state.
Shumlin spoke with President Obama on Monday night to give him an update on Hurricane Irene’s impact on Vermont. “President Obama has committed to giving us all the help we need,” Shumlin said. Shumlin added that “it’s important to know we got wacked hard.”
Despite the devastating impact of Hurricane Irene’s rains on Vermont’s rivers, Shumlin told CBS News that he wouldn’t evacuate Vermont even if he could travel back into the past. “You can’t evacuate Vermont,” Shumlin said. The Vermont Governor added that “we simply can’t evacuate an entire state.”
Not everybody has had kind words for the federal government in the wake of Hurricane Irene. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), an official candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, slammed FEMA as “a system of bureaucratic central economic planning, which is a policy that is deeply flawed.” Paul’s comments were made over the weekend to “Fox News Sunday” with Chris Wallace. Prior to Paul’s comments, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said that the agency has all the money it needs to sustain current response operations, but will need additional funding to cover damages from Hurricane Irene.
