A Charlotte, North Carolina, woman claimed Wednesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) refused to cover a minor window repair after Hurricane Helene, instead offering her a month-long stay at a costly hotel.
Susan Lewis, 74, said the small window crack would cost $200 to fix, but said FEMA proposed placing her and three others in the Charlotte Marriott SouthPark hotel for a month — an option she said would cost the agency thousands of dollars, according to WSOC-TV. Lewis said she had to pay for the repair out of pocket because she had a $1,000 home insurance deductible.
“I’m living on Social Security,” she told the outlet. “I’m, you know, a 74-year-old woman and all these little extra expenses really add up.”
🚨 FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell admits she HAS NOT talked to the 13 people on the FEMA text thread that directed workers to bypass pro-Trump homes. pic.twitter.com/G9dPUxnXSw
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) November 19, 2024
Lewis described frustrating interactions with FEMA representatives, claiming they rigidly adhered to scripts rather than addressing her specific needs. (RELATED: ‘America Last’: GOP Sens Slam Biden For Sending Africa $1 Billion As Hurricane-Ravaged Regions Struggle)
“I said twice when I called, ‘would you please go off your script,’ and ‘I know you’re a reasonable person,'” she said. “I said, ‘just listen to me.’ And they just kept reading off the script.”
The 74-year-old expressed broader concerns about FEMA’s disaster relief approach, worrying that legitimate claims might be denied while resources are misallocated.
“It makes me so sad to think maybe they’re denying people with legitimate claims who super need them,” Lewis told the outlet. “I mean, when I’m hearing the people are living in tents and they’re freezing, I’m thinking they could use a hotel room and it just breaks my heart how mismanaged this is.”
Her claims come amid ongoing scrutiny of FEMA’s Hurricane Helene response. A whistleblower alleged discriminatory response protocols in November, claiming an internal directive instructed agents to avoid homes with Trump campaign signs, The Daily Wire first reported.
FEMA Director Deanne Criswell acknowledged that an internal investigation into the allegation was underway during a House Oversight hearing in November, but denied direct involvement in the matter.
“I have not talked to them personally,” Criswell said. “I have an entire team that focuses on this investigation.”
New: The fired FEMA supervisor who told subordinates to skip hurricane-ravaged homes with Trump signs did a sit-down interview on Fox News and said that staff had the right to not go to homes with Trump signs if they were uncomfortable, similar to them avoiding homes with… pic.twitter.com/DXIrFB3MwV
— Andy Ngo 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) November 14, 2024
A FEMA spokesperson declined to comment specifically on Lewis’s case, saying the agency’s hotel coverage was designed to address widespread infrastructure damage from the hurricane, according to WSOC-TV.
The Daily Caller reached out to FEMA for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication.
