MIAMI – There is uncertainty in every hurricane season in Florida, but this year there is an astounding source of new questions surrounding federal agencies that have responded to disasters and historically helped pay for large-scale cleanups and recovery costs.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has already cut the thousands of employees led by the Trump administration, has left state and local governments with a larger stake in the bill under a new march order to reduce federal spending on disaster response.
Republican state leaders began with Gov. Ron DeSantis and Senator Rick Scott — dismissing serious concerns over the FEMA overhaul, claiming that Florida has always directed responses right after the storm.
“To get core preparation, response and stable people back to normal, know that you’ve never resorted to FEMA here in Florida,” Desantis told reporters last week.
However, he admitted there are still open questions about how much or how little FEMA is after hurricanes and other disasters. “We work through that,” he said. “I assume people are still qualified, but who is how generous and knows all of that.”
The South Florida government says they will enter the season with something more unknown than usual. One also talks about creating a brand new disaster fund to cover the shortages that may be seen under the new administration. FEMA has raised the proposal to significantly reduce federal financial aid. This is a move that may not affect major hurricanes, but could leave Florida completely on the hook due to small disasters like the tornado that tore Tallahassee last year and the massive flood that soaked Fort Fort Rowderdale in 2023.
“Local governments are expected to pick up most of the tabs. Not only is it costly, but it can also put extra strain and stress on even states prepared like Florida.”
FEMA’s new leadership is bristling with questions about whether they are ready for the looming hurricane season. A FEMA spokesman has rejected comments from a former employee as an example of bureaucratic incompromise that has stepped into the agency.
“FEMA is moving from a bloated DC-centric death weight to a lean, unfoldable disaster where national actors empower citizens to provide relief. The old process has been replaced by decades of failure in real emergency situations.
FEMA retracted its official strategic plan for the hurricane season last week, but has yet to release anything new. This comes a week after CBS News said that a leaked presentation from within the agency was “FEMA is not ready as the intentions of this hurricane season are not fully understood as FEMA is transformed into a smaller footprint.”
It is potentially set as a stress test for Florida’s proud emergency response capabilities. Despite questions about Washington’s response, Florida officials claim the state is preparing for hurricane season. At least for immediate response.
Scott, who directed the national response to a series of hurricanes during the governor, praised FEMA workers he had dealt with in the past, but said that it mirrored DeSantis, Florida emergency managers are on the forefront of the disaster.
“They are not the first responders. FEMA is primarily a pig bank,” he said. “They’re not trying to rescue their homes. They’re not the ones who do debris pickups. They pay for things.”
“If there’s a great hurricane response, that’s tied to what the governor is doing,” he said.
The cut continues
Still, there are big questions about the ability of downsized FEMA. The agency has abandoned about 2,000 full-time staff and more than 12 senior leaders since January as part of the Trump administration’s cuts. Workforce cuts will occur as government agencies face a $646 million budget cut and “eliminate FEMA as it exists today” from Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem.
“FEMA is ready, but it cannot handle multiple events or catastrophic events,” said Michael Coen, former Chief of Staff of FEMA during the Biden and Obama administration. “Agencies have important capabilities. They’ve been deteriorating since January 20th.”
The reduction in staffing has already been felt across the country. In Missouri, St. Louis Mayor Carla Spencer reported that “FEMA is not on the ground” following a recent tornado. In Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves is still waiting for federal disaster aid for the tornado damage in March.
Cameron Hamilton, a former acting director of FEMA, was fired a day after he told Congress that Congress would not serve “the greatest interests of Americans.” His replacement, David Richardson, told staff it was moving much of the response and recovery operations to the state level.
According to the National Maritime and Atmospheric Administration, Florida is preparing for a “particularly active” hurricane season with “particularly active” hurricane seasons, which are therefore related to staff. The state maintains a pair of robust Miami-Dade area capabilities and a FEMA-backed search and rescue task force team, but Cohen predicts personnel could hinder federal recovery.
“We probably don’t have enough staff,” Cohen said. “That would be a recovery.”
He said, “There may be hurricanes that will affect Florida. People in Florida will be shocked by the lack of a disaster declaration.”
Local governments and state governments will draft bills
There are indications that federal agencies are already heading towards the state to push costs back.
A leaked memo from former deputy manager Hamilton said the agency would like to quadruple the threshold to qualify as a presidential disaster, and would release all federal cash that comes with it.
If enacted, that higher threshold means that 71% of the national events from 2008 to 2024 were not eligible for disaster assistance, according to a report by the Urban Research Institute.
In Florida, all major hurricanes in recent years are still covered, even at a quadruple threshold. But, especially if that threshold increased slightly, it meant that Florida had not received federal support for the Tallahassee tornado fuss and the rain bomb that flooded Fort Lauderdale in 2023, according to the Herald analysis.
This is both individual assistance that cash survivors can claim directly from FEMA and public assistance, including federal rebates such as overtime and overtime costs for first responders.
In the case of a tornado, FEMA paid around 3,300 people $9.5 million. And because of the floods that sunk Fort Lauderdale, the agency has driven out a whopping $38.9 million to 9,600 residents, as well as another $5.2 million to local government.
Another suggestion in the memo is to reduce the percentage of tabs the federal government is covering in disasters. The standard is that the federal government carries at least 75% of the cost, while state and local governments pay for the rest.
However, in recent years, agents have paid up to 100% more at DeSantis’ direct request, at DeSantis’s request, during debris cleaning in Florida after Hurricane Milton, after Hurricane Helen, or after the collapse of the surfside apartment complex.
Following the note, FEMA is considering reverting its contribution to a minimum of 75%. And it’s already done so in some circumstances.
Last week, the agency refused to continue offering a 100% refund for continued cleaning of North Carolina’s tropical storm Helen.
“FEMA’s denial of appeals excludes the West, potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in North Carolina taxpayers. The money they have to pay towards debris removal will be less money to support small businesses, restructuring downtown infrastructure, repairing sewer and sewer systems and other important needs.
Last minute changes
With growing concern among Capitol Hill lawmakers, the agency is rushing to speed up.
An internal memo obtained by the Miami Herald outlined how Gnome signed three memos on May 14th. This outlined “significantly improves FEMA’s preparation posture into hurricane season.”
The question is whether a reversal can be carried out before the first storm.
“They’re hind legs,” said Jeremy Edwards, deputy director of public relations for FEMA during the Biden administration. “They took all these actions and kicked out thousands of people… They canceled training, and within two weeks of the hurricane season, they’re starting to back up some programs.
FEMA spokesman Harbaugh, reflecting on concerns from former officials, told the Herald:
I first met the Review Council on May 20th, and it was mostly Florida. Of the 10 members, three are from Sunshine State, including Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosie Koldero Statz and Tampa Mayor Jane Custer.
Noem, who co-chairs the council, told members the goal is to maintain FEMA’s core responsibility, but to slim down and rebrand it under a new name.
“The president has said many times that he believes FEMA should be eliminated when FEMA exists, and that’s what this institution should be reimagined,” she said. “Our vision is that states should respond to their disasters and we should be there to support them.”
She constantly pointed out Florida as a model for what that new relationship would look like. There, the state responded first and with the help of many private companies.
Kevin Guthrie, head of Florida’s emergency management department, rattled the state’s bragging rights. After the storm, it was taken 24/7, power recovered within 120 hours, roads reopened in 72 hours, schools return online within five business days.
“And we do it all with 225 employees. We rely on the private sector, in addition to us,” he said. “There were 1,000 extra people for Helen and Milton.”
Local governments are looking and waiting
Broward and Miami-Dade County told the Herald that until one of the memo proposals is instituted, or that they are in the “Wait and See” mode effectively for “Wait and See” mode. In the meantime, both counties say they are keeping their eye on FEMA News.
“If implemented, the proposed executive order could affect how Miami-Dade County manages and recovers from the disaster,” Miami-Dade spokeswoman Natalia Jaramiro wrote in a statement. “We continue to advocate clear guidance and flexibility from FEMA, but we will implement internal scenarios and update our fiscal strategy so that we can effectively respond to potentially new proposed constraints.”
Fort Lauderdale said he has the idea of creating new emergency funds to soak in the event of a storm (or rain bomb) crash.
“The city maintains a sound fund balance to ensure that it has the right resources to address unexpected costs such as natural disasters. We will actively review the city’s budgeting practices, actively review the fund’s balance policy, further improve the way funds are reserved for these events quickly and effectively, and further improve how they respond to these events.
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