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FEMA Unprepared for Disasters, New Report Says

By Jan Wesner Childs

August 27, 2019

An American flag flies in front of a school damaged by a tornado in Dayton, Ohio, on May 28, 2019. A recent report by E&E News calls out FEMA for sending aid to states that have budget surpluses, including Ohio.
(SETH HERALD/AFP/Getty Images)

At a Glance

  • A new report calls out FEMA for several shortcomings.
  • The report says the agency wasted manpower and billions of dollars on "smaller disasters."
  • FEMA says multiple disasters in recent years have increased demands on resources.
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency is ill-prepared to respond to disasters nationwide, largely because of the resources it spends on smaller-scale events, according to a new report by E&E News.

The report calls out FEMA for a number of shortcomings, including wasting more than $3 billion and sending federal relief workers to hundreds of smaller floods, storms and other disasters that should have instead fallen to individual states to handle.

And on Tuesday, as Tropical Storm Dorian closed in on Puerto Rico and was expected to eventually impact the U.S. mainland, the Trump administration was reportedly set to take $271 million from the Department of Homeland Security and send it to the southern border to fund immigration matters, according to NBC News.

This includes $155 million that will be taken from FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund to provide additional funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the report added.

(MORE: Trump Laments That 'Yet Another Big Storm' Is Headed Toward Puerto Rico)

The agency faces a major personnel shortage, with nearly three-quarters of FEMA relief workers either assigned to a disaster or on a break, according to the report. This means if a major catastrophe happened today, FEMA would be unprepared to respond.

"FEMA is dying a death by 1,000 cuts," Brock Long, who served as FEMA administrator until March, told E&E. "When (Hurricane) Harvey hit, we didn't have enough staff in my opinion to be able to deploy to the largest events. We were out in the field staffing too many small to medium disasters."

The issues at FEMA come not just amid the approaching peak of wildfire and hurricane seasons, but also against the backdrop of climate change, increasing severe weather and more people living in disaster-prone areas. At the same time, many states have cut funds for disaster management.

"Since 2016, the nation has experienced a historic pace of concurrent and complex disasters, often with extensive impacts that drive the overwhelming majority of staffing deployments," Abbey Dennis, FEMA assistant press secretary, told weather.com in an email response to several questions. "Massive hurricanes, wildfires and floods have impacted areas around the country, and the agency continuously strives to overcome challenges inherent with managing and mobilizing thousands of responders that are supporting survivors and communities from Saipan in the Western Pacific to Alaska to the Midwest and the Caribbean."

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A federal report issued last year showed that in 2017, Harvey, as well as hurricanes Irma and Maria and a series of devastating wildfires in California, stretched FEMA resources too thin. The report especially criticized the agency’s response to Maria in Puerto Rico, noting that FEMA was short-staffed. Logistical challenges and the lack of local emergency preparedness also played a role.

FEMA also admitted in its own after-action report on the 2017 hurricanes that it suffered from a lack of staffing, funding and supplies and that it underestimated the impacts of Irma and Maria.

(MORE: Ocean Temperatures Impact How Many Tornadoes Occur in Great Plains)

Dennis said FEMA is working to enhance its staff.

"FEMA is leading substantial internal efforts to further accelerate the agency’s considerable progress made since 2016 in hiring, training and qualifying its incident workforce," Dennis said, adding that the agency is also partnering with states to boost emergency readiness and response.

Much of the problem, according to E&E, lies in FEMA's willingness to respond to smaller disasters, and the data used to calculate whether federal or state money should be used in recovery efforts. Under federal law, FEMA is only supposed to respond when a disaster threatens to overwhelm the state's resources – specifically, money.

For example, when tornadoes hit Ohio in late May, FEMA opened nine recovery centers to help distribute emergency grants to individuals and families, E&E said. Gov. Mike DeWine requested $9.2 million in FEMA grants just weeks before he signed a budget that noted the state had $2.7 billion in reserves.

Disaster aid is requested by governors and approved by the president, and often supported by letters to the president from the region's congressional delegation. The president issues a "disaster declaration" based on a recommendation from FEMA.

The Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 mandates that FEMA review the factors it considers when evaluating requests for a major disaster declaration, including the estimated cost, Dennis said. But she added, "There must be both a state interest in accepting responsibility and a demonstrated capability within the state."

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