Florida worries FEMA may lack disaster relief funding this hurricane season

With dire storm forecasts ahead, the nation’s top disaster responders are once again in danger of running out of money at the height of hurricane season.

FEMA’s disaster relief fund will run out in August. If Congress doesn’t act, Florida and other states will face huge expenses and slow recovery efforts in the event of a major storm. The chances of that happening are high during what is expected to be the busiest season on record.

Last week, FEMA Deputy Administrator Eric Hooks said at a news conference at the National Hurricane Center that if funding is reduced, the agency will instead prioritize “life-saving, life-sustaining work.” That could put at risk important programs like personal financial aid or government reimbursement for storm debris cleanup. By September, the agency responsible for the nation’s disaster response expects the shortfall to approach $7 billion.

read more: New pre-season hurricane forecast is the highest ever. Florida, get ready

“It’s something we’re concerned about because we want to make sure all of our programs are running at full capacity,” he said. “We haven’t had an issue where we couldn’t provide service, and we don’t want to even approach that possibility.”

Florida Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, both Republicans, Write to FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell They highlighted the issue last month, calling the potential funding shortfall “unacceptable”.

“We cannot emphasize enough how devastatingly devastating the funding shortfall will be to hurricane and disaster relief efforts in Florida and across the nation,” they wrote.

In a report in MayFEMA said its funding will run out in August, with a shortfall of $1.3 billion, a shortfall that is expected to grow to $6.8 billion by September.

Senators also said there was a sense of déjà vu. The same situation happened last year.

FEMA’s cash reserves for disaster response ran out in August 2023, just as Hurricane Idalia barreled through Florida’s Grand Bend as a Category 4 hurricane, inflicting $3.6 billion in damage across Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas.

Meanwhile, the agency is also busy responding to the devastating wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui.

Because disaster funds have been depleted, FEMA was forced to abruptly halt thousands of ongoing recovery projects in states that were trying to recover from previous disasters in order to prioritize funding for Hawaiians and Floridians. This is the ninth time FEMA has classified disaster funds since 2001. According to Politico.

Unless Congress votes to approve additional funding for FEMA, that number could reach 10.

Rep. Jared Moskovitz, D-Broward, told the Miami Herald that he and Florida senators plan to quickly introduce legislation to address the funding shortfall when Congress resumes in September. He urged other lawmakers to put politics aside.

““These are nonpartisan disasters. They don’t affect Democrats or Republicans, they affect Americans, they affect entire communities,” he said. “We can’t start balancing the budget just because they’re disasters. If we want to balance the budget, we need to balance it across the board.”

Alex Harris is the lead climate change reporter for the Miami Herald’s climate team, which covers how South Florida communities are adapting to global warming. Her coverage also includes environmental issues and hurricanes. She attended the University of Florida.