Preparation for the unknown was always in Alan Harris’s job description as emergency manager for Seminole County, Florida, where thousands of homes suffered flood damage during Hurricane Ian in 2022. But as hurricane season begins this year, there is a fresh layer of uncertainty to contend with.
The Trump administration has declared a desire to reshape a federal disaster response system widely considered to be too complicated and winding, and has already taken steps to upend it.
Hundreds of Federal Emergency Management Agency veterans have left the agency, and those who remain will no longer go door to door in search of disaster victims who need financial aid, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Post. Administration leaders have floated other changes that could make it more difficult for storm- or fire-stricken communities to qualify for public assistance in the months and years ahead. After recent storms, states have waited weeks or months for President Donald Trump to approve requests for federal disaster assistance, far longer than usual.
The changes are casting doubt on what sort of assistance the nation’s emergency managers can expect from FEMA — and whether it will be able to handle the hurricanes, wildfires and tornadoes that are likely in the coming weeks and months. Some experts say they even see signs the agency risks repeating mistakes that marred the response to Hurricane Katrina and other disasters.
For months, Trump has been explicit that he expects state and local officials to shoulder more of the burden of disaster response, even though it remains unclear exactly what that looks like in practice.
“We have heard him loud and clear,” said Harris, who has approached the ambiguity with new levels of preparation, given the possibility that Seminole County and Florida could be on the hook for more than ever before, should a disaster strike. He said he is considering hiring more temporary staffers, solidifying mutual aid agreements with other governments and locking down contracts for vendors who can provide heavy equipment, temporary traffic signals and other post-storm necessities.
“The plan is this: We are planning that FEMA is not coming. We pray that FEMA is. But our contingency plan is that they aren’t,” Harris said. “They may not set up disaster recovery centers; they might not go door to door to check on the most vulnerable. We may have to do that.”
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