As Major Hurricane Approaches Florida, FEMA Faces Severe Staffing Shortage [View all]
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency is running out of staff to deal with the potential devastation of Hurricane Milton as it barrels toward Tampa with wind speeds that have reached 175 miles per hour. As of Monday morning, just 9 percent of FEMAs personnel, or 1,217 people, were available to respond to the hurricane or other disasters, according to the agencys daily operations briefing.
To put that into context: Over the previous five years, one-quarter of the agencys staff was available for deployment at this point in the hurricane season. Even in 2017 arguably FEMAs busiest year in the past decade, after Hurricane Harvey flooded Houston, Hurricane Irma plowed through Florida, and Hurricane Maria plunged Puerto Rico into darkness FEMAs staffing reserves at this point in October were 19 percent, more than twice the levels they are at now.
The agency said Monday afternoon that it is well equipped to handle the strains. FEMA is built for this, said Leiloni Stainsby, the agencys deputy associate administrator for response and recovery. But FEMA is stretched not just by the brutal aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which killed more than 200 people and destroyed sections of western North Carolina. Its staff is also responding to flooding and landslides in Vermont, tornadoes in Kansas, the aftermath of Tropical Storm Debby in New York and Georgia and the Watch Fire in Arizona.
The relentless string of disasters, which are becoming more frequent and severe because of climate change, is just one challenge. In a report last year, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found that 35 percent of FEMAs positions were unfilled, partly because of rising disaster activity during the year, which increased burnout and employee attrition. The agency also faces a funding crunch. Congress last week approved FEMAs request to top up its disaster relief fund.
That was before Hurricane Milton, and Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the Homeland Security secretary, last week said FEMA needed additional funding from Congress to make it through the hurricane season. Speaker Mike Johnson has declined to call House lawmakers back from the campaign trail for an emergency session to fund hurricane relief and rebuilding.
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