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When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, FEMA is staggering. Slow response, political and disconnected. FEMA made mistakes in people without extensive emergency management experience and collapsed under the weight of its mission. When the federal dike failed, more than 1,800 people were killed, and the chaos followed. It took nearly two decades to recover, and some communities never did.
As a country, we swear to never let this happen again. As the Bush administration Homeland Security Consultant Fran Townsend wrote on her Katrina report after Hurricane Katrina At the time, “when local and state governments are overwhelmed or powerless by events that reach a catastrophic proportion, only the federal government has the resources and capacity to respond. Therefore, the federal government must plan, train and equipment to meet the requirements of responding to catastrophic events.”
Over the past decade, the country has made significant progress in strengthening federal, state and local coordination and capacity. We have made reforms FEMA, Leaders with emergency management experience need to be hired, invest in more resilient infrastructure, build stronger buildings, and hazard mitigation standards and funds with huge benefits, and invest and coordinate better with state and local emergency preparedness.
FEMA employees take leave after claiming Trump leadership could trigger the next Hurricane Katrina
But in just eight months, The Trump administration is unveiling Toughering progress has been made for 20 years by masking FEMA and undermining federal government forecasts, preparing and then responding to disasters.
Twenty years after Hurricane Katrina, FEMA’s disaster response has once again become a problem. Archives: On September 12, 2005, two weeks after Hurricane Katrina passed through New Orleans, the community was flooded with oil and water. (Reuters/Carlos Barria)
Since returning to the office, President Donald Trump has set his sights on demolishing institutions responsible for keeping Americans safe during disaster times. He first proposed to eliminate FEMA completely. The termination and voluntary separation of Elon Musk’s governor’s action cuts FEMA staff by nearly a third. Among those who left, they recently reassigned dozens of FEMA employees to immigration and customs enforcement hurricane season. Trump even fired the first appointed acting administrator and said he thought FEMA should stick with it, and the current acting administrator would not say whether FEMA would continue to exist.
Trump’s FEMA canceled a $3.6 billion plan to build stronger infrastructure – an investment that could help communities improve drainage, lift roads and homes, harden infrastructure, such as power lines, and prepare for the future before a disaster strikes.
Secretary of Homeland Security in institutions sometimes known in bureaucratic processes Kristi Noem Start asking her to sign for individuals with over $100,000 per FEMA grant or contract, which, in today’s terms, is almost all, leading to delays at risk of their lives.
This July ends 130 people died After catastrophic floods in Kerrville, Texas swept across rural Hill. During the flood in Texas, FEMA was unable to deploy the city search and rescue team in time because they did not clean up. No course correction.
What happens if the major hurricane drives to our path? Does anyone really think the current FEMA government is ready as it enters hurricane season?
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Trump is doubling despite challenges from state and local officials, emergency preparedness experts and the broader meteorological community. In a recent FEMA review task force, Noem reiterated that “Federal Emergency Management should be state and locally led” and that “the entire agency exists today and is remade into a responsive agency.”
Kentucky governor praises Trump-led FEMA, saying “appreciate his administration”
It doesn’t just stop on FEMA. Trump has privatized NOAA and the National Weather Service, turning a life-saving public alarm into a paid service. At the same time, the function of weather forecasting is eroding. Entering hurricane season, 30 of the 122 forecast offices in the U.S. no longer have chief meteorologists.
The damage caused by Hurricane Katrina is devastating. Can FEMA do better now? File: In 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the city and flooded the mound underground passage on Interstate 10 near downtown New Orleans. (AP)
Covering FEMA and hollowing out the agency responsible for disaster preparation – saying “the state can do it” – is not a plan. It’s federal abandonment, like a deadly daddy. In particular, the scope and scale of responding to major disasters requires the financial, manpower and equipment of the federal government. Even where states and local governments can lead, our system needs to build strong federal partnerships.
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As a state legislator, governor lieutenant, mayor and White House official, I have been part of a good and bad dealer of disasters. If I learned one thing, it was this: Responses and recovery can only be as strong as their preparatory. A good response requires clear command and control, communication, coordination, cooperation and, most importantly, a positive and correct federal government to work with state and local governments.
Disasters will come and the storm will get faster and faster. We know. But how we prepare, how we react and how we can help the community rebuild – it depends on us. On August 29, we marked 20 years since Hurricane Katrina. We cannot let history repeat itself. Too many (and too many lives) are at risk.
