Depleted FEMA struggling as hurricane season begins

What happened

Acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson left staff "baffled" Monday when he told an all-hands meeting "he had not been aware the country has a hurricane season," Reuters said. Richardson, who took over in May and has no disaster management experience, said FEMA would stick with last year's hurricane plan instead of a new plan he had promised would be finished two weeks ago.

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecast last week that this year's hurricane season, which began Sunday and runs through November, would be above average, with up to 10 hurricanes.

Who said what

"Yesterday, as everybody knows, first day of hurricane season," Richardson said at Monday's meeting, according to The Wall Street Journal. "I didn't realize it was a season." A Homeland Security Department spokesperson said Richardson was making a "joke," but his comment "flustered many who genuinely believe Richardson was truly surprised" about hurricane season, CBS News said. Others suggested if it was a joke, it was "delivered in poor taste" given the "low morale" at the agency "amid a flurry of resignations, firings, leadership overhauls and polygraph tests distributed to staffers."

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FEMA has lost about 2,000 full-time staff, or a third of its workforce, "amid Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) mandated cuts" enforced by President Donald Trump, The Associated Press said. "Scholars who study emergency management are concerned by both the reduction in capacity and the 'brain drain' of experienced staff" at FEMA and NOAA.

FEMA employees say the agency is "months behind schedule in its preparations for the hurricane season," and Richardson has acknowledged struggling to "put together a disaster-response plan amid uncertainty over Trump's intentions," the Journal said. Some staff were "confused" over how using last year's hurricane plan would be possible, "given the agency had already eliminated key programs and sharply cut its workforce."

What next?

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has said she plans to "eliminate FEMA," but she approved Richardson's request to "retain more than 2,600 short-term disaster response and recovery employees" this year, Reuters said. And the National Weather Service has permission to hire 126 meteorologists, hydrologists and other experts to "stabilize" the service after nearly 600 employees were laid off or retired, a spokesperson told The New York Times. NOAA said the National Hurricane Center is fully staffed.