As Helene barrels into the Gulf Coast, FEMA faces shortfall for longer-term recovery

President Joe Biden has signed a bill funding the government for another three months, ensuring federal agencies are funded through Dec. 20. One thing that did not make it in that bill was additional money for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which had requested it for disaster aid.

The agency says it has what it needs to respond to Hurricane Helene which headed into Georgia overnight as a now Category 1 storm. However, the funding shortfall is likely to show up in communities struggling to recover from past disasters.

When paying for the rising costs of natural disasters, American tax dollars aren’t just paying for the immediate response.

“We’re also paying for the short and long-term recovery, and those things are oftentimes much higher than the actual initial response,” said Nora O’Brien, CEO of Connect Consulting Services, which helps businesses plan for natural disasters and other emergencies.

FEMA’s budget has to account for how much it needs to respond to emergencies in real-time, which includes expenses like evacuations, shelters, and food, plus the costs associated with longer-term rebuilding and recovery.

“So they try to gauge how much money to put in the Disaster Relief Fund, and then, you know that typically runs runs dry because there are a lot of disasters,” said Jonathan Berquist, president of Berquist Recovery Consulting, which helps communities get federal funds to recover after a disaster. He wasn’t surprised FEMA came up short this year.

“I’ve been doing this for 15 to 20 years, and this problem has happened many times,” Berquist said. “Because obviously, nobody can predict how many disasters are going to hit every year.”

According to Peter Muller, a senior officer with the Managing Risks Projects at Pew Charitable Trusts, when the Disaster Relief Fund DOES run low, FEMA goes into Immediate Needs Funding mode.

“They delay anything that is not an urgent spending necessary for protection of life and property, and that means people return to their homes slower,” Muller said. “It means that businesses will reopen slower it also means that projects that are intended to reduce the impact of the next disaster are going to be delayed.”

At a White House press briefing Thursday, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell talked about what operating under Immediate Needs Funding has meant so far.

“We’re already through INF, $9 billion – close to $9 billion – in projects that we have put on hold that we can’t reimburse communities for.”

Criswell said the agency will be able to pay that tab once the continuing resolution goes into effect. But without supplemental funding, FEMA will be back to INF mode as early as January.