As Louisiana Faces Winter Storm, SOS Warns Water Systems and Communities Unprepared for Freezing Temperatures Or Snow
LOUISIANA — As a major ice storm threatens Louisiana this weekend, the state's infrastructure remains fundamentally unprepared for freezing temperatures, forcing officials to once again scramble to borrow equipment from other states while water systems built for hurricanes — not ice — face potential catastrophic failures that could leave hundreds of thousands without safe drinking water. Compounding the threat, the Trump administration has devastated FEMA’s capacity to respond to natural disaster with a series of staffing cuts and complicated bureaucratic red tape.
“Louisiana's infrastructure is built for hurricanes, not ice storms, and our leaders have done nothing to close that dangerous gap,” said Sabotaging Our Safety Advisory Council Member and President of the Power Coalition for Electoral Justice (LA) Ashley Shelton. “We saw what happened in January 2025 when over 150,000 people lost access to safe water and the state had to beg neighboring states for snow plows. Now we're facing another winter storm with the exact same vulnerabilities, but to make matters worse, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s politicization of FEMA disaster relief has left Louisianans with fewer resources for recovery.”
Additional expert spokespeople are available to discuss the real-world impacts of an underfunded FEMA across the country.
THE STATE OF PREPAREDNESS: During January 2025 winter storms, the state was forced to borrow snow plows from Arkansas and hire equipment from Indiana in emergency procurements, while more than 150,000 residents were placed under boil water advisories due to water system failures caused by freezing temperatures.
Unfortunately, little has changed. In November 2025, the American Society of Civil Engineers released a report highlighting the urgent need for infrastructure improvements to mitigate water service disruptions caused by winter weather. FULL FACT SHEET HERE.
YEAR-LONG CAMPAIGN: 20% of FEMA staff have been slashed, critical emergency funds frozen, and FEMA attempted to cancel the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program—threatening $4.6 billion in flood mitigation funding since 2020. On top of that, leaked plans to eliminate 11,500 positions threaten to cut FEMA's already dwindling workforce in half.
DEVASTATED CAPACITY: On New Year's Eve, the Department of Homeland Security fired dozens of FEMA disaster workers without warning. The fired employees worked on Cadre of On-Call Response and Recovery (CORE) teams, an essential part of the agency that provides support for communities in the aftermath of disasters. DHS Secretary Noem now personally approves all CORE contract renewals.
POLITICIZING RELIEF: A recent analysis by Sabotaging Our Safety revealed Trump has approved disaster declarations for 78% of disasters in states he won in 2024 compared to just 33% in states he lost, abandoning communities after their homes are destroyed and their livelihoods decimated due to the political leanings of a state.
