Missing From Key Hurricane Preparedness Conference? FEMA
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Hurricane season is rapidly approaching, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency has already compromised preparation. This week, FEMA failed to show up at the National Hurricane Conference—one of the largest gatherings aimed at preparing communities for disasters. The agency blamed the partial government shutdown for its absence, but the real culprit is the Trump administration's chaotic and reckless approach to gutting the agency.
“The Trump administration has spent months gutting FEMA's capacity and demoralizing its workforce — and now, as hurricane season approaches, emergency managers are being forced to prepare without the federal coordination they desperately need,” said Sabotaging Our Safety Advisory Council Member Ashley Shelton. “This is exactly why FEMA must be removed from this incompetent and overtly political control and established as an independent cabinet-level agency that can actually do its job."
More than 1,800 local and state emergency managers registered for the conference, which concluded Thursday, expecting to coordinate with the federal agency responsible for disaster response. Instead, they were left to prepare without critical federal support.
During the conference, Michael Brennan, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami warned that Americans may be dangerously unprepared this year after a relatively quiet 2024 season. Emergency managers from disaster-stricken communities like Asheville, North Carolina, told reporters that FEMA's absence "adds to the complexity of an already complex event."
In addition to skipping the conference, President Trump on Tuesday stated he has "never been a big fan of FEMA,” adding to growing concerns that his administration will continue to gut the agency. Trump’s rhetoric against the agency ignores months of his own actions: gutting the agency's workforce, withholding relief funds, and cycling through leadership. He's created the very dysfunction he now uses as justification to further dismantle federal disaster response.
###
