The Federal Emergency Management Agency has warned people in Florida to prepare for Hurricane Milton as the agency faces scrutiny amid a money shortage.
Milton is likely to intensify into a major hurricane on Monday, before it’s expected to make landfall in Florida’s Tampa Bay on Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
It comes as the state is still reeling from Hurricane Helene, which hit Florida as a Category 4 storm on September 26, before plowing into several states in the Southeast, killing at least 200 people. Forecast paths show Milton is expected to remain a hurricane as it moves across central Florida into the Atlantic Ocean, which would largely spare the other states ravaged by Helene.
FEMA on Saturday urged Floridans to prepare ahead of Milton’s arrival. “FEMA is prepared to respond and stands ready to support the state with any request for resources,” the agency said in a statement.
“Hundreds of FEMA staff are on the ground in Florida supporting Helene recovery and coordinating with the state to prepare people for the next storm.”
FEMA warned of an “increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge and wind impacts for the west coast of Florida and heavy rainfall that will affect the area well ahead of the storm” and encouraged people to take steps to stay safe.
The agency urged people to “take the forecast seriously”and make preparations to ride out the storm, as well as to stay informed by following the forecast and instructions issued by state and local officials.
FEMA also urged Floridians to check on neighbors, especially older adults or those who may need additional assistance.
Milton’s expected arrival comes as the response to Helene has become a political flashpoint ahead of November’s presidential election, with former president Donald Trump and his Republican allies questioning President Joe Biden’s administration’s handling of the response and spreading false claims that FEMA cannot respond well enough because the agency has diverted funding for disaster relief efforts to help migrants.
While FEMA administers the Shelter and Services Program, which allocates funds to migrant support groups, nonprofits and state and local governments, money for that comes from an entirely separate pot funded by Congress for U.S. Customs and Border Protection and not FEMA’s disaster relief fund.
However, there are long-term funding concerns for FEMA’s disaster recovery efforts. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned on Wednesday that FEMA is facing a dire cash crunch, saying that while the agency can meet immediate needs, it does not have enough funding to make it through the hurricane season.
Just before Helene hit, Congress replenished the agency’s disaster relief fund, providing $20 billion as part of a stopgap spending bill to fund the government and its commitments through December 20. The bill also gave FEMA flexibility to draw on money as needed, but it left out billons that had been requested in supplemental disaster funding.
Biden called on congressional leaders to approve more money for disaster recovery in a letter on Friday.
“While FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund has the resources it requires right now to meet immediate needs, the fund does face a shortfall at the end of the year,” he wrote. “Without additional funding, FEMA would be required to forego longer-term recovery activities in favor of meeting urgent needs. The Congress should provide FEMA additional resources to avoid forcing that kind of unnecessary trade-off and to give the communities we serve the certainty of knowing that help will be ongoing, both for the short- and long-term.”
Biden also called on lawmakers to act quickly to restore funding to the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have called for Congress to reconvene before November to approve emergency funding to help with the recovery from Helene.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday said he does not intend to call Congress back in session to vote on emergency funding before the election.
Lawmakers will be “back in session immediately after the election,” he said on Fox News on Sunday. “The thing about these hurricanes and disasters of this magnitude is it takes a while to calculate the actual damages, and the states are going to need some time to do that.”
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