Mddow Blog-As hurricane season nears, the Trump administration is struggling badly to prepare

[LetMyPeopleVote]

The acting FEMA chief reportedly admitted that the agency isn’t prepared for hurricane season. Making matters worse, the problem isn’t limited to FEMA.

Those of us living in hurricane prone areas need to prepare bc our FEMA is not! As hurricane season nears, the Trump administration is struggling badly to prepare www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— (@jessicamullen.bsky.social) 2025-05-16T19:06:23.791Z

Those of us living in hurricane prone areas need to prepare bc our FEMA is not! As hurricane season nears, the Trump administration is struggling badly to prepare

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/hurricane-season-nears-trump-administration-struggling-badly-prepare-rcna207277

He was soon replaced by David Richardson who, on his first day, told FEMA’s staff that he would “run right over” anyone who gets in his way. And while that was an unfortunate start to Richardson’s tenure, as The Wall Street Journal reported, it was hardly his only controversial comment.

The newly appointed head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency acknowledged in private meetings that with two weeks to go until hurricane season, the agency doesn’t yet have a fully formed disaster-response plan. David Richardson, who previously served as a senior official at the Department of Homeland Security and doesn’t have a background in emergency management, told staff he would share a hurricane plan with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after he completes it late next week.

The Journal’s report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, went on to note that the disaster-response plan “is already months behind schedule in its preparations for the hurricane season starting June 1, which is expected to have above-normal activity, according to FEMA employees.”

Reading this, the obvious problem is that the Trump administration — which, again, believes that FEMA should no longer exist — is not at all prepared for hurricane season with two weeks remaining. Indeed, it’s now the responsibility of a FEMA rookie with no background in emergency management to come up with a plan that was due months ago......

What’s more, it’s not just FEMA. The Trump administration has also gutted the National Weather Service, which has already dramatically scaled back its work on behalf of the public, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

To be sure, maybe Americans will get lucky. It’s possible that the United States won’t have to deal with any deadly hurricanes this year — or for that matter, in the coming years — and there won’t be any real-world consequences tied to the administration’s latest moves at FEMA, NWS and NOAA.

But as the president and his team move further away from responsible governing and disaster preparedness, counting on good fortune hardly seems like a wise strategy.

I am nervous

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. Few Houston residents feel well-prepared for a disaster as hurricane season approaches, Rice survey finds

I am very nervous about the upcoming hurricane season. I have been through almost a dozen hurricanes over the years. Last year, I got to go out into the eye of Beryl as this storm passed immediately above my house. I am nervous

Based on 2024 survey results released earlier this month, the Kinder Institute found that 8% of Harris County residents reported feeling “very well-prepared” for a disaster, while 58% of respondents felt at least “somewhat prepared.” Residents had completed an average of 4 out of 10 preparedness actions recommended by FEMA.

Link to tweet

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/hurricane/2025/05/13/521136/few-houston-residents-feel-well-prepared-for-a-disaster-as-hurricane-season-approaches-rice-survey-finds/

Ahead of an Atlantic hurricane season predicted to be more active than average — and even after several federally declared disasters have impacted the Houston area in recent years — a survey conducted by Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research found that few residents of the region feel “very well-prepared” for the next major storm.

Based on 2024 survey results released earlier this month, the Kinder Institute found that 8% of Harris County residents reported feeling “very well-prepared” for a disaster, while 58% of respondents felt at least “somewhat prepared.” Residents had completed an average of 4 out of 10 preparedness actions recommended by FEMA, such as storm-hardening and insuring their homes, creating emergency plans and signing up for alerts and warnings.

"There are things we can be doing. There are steps we can be taking,” said Daniel Potter, director of the Kinder Institute’s Houston Population Research Center. “We're not going to prepare our way out of our next disaster, but by taking particular steps and being a little more prepared, we're setting ourselves up to have a better recovery afterwards.”

Atlantic hurricane season spans from June through November. A year after Hurricane Beryl devastated the Houston region — toppling trees, flooding streets, causing power outages for more than 2 million and leading to more than 40 deaths — experts at Colorado State University are predicting a total of 17 named storms in 2025.

[brush]

2. Didn't Musk and his DOGE teenagers fire a lot people too. They didn't know WTF they were doing.

[Phoenix61]

3. I'm about 20 miles from where hurricane Michael made landfall.

There is no way to describe the devastation and there is no way a state can manage a relief effort of that size. The logistics alone for getting supplies into the area takes a mind boggling amount of coordination. Like where do you put enough power poles and wire to rewire an entire county? How do you coordinate the power crews coming in from all over the SE? People gripe about FEMA all the time but when it came to coordinating everything they were pretty darn amazing.

[BOSSHOG]

5. FEMA was outstanding in South Mississippi after Katrina

Happy to see their trucks roll in.

[BOSSHOG]

4. The States are responsible

For all disaster relief. I’m not responsible for anything bad happening to anyone, anywhere. If you need help call your Governor. I love all of You Wonderful Stupid People who voted for me, Donald Trump, off to the golf course as magas sing in unison, we didn’t vote for this.

[tanyev]

6. The Trump (mis)administration is not trying to prepare at all.

Not their job, not their problem. So they think.