As Hurricane Milton barrels toward Florida’s Gulf Coast — still recovering from Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago — federal officials insist the government has enough money, resources and personnel to deal with recovery efforts from both powerful storms.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Monday the cost of the government’s recovery response to Helene so far in Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia has already exceeded $210 million.
Nevertheless, Keith Turi, the agency’s acting administrator for Response and Recovery, told reporters there are adequate funds to deal with the aftermath of Helene and the pending Hurricane Milton, a Category 4 storm that is heading toward southwest Florida and expected to make landfall late Wednesday evening.
READ MORE: Florida Gulf Coast remains in bullseye of ‘extremely dangerous’ Cat 4 Hurricane Milton
The state is already reeling from not only Helene but also Hurricane Debby, a weaker Category 1 storm that made landfall in the Big Bend area in early August.
“We have the resources we need to respond to both Helene and Milton,” Turi said during a telephone news briefing.
The question arose not only because of the magnitude of damage Helene has caused in six states and the anticipated damages from Milton, but also in response to comments by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who said FEMA may not have the money to make it through the rest of hurricane season, which ends Nov. 30.
Mayorkas’ statement set off a panic and provided ammunition for Republicans to criticize the Biden administration and accuse the White House of not doing enough to help the storm’s victims. But FEMA uses a separate Disaster Relief Fund, not its operating budget, to respond to hurricanes.
The fund is appropriated by Congress, which replenished it with $20 billion last month . The money is already available to the agency as part of the new fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, NPR reported.
“We are constantly monitoring the funds in the Disaster Relief Fund,” Turi said. “We are confident we have what we need in there for Helene and Milton responses.”
FEMA’s teams in Florida
FEMA said the federal government has already designated these assets to Florida in preparation for Milton:
▪ Five FEMA Urban Search and Rescue teams
▪ Four FEMA Incident Management Assistance teams
▪ Three U.S. Coast Guard Swift Water Recovery teams
▪ Three FEMA Healthcare Systems Assistance teams
▪ A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Temporary Power team
▪ 30 high-water vehicles with ladders provided by the Department of Defense.
The agency said there are 900 federal staffers at the Joint Field Office in Tallahassee.
President Joe Biden also approved an emergency declaration for Florida on Monday, authorizing federal funds and resources to the state.
The staffing and relief efforts for Florida will be in addition to the FEMA staff still actively supporting recovery efforts in North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida and Virginia, the agency said, adding there will be no diversion of resources from these states for Milton.
FEMA and other federal agencies have deployed almost 7,000 people to the states affected by Helene and have shipped almost 16 million meals, nearly 14 million liters of water, 157 generators and more than 505,000 tarps, officials said Monday.
Coast Guard readying for search and rescue
During Monday’s briefing, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Nathan Moore said the service has assets ready on the Gulf Coast, including 16 aircraft, 18 cutters and 19 flood skiffs to be used for search and rescue. He urged boaters to either get their vessels out of the area if they can, but if they can’t, to turn off their boat’s Emergency-Position-Indicating Radio Beacons if they are not going to be staying on their vessels.
During Helene, the agency responded to 149 search-and-rescue calls, and 120 of them turned out to be beacons that falsely alerted from docked or moored vessels with no one on board, Moore said.
The latest forecast for Milton has the massive system hitting somewhere in the northern part of the Gulf Coast, likely Tampa Bay, on Wednesday evening as a powerful Category 3 storm. It’s forecast to stay a hurricane as it passes across the state, maintaining at least Category 1 status as it leaves the East Coast by the Space Coast.
Mandatory evacuations were called in parts of six counties on Monday, with more expected. State, local and federal officials are urging people in the possible path of Milton to make preparations and leave by Tuesday night.
“Time is running out,” Turi said.
FEMA battling disinformation
A driving concern for FEMA is the misinformation and disinformation about the agency, according to Administrator Deanne Criswell during a Tuesday morning telephone news briefing.
“It’s creating distrust in the federal government, but also the state government, and we have so many first responders that have been working day and night to go out and help these communities,” Criswell said.
People in need of assistant need to register at https://www.disasterassistance.gov/ or call the FEMA helpline at 1-800-621-3362.
“I need people to register for assistance, and they’re misrepresenting the types of programs that FEMA offers, and it’s creating fear in some of the individuals, and so I worry that they won’t apply for assistance...,” Criswell said.
The first assistance being given out is $750 to individuals in the most impacted areas to replace some of their immediate needs, like medicine, clothing, food, Criswell said. She added that as the agency gets more information from the individuals they will be able to provide more assistance such as home repairs and relocation costs.
Miami Herald staff writer Milena Malaver contributed to this report.
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