FEMA was overwhelmed by 2017 hurricanes & wildfires, GAO finds
Staff shortages and lack of trained personnel with program expertise led to complications in FEMA's response efforts.
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The timing of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and the California wildfires last year, and the scale of the damages, “overwhelmed” the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), according to a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Among other things, the GAO found that, at the height of FEMA workforce deployments in October 2017, 54% of staff were serving in a capacity in which they did not hold the title of “Qualified” — according to FEMA’s qualification system standards. FEMA officials noted that staff shortages, and lack of trained personnel with program expertise led to complications in its response efforts, particularly after Hurricane Maria.
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Challenges finding temporary housing
The GAO also found that federal, state, and local officials faced challenges finding temporary housing for disaster survivors given the extensive damage to available housing in the various locations. For example, given the widespread damage in Puerto Rico and lack of hotels and other temporary housing, FEMA transported survivors to the mainland United States to stay in hotels.
FEMA also used new authorities and procedures to meet the need, such as providing Texas as much as $1 billion to manage its own housing program. However, the GAO said, this approach had not been used or tested in past disasters and state officials noted challenges in managing the program such as staffing shortfalls. State officials further noted challenges in coordinating with FEMA that led to delays in providing assistance to survivors.
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In preparing its report, the GAO analyzed FEMA policies, procedures, guidance and data specific to disaster response and recovery programs. The GAO said that it focused on the busiest period of disaster response activity for the federal government — August 2017 through January 2018, with select updates on recovery efforts and obtained updates through June 2018.
GAO teams made site visits
In October and November 2017, GAO teams made site visits to hurricane damaged areas in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. At these locations, the GAO visited FEMA joint field operation locations and interviewed FEMA, Department of Defense, and other federal officials about response and recovery operations, visited disaster recovery centers, and observed damage.
The GAO also interviewed FEMA officials responsible for wildfire response and recovery efforts in California.
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Additionally, the GAO interviewed state and territorial emergency management officials or their designee in Texas, Florida, California, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as officials from eight cities and counties in Texas, Florida, and California (selected based on their proximity to the disaster impacted areas and their availability) to discuss their observations on the federal response in their respective jurisdictions.
Steven A. Meyerowitz, Esq., (smeyerowitz@meyerowitzcommunications.com) is the director of FC&S Legal, the editor-in-chief of the Insurance Coverage Law Report, and the founder and president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc.