Is FEMA ready for hurricane season?

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0:19Bob Fenton:WBUR Podcasts. Boston. There are still areas that very much look like they have just recently experienced the event. You know, there are towns that may have been along rivers that still no longer exist.

0:35William Ray:It's been almost two years since Hurricane Helene devastated parts of North Carolina. The state's emergency management director says they're preparing for the next big one. It's Wednesday, June 3rd, and this is Here and Now anytime from NPR and WBUR. I'm Chris Bentley.

1:01William Ray:Today on the show, Israel's invasion of Lebanon has killed thousands and displaced more than a million people. But it could get even worse. The IDF doesn't have any great solutions as to what to do, but there is a lot of pressure coming from Israelis and coming from IDF leadership. to expand IDF operations in Lebanon, including airstrikes in Beirut. I think that's what we see Prime Minister Netanyahu wanting to do, and President Trump is clearly restraining it. War, peace, and U.S.-Israel relations coming up in about 10 minutes. Before we get to that story, though, it is officially hurricane season.

1:41William Ray:The National Weather Service forecasts 8 to 14 named storms through the end of November. that's slightly lower than normal, but they say at least one of those storms is likely to be a major hurricane. And this year, FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which responds to hurricanes, starts the season with its smallest disaster workforce in five years. In a few minutes, we'll ask the acting administrator of FEMA about that. But first, parts of North Carolina are still recovering from Hurricane Helene, which killed more than 100 people in September 2024. William Ray is Director of Emergency Management for the state of North Carolina.

2:26William Ray:He told Scott Tong, they're prepared for the worst this season.

2:30Bob Fenton:I think here in North Carolina, we know regardless of forecast, we know it really just takes one storm. We are looking at both natural hazards, threats and risks like hurricanes and tropical weather, but also other types of events that could impact the 11 million people we serve here in North Carolina and how we can respond in an all-hazardous way. Well, Western North Carolina, the mountains are some of the most beautiful parts of the country I've been to. That area is, of course, still recovering from Helene, which hit in the fall of 2024. The heavy wind, the flooding, the homes destroyed, we've seen those images.

3:08Bob Fenton:What were the key lessons learned after Helene? Do you prepare a little differently? I think certainly the impact of Helene continues to weigh on all of our minds. At the same time, we had power, water, transportations, and comm systems all down concurrently for a number of days. And so I think that while that event was catastrophic in nature, I think there's certainly some lessons that we learned from that. A lot of it focused on how can we support better local capability and capacity for redundant communications or redundant data connections. And what does redundancy, in practical terms, look like?

3:53Bob Fenton:Say, if you live in Asheville and the power's gone out, the Internet's gone out, the phone's gone out before. Or is there a redundant network now, or is it a matter of putting up more towers? You know what? Yep. A lot of those local governments have taken steps to procure things like Starlink and other kind of low-Earth orbit satellite-based technology. Yeah. Well, Helene was such an awful storm for Western North Carolina. Is there a snapshot from Helene for you personally that stays in your mind? We had fundamentally communities in Western North Carolina were changed for a generation or more.

4:35Bob Fenton:You know, there has been absolutely amazing work done in Western North Carolina in many of those communities led by those local communities. But I think there, as you have traveled out there, I'm sure have seen, you know, there are still areas that very much look like they have just recently experienced the event. You know, there are towns that may have been along rivers that still no longer exist. And, you know, so that I think is very much the forefront of all of our minds here at North Carolina Emergency Management in doing what we do every day. In my towns that are no longer there, I mean, just so much work to be done, which brings me to the question of federal aid.

5:16Bob Fenton:Many states, including North Carolina, have over the last year more reported backlogs because of the partial federal government shutdown impacting DHS, the parent organization of FEMA, because large disbursements of federal money, over $100 ,000 for a while had to get the approval of the Secretary of Homeland Security before going out. What is the backlog situation in North Carolina now? As you said, I mean, we have experienced over the last year or two, I think, a pretty significant challenge in getting some of the necessary funding in. I think recently we have seen a significant increase in some of the approvals for some of that public assistance funding that comes through FEMA, as well as some of the really critical approvals needed to begin work on FEMA's hazard mitigation program.

6:03Bob Fenton:And separate from, I think, some of the challenges of leadership or some of the challenges from some of the bureaucratic hurdles, we have a very good working and close relationship with FEMA here. They are on the ground here. They are committed to supporting us in what we do in our day-to-day work, as well as our recovery efforts. And just so I can understand, can you share an example of a FEMA approval that the state has been waiting for? So I think as you're aware, public assistance is largely a reimbursement program, and we're waiting for the approval from DHS and FEMA. It could be for debris-related costs.

6:45Bob Fenton:It could be related to recovery and rebuild projects. This is really the kind of final step. Things have been approved. Things have been evaluated. Things have been assessed through the process to make sure they're eligible and appropriate to pull that funding down quickly. as soon as they were approved. You know, the new Homeland Security Secretary, Mark Wayne Mullen, I understand, visited North Carolina recently. The federal government is talking about reforming FEMA, perhaps having state and local governments be more on the front lines and them providing funds for that. When you speak to folks from Washington, what is the most important message, most important concern you impart to them?

7:25Bob Fenton:across the spectrum, I think you get broad agreement that there are areas of reform needed. How can we get the dollars out the door quicker? How can we make guidance more consistent? How can we get things to that lowest operational level possible as quickly as possible to support that community or those survivors? We want to be a partner in how we talk about making FEMA better at what they do and continuing that trajectory versus, I think, some of the discussion around elimination of an agency. Indeed, the federal conversation seems to be moving away from eliminating FEMA and instead reforming FEMA and what that might look like.

8:06Bob Fenton:William Ray is Director of Emergency Management for North Carolina. William, thanks so much for the time. Thank you, sir. Great to be with you. Bob Fenton is acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He has been with FEMA for 30 years under several administrations. Bob, welcome here now. Hey, thanks for having me on, Scott. We just heard from North Carolina about perceived slowness in getting aid from Washington, D.C. Is that a fair question? Well, Scott, as you know, as everyone knows, we've been underneath a lapse for some amount of time this year. In addition to that, we had some other complexities that have all changed now with the Secretary Mullins coming on board.

8:46Bob Fenton:And since I've been on board for almost the last month, we've moved about$4 billion out to state and local governments in disaster funding, in addition to starting to advertise all the non-disaster grants and put all those notice of funding opportunities out this month. I understand. And by lapse, you mean, of course, the more than 70-day shutdown of your parent organization, DHS, and so recovering from that. Yeah, not only 70 days, but 40 days at the end of the last calendar year. So this fiscal year, we've been underneath a lapse almost as much as we've been operational. I understand. Now that we're in hurricane season, I want to ask about FEMA readiness from a staffing perspective.

9:30Bob Fenton:Congressional Democrats assert that FEMA lost more than 5 ,000 employees since January of 2025. As far as people, are you playing catch-up here? Well, because of the lapse, we've been impacted on the ability to hire. But we are now moving forward and starting that hiring process. We do have almost 20 ,000 employees within FEMA right now that are trained and ready to go to disasters. In addition to that, we have over 7 ,000 from the DHS surge. But I really want to, the most important part of being ready for disaster season isn't just FEMA. It's really state and local government. And I'm glad you talked to the state of North Carolina.

10:08Bob Fenton:They play such a critical role in everything that needs to happen to be ready for hurricane season. And really, we are in support of state and local government who's really in the lead with Americans across the country that need to be ready themselves. I understand. Yeah. Yeah. There is a lot of talk now of FEMA reform. A review council just last month recommended some broad changes to raise the bar for states to qualify for federal aid, to give states more money more quickly for them to be on the front lines. You've been at FEMA for much of your career, a very long time. How easy or hard would this shift be?

10:45Bob Fenton:Yeah. So first of all, I was on the FEMA Council and I as part of the development of those reforms. Those reforms really represent how we do business every day in government, meaning that local elected leaders are responsible for managing their communities, their cities. They make decisions on evacuations. They make decisions on land use and building codes, and those then are shared with states and governors. And so to put the funding back to them in a way that allows them to integrate with their capital improvement plans that gives them more autonomy to make decisions, I think will not only speed up recovery, but will allow them to integrate that with other actions they're taking to make their communities more resilient and better to respond to disasters in the future.

11:36Bob Fenton:Yeah. And real quick, can I ask you to give me an example of FEMA at its best? Let me give you one just recently. I was recently responded to a Typhoon Sinlaku in Saipan, a Category 4 typhoon that just happened a month ago. Lost all power, all water on that island. One of the things I take away from that is I went into a shelter that had been without power and water to get the water running within about four days. So we are constantly helping our state and local governments. We are ready for this hurricane season. And there's hundreds of stories like that happen every day around the country. And it's really that combined effort from local government to state to federal government, work with nonprofits, private sector to help those that are impacted by disasters.

12:28Bob Fenton:Bob Fenton is Acting Administrator of FEMA. Bob, thanks very much for the time. Hey, appreciate it. Thank you for having me on, Scott.

12:40William Ray:Coming up next, Scott has an update on wars in the Middle East, from Iran to Israel's expanding invasion of Lebanon.

12:53Stick around.

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13:26Bob Fenton:This message comes from Midi Health. Introducing AgeWell, longevity care designed by women for women. Whether you're looking to prevent future health issues or just feel more like yourself, learn more at joinmidi.com. That's joinmidi.com. The ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is still in place, but today Iranian drones damaged Kuwait International Airport, killing one and injuring dozens, according to Kuwait's foreign minister. The U.S., responding to Iran's attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain, launched strikes on a military station in the Strait of Hormuz. As for peace talks, President Trump says they are continuing, although Iran's state news agencies report they are on hold.

14:10Bob Fenton:One sticking point for Tehran is Israel's continuing attacks on Lebanon. And on that topic, President Trump says he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a tense conversation Monday. Let's talk now about U.S.-Israel relations with Michael Koplow, chief policy officer of Israel Policy Forum. Michael, welcome back.

14:31William Ray:Thanks so much for having me back, Scott.

14:32Bob Fenton:Netanyahu said on CNBC today that he and President Trump have had tactical disagreements, his term, they can disagree in the morning and by the afternoon have common action. As you see it, where does their relationship stand right now?

14:47William Ray:Their relationship is obviously strong. We've seen that demonstrated many times, but there is serious friction right now over Iran and over Lebanon in particular, where President Trump does not want conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon to get in the way of ending the Iran war or any deal between the U.S. and Iran, whereas Prime Minister Netanyahu's priority right now is to stop Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel and on IDF soldiers in southern Lebanon. So they are having a tactical disagreement that is threatening to envelop their larger relationship.

15:27Bob Fenton:Yeah. And can you talk a little bit more about how Israel sees the war in Lebanon going right now? What more does it want to accomplish?

15:38William Ray:During the ceasefire, there have been over 300 Hezbollah attacks on Israel, both in northern Israel and by IDF soldiers who are in a security zone in southern Lebanon. And it's obviously very difficult for northern residents of Israel who have been under constant fire. It's also a real political problem for Prime Minister Netanyahu, because elections are coming in either September or October. and northern Israel is still locked down despite the fact that there is supposed to be a ceasefire. And the IDF doesn't have any great solutions as to what to do, but there is a lot of pressure coming from Israelis and coming from IDF leadership to expand IDF operations in Lebanon, including airstrikes in Beirut.

16:25William Ray:And I think that's what we see Prime Minister Netanyahu wanting to do, and President Trump is clearly restraining him. Yeah.

16:31Bob Fenton:Well, Trump and Netanyahu have at times appear to be partners in this war. Here's Trump last month talking about Netanyahu holding off on potentially striking Iran. He'll do whatever I want him to do. And he's a he's a great guy to me. He's a great guy. Now, critics of Netanyahu say he is a puppet of Trump. Critics of Trump say he does what Netanyahu tells him to. As you see it, how do they work together, influence each other?

17:01William Ray:So there's no question to me that Prime Minister Netanyahu is far more restrained by President Trump than the other way around. But they absolutely have a close working relationship. And I don't think anybody should downplay the impact that Prime Minister Netanyahu has had on President Trump's thinking, particularly with regard to Iran. We certainly see where those seams are. We're seeing it, as I mentioned, both in Iran and with Lebanon. But when the two are aligned on something, as they certainly were during the 12-day war against Iran last June, and as they were with regard to the current Iran war, certainly for the first month of operations, you see them working very closely together, and you see the U.S.

17:46William Ray:and Israeli militaries working closely together. But with all of these conflicts, the longer they go on, the more we start to see the differences. And I think Prime Minister Netanyahu's ability to persuade the president gets less and less.

18:01Bob Fenton:Today, Iran sent a host of missiles and drones into Kuwait, struck the main airport there, and it aimed missiles at Bahrain that were intercepted. What pressure is all this recent action putting on the neighboring countries in the Gulf?

18:16William Ray:The neighboring countries want to see the war over. They want to see some sort of definitive end to it. There are definitely gaps between countries in the Gulf where you have the Emiratis and the Bahrainis on the more hawkish side of things and you have other countries on the less hawkish side of things. But none of these countries can continue to withstand Iranian missile and drone attacks and none of them can withstand having the Strait of Hormuz shut down for months on end. And what they want to see is some sort of definitive end to this that reopens the strait and ends Iranian attacks on their territory.

18:53William Ray:Whether that's coming soon or not, I think, is an open question.

18:56Bob Fenton:Yeah. And these attacks on these Gulf countries, how does that factor into Israel's decision making?