As Mississippi awaits FEMA relief for March tornadoes, acting director says disaster recovery burden will shift to states- National & International News - FRI 16May2025 -

While Mississippi awaits FEMA relief for March tornadoes, acting director says states to bear more disaster recovery burden

On April 1, the state of Mississippi submitted a request to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for disaster relief after the mid-March tornados. Well over a month later, that application has yet to be approved. In the meantime, Arkansas’ request for assistance arising from that same storm system was rejected. After appeals from Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (President Trump’s former Press Secretary) and members of Arkansas’ Congressional delegation, President Trump finally reversed his decision this week and granted Arkansas’ request for aid.

Trump has also turned down emergency declarations from Washington State and West Virginia. Last month, he also rejected extending the full reimbursement period for North Carolina, which is still recovering from Hurricane Helene.

According to Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) Executive Director Stephen McCraney, Mississippi suffered more than $18 million in damage from the storms. McCraney says that this meets the threshold for FEMA assistance. Despite the delay, state officials say they remain “confident” FEMA will grant the aid.

Last week during Congressional testimony by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Rep. Michael Guest from Mississippi’s 3rd Congressional district pressed Secretary Noem, asking that Mississippi’s request for assistance be expedited. Noem’s answer was noncommittal.

New acting FEMA head warns disaster recover burden will shift to states

This week, FEMA acting director David Richardson told staff that the agency intended to shift more of the financial and logistical burden for disaster recovery to individual states. Richardson warned that the agency’s policy of bearing a typical 75% cost share for disaster recover could change as soon as this summer. Richardson replaced the previous acting director Cameron Hamilton (also a Trump appointee) after Sec. Noem dismissed Hamilton last week. Hamilton’s dismissal came one day after he testified on Capitol Hill that he did not think FEMA should be eliminated.

Richardson’s remarks came days before the beginning of this year’s hurricane season. Meteorologists predict 17 named storms this season, which is considered above-average. Meanwhile, an internal review from FEMA found the agency is not ready for hurricane season, in part because the agency has yet to pin down how it intends to respond.