With weather catastrophes becoming more common in the United States these days, communities have counted on two facts.
First, the federal government has their backs. When state and local resources are insufficient for disaster response and recovery, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) arrives to help. That has been true since President Jimmy Carter created the agency in 1979.
Second, FEMA’s help will be frustrating. Federal assistance will never arrive quickly enough, last long enough, or provide enough resources for people who are traumatized, homeless, without possessions, uninsured and uprooted from schools, neighborhoods and social networks. FEMA's job is often thankless, but it's always needed.
However, disaster victims may not be able to count on FEMA much longer. President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have indicated they want the agency to "go away." More recently, Noem said she will "reorient" the agency. Trump has appointed her to co-chair a FEMA Review Council to "streamline" FEMA so it "delivers rapid, efficient, and mission-focused relief to Americans in need."
But the administration is not waiting; Trump dismissed the acting head of FEMA last week. He and Noem have pulled billions of dollars out of the agency’s programs to help communities become more disaster resilient, even though the World Economic Forum says effective adaptation strategies can deliver an investment return of $43 per dollar spent. The government says it will no longer track the growing number and cost of big weather disasters.
Trump has also decimated climate science and forecasting at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Last month he dismissed 400 volunteer scientists who analyze and periodically report on anticipated climate impacts in each U.S. region.
Everyone agrees that FEMA, and federal disaster programs generally, need reform. More than 60 disaster programs are scattered across more than 30 federal entities. In recent years, stakeholders and expert organizations have flooded the zone with ideas to improve the government's disaster responses. The Review Council can benefit from recommendations by the Association of State Floodplain Managers, Harvard Law School, Pew Charitable Trusts, Brookings, the Government Accountability Office, FEMA's planners and others.
Trump argues that states should take more responsibility for disasters, and he’s correct. Take floods, for example. They are the most frequent and costly weather disasters. Municipalities eager for property-tax revenues have been too willing to allow real estate development in floodplains. With property values falling and insurance costs rising, millions of homeowners have left floodplains, but more are still moving in than out. It is time to end non-essential development in predictable disaster zones.
Local governments can reduce flood risks by restoring wetlands, returning floodplains to nature, and using permeable urban surfaces and green spaces to absorb rain where it falls. However, more state and local action will not eliminate the need for federal help, especially when vital services are beyond their capabilities. They need federal climate research, weather forecasting and biennial assessments of how climate change affects each region. The information is crucial in helping states prepare.
The federal government should continue research on more resilient building technologies, solid climate science, up-to-date rainfall data, improved forest management on public lands to prevent wildfires, programs to revegetate watersheds, funds for restoring coastal reefs and estuaries, and training for communities on mitigation, response and recovery planning before another catastrophe occurs.
The national government also has a moral responsibility to help because its policies have increased America's vulnerability to weather disasters. For example, FEMA has subsidized flood insurance and helped victims rebuild in harm's way.
Since the 1930s, the government's policy of controlling rivers with dams and levees has encouraged people to move into natural floodplains. Today, more than 40 million Americans live where rivers want to flood. Although relatively few dams are federally owned, the legacy of controlling rivers includes nearly 92,000 dams and as many as 100,000 miles of levees. Most were built to be reliable for 50 years, but their average age is over 60.
The foolproof solution is “managed retreats” from flood zones. One study found the country could save $1 trillion by removing 1 million homes from flood risks. The return on investment would be $6.50 for every $1 spent.
FEMA already helps communities purchase flood-prone homes and return the land to rivers so they can spread out and slow down. More communities are considering this solution. But studies show that FEMA takes five years on average to complete property purchases, an intolerable wait for flood victims. FEMA could eliminate red tape by letting states administer the program.
Unfortunately, Trump’s mixed signals and premature cuts have left the FEMA Review Council with an impossible task. Worse, his energy policies are making disasters more likely. He is pushing fossil fuel production, although its pollution is the principal cause of contemporary climate change. His Environmental Protection Agency is rolling back pollution limits on power plants and vehicles. He denies that climate change is real and is forcing states to ignore it, too, directing his attorney general to block states from enforcing their laws to mitigate global warming.
As a result, no place in America will be safe from increasingly violent and costly weather disasters. Nearly every congressional district experienced at least one during the last 13 years, and 40 states suffered 10 or more. Last year, the warmest in the planet's history, 27 billion-dollar weather disasters killed 600 people.
Trump has a point: States and localities should do more to prevent weather disasters. However, the federal government should not do less. Climate change is an all-hands-on-deck threat. The feds should do what they do best and keep working to do it better.
William Becker founded the Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development at the U.S. Department of Energy during the Clinton administration to help disaster-affected communities recover sustainably. He assembled and participated on teams of experts to help in the aftermath of floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and the Christmas tsunami in Thailand. He has produced several studies on sustainable disaster recovery. His book, “The Creeks Will Rise: People Coexisting with Rivers” has been published by the Chicago Review Press.
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