FEMA Disaster Relief Fund set to run out of money as busy part of hurricane season approaches

WASHINGTON D.C. — While the busy part of hurricane season is approaching, the government said the money it uses to help communities recover from disasters could run out this month.

When any major disaster strikes, it’s all hands-on deck. That includes FEMA coming into communities across the country. It’s a situation former emergency manager Jonathan Gaddy knows well. Gaddy is now with the International Association of Emergency Managers.

He explained FEMA’s primary role in the long term is as a check book to reimburse local authorities.

“We don’t carry insurance on things like our public infrastructure, our roads and our bridges,” he said. “These communities have limited capacity to absorb those impacts.”

That’s where the federal Disaster Relief Fund comes in -- it helps communities with the things that aren’t insured.

“That could be anything from rebuilding a school to putting a fire station back together,” Gaddy explained.

But there’s a new concern -- FEMA’s administrator told Congress she anticipates a shortfall in the fund toward the middle or end of this month. We asked what happens if there’s not enough money to go around.

“These communities are trying to deliver public services like education, police, fire services every day,” Gaddy said. “The longer they have to float the costs and expenses that they’re entitled to reimbursement through FEMA, the harder the impact is going to be on those day-to-day services.”

Congress hasn’t acted to appropriate more dollars. Now, lawmakers are out of town for August recess.

“We are monitoring it very closely and working with the administration on a very continuous basis, so we can understand when we are going to approach a potential deficit and what tools we might have to implement to ensure that we will always have the funding available to respond,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said.

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