US Government Weather Safety Nets Crippled Ahead Of Hurricane Season

Cuts to FEMA and NOAA have crippled the federal government ahead of hurricane season. Cuts to the Weather Service have meant that some offices are not open 24/7, 3665 days a year. FEMA aid needs to be valuable immediately during and after storms. 

Axios reports, “President Trump’s campaign to dismantle FEMA is on the verge of a high-stakes stress test, as the U.S. hurtles toward peak disaster season under uniquely dangerous conditions.” Last year, the most dramatic FEMA work was in Western North Carolina after Tropical Storm Helene hit. Survivors received $316 million in cash grants immediately after the catastrophe. 

Shutting Weather Offices

The Washington Post recently reported, “In four of the agency’s 122 weather forecasting offices around the country, there aren’t enough meteorologists to staff an overnight shift, according to the National Weather Service Employees Organization, a union representing agency workers.” Two of these in California are in areas prone to wildfires. Another, in Kentucky, is in an area hit hard recently by massive spring storms. 

Hurricane season is expected to produce more violent storms. The warming of the southern Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico is a primary reason. (Gulf of America). The need for assistance will grow. Without funding, the burden will be left to states and cities that do not have the financial resources to add broad populations devastated by the weather.

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