FEMA News

Many Tarps Remain in Puerto Rico as New Storm Season Looms

Hurricane Maria ripped away part of the steel roof from Carmen Lidia Torres Mercado’s home in the Puerto Rican capital. Nine months later, she is still relying on a blue plastic tarp to protect her home, even with a new …

Costlier Disasters Push U.S. to Buy Reinsurance

The federal government, seeking to protect itself from the growing cost of natural disasters, is borrowing a technique from the private sector and buying reinsurance. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which started purchasing reinsurance last year for the National Flood …

Cities Still Await 2017 Aid as New Hurricane Season Starts

Allen Owen, the mayor of Missouri City, Texas, wants to do more to protect his town from the next disaster. But the city hasn’t gotten any of the roughly $1 million in federal disaster funds he said it’s owed after …

As Hurricane Season Begins Critics Ask if FEMA is Ready

With just a week to go before hurricane season, top jobs at the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency remain vacant and critics say that will make it harder for the government to respond to disasters. FEMA lacks a second-in-command and …

Federal Legislation Introduced to Help Connecticut Homeowners With Crumbling Foundations

Connecticut’s Democratic U.S. senators announced Wednesday they’ve introduced federal legislation to help state homeowners with concrete foundations crumbling from the presence of an iron sulfide. One bill would provide $100 million in federal funding over five years for states like …

Advocates Say Harvey Recovery Funds May Prioritize Wealthy

Advocacy groups said Friday that Texas is poised to unfairly distribute billions in federal funding provided for housing repairs following Hurricane Harvey‘s devastation – prioritizing wealthy homeowners over poorer victims in ways that could constitute racial discrimination. At issue is …

FEMA Eyes Letting People Rebuild Homes After Taxpayer Buyouts

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is proposing to allow owners of homes destroyed by storms and bought out by the government to rebuild on the same flood-prone land. Currently, FEMA offers to buy homes that have been repeatedly damaged by …

FEMA Faulted for Failed Contracts to Deliver Hurricane Aid

The Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded contracts for hurricane supplies without adequately researching whether winning bidders could deliver what they promised, according to a new investigation by Democrats on a Senate oversight committee. The investigation followed disclosures by The Associated …

FEMA Says Flood Insurance Rates Going up Again This Year

Flood insurance premiums will rise again this year, according to federal officials. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said flood premiums will jump about 8 percent, the Asbury Park Press reported. The average flood policy will cost $935 annually, up from …

Harvey-Related Flood Control Projects’ Fate Remains Unclear

Large-scale projects long considered essential to easing Houston’s flooding woes went to the top of the area’s to-do list after Hurricane Harvey inundated large swaths of the nation’s fourth-largest city. Seven months later, local officials are still looking for funding …