Dozens of organizations call on Congress to return to fund FEMA in wake of Hurricane Helene

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 8, 2024

CONTACT
Trey Pollard, 202-904-9187,  trey@pollardcommunications.com
Dan Radmacher, Media Specialist, (540) 798-6683, dan@appvoices.org 

As the Southeast United States works to recover from the catastrophic impacts of Hurricane Helene, the deadliest storm to strike the U.S. mainland since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is warning that it does not have enough funding to respond if another hurricane strikes in the remaining two months of hurricane season. Less than a week after FEMA’s warning, Hurricane Milton, barreling toward Tampa, is expected to make landfall as a Category 4 hurricane.

In light of that, and as the extent of the damage caused by Helene becomes more apparent, a group of 82 organizations sent a letter to congressional leaders today asking them to immediately call members of Congress back from their pre-election recess to pass a disaster supplemental package to replenish FEMA’s Disaster Recovery Fund and address other disaster assistance requests that pre-dated Helene. The letter was paired with a petition signed by 2,830 people echoing the organization’s request for Congress to return to D.C. immediately.

“​​The communities impacted by Hurricane Helene deserve a robust Disaster Relief Fund that is able to address our needs and the needs of all other disaster-impacted communities through the end of the year,” the organizations wrote in the letter.

“People in this region have seen homes — and in some cases, entire communities — washed away,” said Kevin Zedack, Government Affairs Specialist for Appalachian Voices. “Stretches of interstate highways have been destroyed that could take months to more than a year to reopen, and in some places, water and electric systems have been decimated. The people impacted by Hurricane Helene deserve a guarantee that FEMA will have the necessary resources over the long-term to help them rebuild as the agency continues to properly respond to other disasters.”

Accuweather estimates the economic and structural damages from this storm to be as much as $250 billion. Congress failed to address the Biden administration’s request for $27 billion in pre-existing disaster funding needs before leaving Washington, D.C., at the end of September, with no plans to return until Nov. 12.

“We have been learning over the past two years of recovery from the 2022 floods that devastated Eastern Kentucky and Southwest Virginia that our flood recovery systems simply do not work for many residents,” said Dana Kuhnline, Senior Program Manager for Reimagine Appalachia. “Many still do not have homes two years later. Now is the time to do everything we can to support the recovery of communities in the wake of Hurricane Helene, to help ensure that the recovery for the region is as fast and impactful as possible.”