As The Atlantic Hurricane Season Approaches…

As a former professional firefighter and paramedic, I understand the seriousness and absolute need for an informed, effective, and well-coordinated emergency response, whether it’s to a local, regional, or national event. So, as the Atlantic hurricane season approaches, the matter of FEMA’s effectiveness, its role, and how the Trump administration wants to restructure this dysfunctional agency is a topic that we should bring into focus.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has long been touted as the cornerstone of America’s disaster response framework, yet its track record—most recently during the catastrophic flooding in western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and northern Georgia—reveals a bloated, inefficient bureaucracy that often hinders more than it helps. President Trump’s daring proposal to dismantle FEMA’s primacy and empower states as lead responders, with the federal government relegated to a supporting role, is not only a pragmatic response to FEMA’s repeated failures but a necessary restructuring to better serve the American people.

FEMA’s history is littered with examples of mismanagement and sluggish responses that have left communities stranded in their darkest hours. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 exposed FEMA’s inability to coordinate effectively, with delayed aid and chaotic evacuations exacerbating the crisis. Superstorm Sandy in 2012 saw similar complaints: slow deployment of resources, tangled red tape, and a failure to meet the immediate needs of affected residents. Fast forward to the recent flooding in western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and northern Georgia, where entire towns were submerged, and FEMA’s response was, once again, woefully inadequate.

Residents in these regions reported waiting days for basic supplies like water, food, and temporary shelters. Local officials described FEMA’s presence as “disorganized” and “out of touch,” with federal aid trickling in long after state and local responders, alongside private citizens and nonprofits, had already mobilized.

In Asheville, North Carolina, community-led efforts filled the gap, with volunteers distributing supplies and clearing debris while FEMA struggled to establish a coherent command structure. In many first-hand reports, witnesses said FEMA representatives actually made the situation worse. In Tennessee, reports surfaced of FEMA rejecting state requests for additional resources, citing bureaucratic protocols that prioritized procedure over people.

This is not an isolated incident but a pattern. FEMA’s centralized, top-down approach stifles the agility and local knowledge that states and communities bring to disaster response. Its one-size-fits-all model fails to account for regional differences, leaving rural areas like western North Carolina particularly underserved. The agency’s reliance on federal contractors, often awarded lucrative deals with little oversight, further siphons resources that could be better allocated by state governments closer to the ground.

President Trump’s vision to empower states as the lead responders in natural disasters is rooted in a fundamental truth: no one understands a community’s needs better than the people who live there. States, with their intimate knowledge of local geography, infrastructure, and demographics, are far better positioned to act swiftly and decisively. Unlike FEMA, which often parachutes into unfamiliar territory with a playbook designed in Washington, state governments can leverage exi