Can Florida handle hurricane recovery without federal support?

Bea Lunardini, Tampa Bay Times on Jun 24, 2025

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The federal government gave Florida more than $4 billion last year to recover from one of the most destructive hurricane seasons it had seen in a century.

If President Donald Trump eliminates the Federal Emergency Management Agency after this year’s hurricane season, states could become responsible for the entire cost of hurricane recovery. In Florida, where Hurricanes Helene and Milton cost the state more than $23 billion, this change could be devastating, experts say.

“We would be spending money for response and recovery that most municipalities, and maybe even the state, do not have,” said University of South Florida professor Ratna Dougherty. “We’ll see a lot of budgets that have some glaring red spots.”

FEMA is a critical resource for Floridians after a hurricane hits. Florida has one of the highest participation rates in the agency’s National Flood Insurance Program, and it received more money from FEMA last year than any other state, according to the Disaster Dollar Database, which tracks federal funding for disaster recovery.

This support, Dougherty said, has bolstered Florida’s ability to respond to natural disasters. If Trump’s promise to get rid of FEMA means Florida loses out on all federal emergency funding, it is unlikely it can compensate on its own.

The Trump administration has not outlined exactly how it would get rid of FEMA. A March memo from FEMA’s then-acting head Cameron Hamilton suggested providing less money for fewer events and focusing only on “disasters of national significance,” according to Bloomberg.

“We would be in huge trouble,” Dougherty said. “We can be the most prepared with some of the best folks and accurate hurricane data, but we’re at a loss of funds and manpower.”

FEMA sent nearly 900 staff members to Florida counties affected by hurricanes last year. They did water rescue, cleared debris from roads and gave first aid at pop-up disaster recovery centers.

Jeff Lindsey, the fire and emergency services director at the University of Florida, said FEMA funding cuts would impact both rural and urban areas.

Rural counties tend to see less expensive damage, but they rely heavily on FEMA workers to supplement their relatively small emergency response departments.

Urban counties typically have enough people for hurricane rescues and rebuilding, but even Category 2 and 3 hurricanes can bring costly damage, Lindsey said.

FEMA’s most important role comes from preventative measures, according to Florida Policy Institute senior policy fellow Ethan Frey.

The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, known as BRIC, was established in 2018 during Trump’s first administration. It gave Florida around $312 million to make the state’s buildings and other infrastructure safer from hurricanes.

FEMA ended BRIC in April, calling it a “wasteful, politicized” program. The agency took back $293 million from Florida. This halted projects around the state, including two in St. Petersburg meant to storm-harden sewage stations and mitigate flooding.

“The whole idea of these programs is to bring down the cost of these storms,” Frey said. “Shifting the cost burden of disaster response and recovery to the states, and the taxpayers, is extremely worrisome.”

Frey said Trump may only be cutting certain FEMA programs for the moment, but funding for similar projects is likely in danger. This includes Elevate Florida, a state-run program that pays for 75% of the cost to make homes safer during hurricanes, like lifting homes or tearing down and rebuilding entirely.

FEMA gave the state around $400 million to create Elevate Florida. That money is guaranteed, but Frey said the state probably won’t get any more after it runs out, leaving thousands of homeowners to tackle significant rebuilding costs alone.

Frey also suggested that disaster recovery grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development could be eliminated. Pinellas and Hillsborough counties received more than $1.5 billion in grants to address damage from the 2023 and 2024 storms.

There are many paths Florida could take to build its hurricane response capacity and compensate for lost FEMA funding, Frey said, but all of them involve increased state spending at a time when Florida leaders have committed to reducing government expenses.

“We certainly don’t have the capacity at the state level to do everything FEMA does,” Frey said. “Right now, there are a lot of really good programs that provide a great safety net to support communities in the middle of storms.”