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A year after Hurricane Helene killed more than 240 people across seven states, the town hall and the fire department in Canton, North Carolina are still operating out of temporary facilities.
Some businesses and homes haven't been rebuilt, and surrounding towns are struggling after being nearly "wiped off the Earth," said Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers.
"We're absolutely just worn out because the damage to our region is immense," he told USA TODAY. "We lost 100 years of progress."
But his town and many others still haven’t received federal money and support they were promised months ago. Smathers, a Democrat, said he has sat in meeting after meeting without getting a straight answer about why that funding has not arrived.
"Don't give me excuses," he said. Our residents "don't deserve excuses. They deserve solutions."
Still, he strongly opposes President Donald Trump’s plans to dismantle the Federal Emergency Management Agency and pass on to states and local governments more of the responsibilities and costs of responding to natural disasters.
For decades state and local officials have joined ordinary Americans in complaining that FEMA's response to natural disasters is too slow and complicated.
But public support for the agency remains high, even among such critics, according to a Sept. 2 USA TODAY/Ipsos poll.
More than a half dozen state and local elected officials told USA TODAY that taking on FEMA's responsibilities is not something they are prepared to do, although some praised the idea of giving states more control over disaster response.
Minnesota State Auditor Julie Blaha, a Democrat, said dissolving FEMA and forcing states to ramp up their emergency management departments is the "most expensive, least efficient way to deal with natural disasters."
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, said in a statement to USA TODAY that it "is making FEMA more efficient without disrupting the flow of recovery dollars communities count on. Any adjustments will be like a dimmer, not a light switch. It will be deliberate, gradual, and coordinated with state partners."
While specifics of whether the agency will close or be overhauled remain unclear, it is one of several expensive tasks Trump is trying to pass from a federal to a state responsibility.
The moves are putting a strain on state's ability to provide services because states typically have to balance their budgets and have less ability to raise spending. Trump has also forced states to take on a bigger share of Medicaid and food assistance costs, shore up rural hospitals and clinics and replace federal funding for libraries and museums.
Phil Bryant, former Republican governor of Mississippi, said June 1 that states may need to take on new roles and new costs.
"As we look to FEMA, we keep saying, where are they at? Where is FEMA? We're waiting on them to get here with a checkbook," said Bryant, who is on a presidential council examining FEMA. "We're going to have to turn to our own resources. States are going to have to develop that emergency response fund, take some of their rainy day funds or funds that they may want to use for musical events and put it into disaster recovery."
Fixing FEMA
Smathers agrees that FEMA needs "major reforms," so people aren't dealing with an inefficient system in their darkest hours.
Some of his constituents are still waiting on promised support from 2021's Tropical Storm Fred, which caused catastrophic flooding that destroyed many homes.
"That's inexcusable," he said.
He watched his father, the town's previous mayor, wrangle with FEMA over "bureaucracy and paperwork smothering people's recovery" after Canton was hit by two hurricanes in 2004.
FEMA distributes tens of billions a year in response to natural disasters in congressionally approved funds. Along with quickly deploying federal emergency responders and helping states and communities prepare in advance, it plays a years-long role coordinating with other federal agencies to help communities rebuild.
Trump entered his second term with talk of gutting or dismantling FEMA. One of his earliest executive actions called for FEMA to be dismantled. In March, Trump signed an executive order directing state and local governments to play a more active and significant role in preparing for disasters.
He also created a FEMA Review Council to examine the future of the agency, which is expected to make recommendations in mid-November.
The DHS statement said that the review council is working to include state and local official's concerns in their deliberations, and their involvement "ensures reforms reflect realities on the ground and strengthen, not weaken, how assistance is delivered."
Since coming into office early this year, the administration has reduced FEMA's staff of 6,000 full-time employees by as much as a third through terminations and voluntary retirement packages.
In June, Trump said he plans to phase out FEMA after hurricane season and "bring it down to the state level.”
Trump added that the federal government will start distributing less federal aid for disaster recovery and that the funding will come directly from the president's office, rather than through FEMA.
The agency has also begun dismantling programs, such as the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program designed to help communities prepare before a disaster strikes. Created in Trump's first administration, the program provides grants for counties and states to install flood control systems, wildfire prevention and stormwater management upgrades to mitigate disasters. On Aug. 6, a federal judge temporarily halted closure of the program.
On Sept. 2, Congress' watchdog agency warned that the cuts to FEMA are putting the country at risk of being unprepared to respond to massive natural disasters this year.
“The federal government will likely need to meet its disaster response mission with fewer available resources this year. Should the U.S. experience a similarly catastrophic peak hurricane season in September and October 2025, as it did in 2024, meeting response needs could be a major challenge,” the Government Accountability Office wrote in a report.
Shifting gears to reform rather than removal
The administration shifted gears after July 4 flash floods in central Texas killed more than 100 people, talking more about reform than dismantling the agency.
Some state and community level leaders are hoping that is a sign that they can work with Trump and his administration on reforming FEMA rather than scrapping it.
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, thinks "eliminating FEMA would be a man-made disaster," his spokesperson Morgan Hopkins said.
"States need a federal agency to address natural disasters. Governor Stein has advocated for FEMA reform to accelerate recovery and cut red tape, and he looks forward to continuing to work with the Trump Administration to ensure North Carolinians get the support they need,” Hopkins said.
Congress is already considering whether to make large-scale changes of its own to FEMA.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved a bipartisan bill on Sept. 3 brought by its chairman Missouri Republican Rep. Sam Graves that would make FEMA a cabinet-level agency again, and would streamline applications people fill out, speed up reimbursements to states and prohibits political discrimination in disaster funding assistance.
"Members of Congress, the president and most importantly Americans who have been impacted by disasters all know that FEMA is not working the way it should for our communities," Graves said before the committee voted. The bill must still be considered by the House and Senate.
States react to changes at FEMA
Vermont Treasurer Mike Pieciak, a Democrat, said it is unreasonable for the federal government to expect states, many of which are required to balance their budgets, to hold billions of dollars in reserve.
"FEMA exists because no single state no matter how well prepared we are can handle a disaster of extraordinary scale by themselves," he told USA TODAY.
But at a FEMA Review Council meeting in Oklahoma City on August 28, Republican Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said the federal government should give states block grants with a lot of flexibility for disaster response.
“We know our land, we know our people, and we know how to respond faster, leaner and smarter than Washington ever could,” Stitt said. “The reality is that a bureaucrat in Washington, D.C. can't tell people in Oklahoma or Louisiana or Florida the best way to respond to a disaster. That's best left to local emergency managers.”
He also said the government should raise the threshold for the amount of damage a natural disaster must create before the federal government steps in.
"We do not need Washington for every single thunderstorm. We need them for events that truly overwhelm our states. We as states have become entirely too reliant on the federal government," he said.
Florida House of Representatives Democratic leader Fentrice Driskell said she’s concerned Florida taxpayers are going to get saddled with the cost of creating a “shadow FEMA" that is less efficient and costs more.
“The benefit of FEMA is that you have a a nationally centralized (agency with) expertise in handling natural disasters," she said. "We would have to recruit, train and pay a new segment of the workforce to be able to provide disaster relief.”
Florida can't set aside billions of dollars to address the large-scale storms that frequently hit the state, she said.
“Hoping that Florida doesn't get hit by a massive hurricane or devastating flooding is not a strategy,” Driskell said. “We really cannot afford to lose the support that FEMA provides.”
Communities worry about the loss of FEMA
In Harris County, Texas, which includes Houston, Commissioner Lesley Briones said coping with potential FEMA turmoil starts with whatever preparation they can muster and ends with a look to the heavens.
“I’m just praying, literally praying, every day that we don’t get hit by a hurricane this summer or frankly under this presidential administration,” said Briones, a Democrat.
In 2024, the county was hit by straight line derecho winds and Hurricane Beryl in rapid succession.
This year the county is spending money on mitigation and planning that FEMA and other federal agencies would normally help with. The county has hired its own meteorologist and hydrologists and installed storm monitoring systems, increased its fleets of emergency vehicles and boats for rapid rescue response, cleared ditches and placed back-up generators, food and water at community centers.
Some of this the county would normally do, but "under this administration with the huge open question as to whether FEMA will show up and if so to what extent, we are further amplifying the pre-positioning, getting resources from community partners," Briones said.
She called FEMA a critical partner, especially during epic storms that exceed what counties and states can handle.
"As proud Americans and as taxpayers, we need the federal government to show up," Briones said. "And they just cannot, in my opinion, responsibly back away from a fundamental responsibility … to be there for its residents in these most trying, disastrous times."
Back in North Carolina, including Canton, a town of just over 4,000 in the southern Appalachian Mountains, folks are still waiting for billions of dollars that Congress already approved.
In late August, DHS released $96 million the state, bringing the total since Trump took office to more than $322 million.
The state has received or been awarded 9% of the total cost of the damage Helene caused to homes, businesses and roads, Gov. Stein said. He said states hit by other catastrophic storms like Hurricane Katrina or Sandy received funding for 70% of their damage and that the average federal aid following a storm is between 40% and 50% of all damage.
In a press conference Sept. 15, Stein asked Congress to approve another $13.5 billion in disaster relief.
"Western North Carolina hasn't received anywhere near what it needs, nor our fair share," he said. "We're still waiting on reimbursements for much of the work that's already been done."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Disaster preparation has a new wildcard. Will FEMA help?
Reporting by Sarah D. Wire, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
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