Latest FEMA Headlines

All the headlines from our FEMA Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Delaware DOI Working With FEMA to Fine-Tune Disaster Response

May 21 2018 // The Delaware Department of Insurance (DOI) has worked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as part of a National Level Exercise designed to help FEMA and other federal partners, state and local governments,...

Delaware DOI Working With FEMA to Fine-Tune Disaster Response

May 4 2018 // The Delaware Department of Insurance (DOI) is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) during the next two weeks as part of a National Level Exercise designed to help FEMA and other federal partners,...

FEMA Proposes Allowing Owners to Rebuild Homes After Taxpayer Buyouts

Apr 26 2018 // 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...

FEMA Hosts Flood Insurance Roundtable in West Virginia

Apr 25 2018 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region III and the West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (WVDHSEM) hosted the first-ever West Virginia Flood Insurance Partners Roundtable in...

FEMA Criticized for Suppliers Not Delivering Hurricane Aid as Promised

Apr 11 2018 // 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...

FEMA Chief Says Puerto Rico Needs $50 Billion to Rebuild

Apr 9 2018 // The administrator of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency said Friday it will take up to an estimated $50 billion to help rebuild Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria and warned that the U.S. territory is not ready for...

Wright Leaving FEMA to Head IBHS, Succeeding Rochman

Apr 5 2018 // The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) announced that Roy E. Wright has been selected as the next president and chief executive officer of the organization, succeeding Julie Rochman who is retiring...

FEMA to Issue First Catastrophe Bond for Flood Insurance Program

Apr 5 2018 // In another step shifting risk to private markets, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said it intends to secure additional reinsurance for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) through issuance of a...

Florida Keys Request Additional $16M from FEMA for Irma Damage

Mar 29 2018 // County officials in the Florida Keys are looking to get federal money to reimburse them for expenses related to Hurricane Irma. Monroe County officials traveled to Washington D.C. last week to meet with FEMA officials. The...

Why Storm-Prone States Continue to Balk at Tough Building Codes

Mar 19 2018 // The showdown in the Florida statehouse last year had all the drama of a knock-down political brawl: Powerful industries clashing. Warnings of death and destruction. And a surprise last-minute vote, delivering a sweeping...

Some Houstonians Spend Huge Sums to Elevate Their Homes After Harvey

Mar 14 2018 // This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune.When Marni Axelrad and her family moved to Houston’s Meyerland neighborhood in 2015, they planned to stay there for years to come. They loved the community, and...

FEMA to End Short-Term Shelter Program for Florida Irma Victims

Mar 9 2018 // Federal disaster officials are ending a program that paid for hotel rooms for more than 27,000 Florida households in the wake of Hurricane Irma.FEMA officials announced Tuesday that the short-term emergency sheltering...

Harvey Survivors Critical of Texas Governor/FEMA’s Disaster Response Plan

Mar 1 2018 // This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2018/02/27/texans-left-limbo-gov-abbott-fema-use-harvey-reinvent-disaster-respons/.In the weeks immediately after Hurricane Harvey,...

Appeals Court Rejects $586M FEMA Fix for Louisiana Barrier Islands

Feb 5 2018 // A federal appeals court has rejected Louisiana’s contention that the federal government should pay $586 million to restore barrier islands and wetlands damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.The 5th U.S....

Foreclosure Fears Rise in Texas with Jump in Late Mortgages After Harvey

Jan 29 2018 // As Jacob Lerma surveyed the skeletal beams of his suburban Houston home that was flooded during Hurricane Harvey, he kept muttering three words as he wondered if his family would ever be able to move back in: “I...

What Government Shutdown Means for P/C Insurance Industry

Jan 22 2018 // The property/casualty insurance industry is not immune to any economic effects the federal government shutdown may bring but since the industry is largely regulated by the states, not Washington, the impact on the industry...

2017 Disasters

Jan 22 2018 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was busy in 2017 as it supported 59 major disaster declarations and 16 emergency declarations, a year during which unprecedented disasters affected more than 25 million...

Federal Disaster Mitigation Saves $6 for Every $1 Spent: Report

Jan 12 2018 // Federal programs to protect Americans against extreme weather and other natural disasters save even more money than previously thought, according to a report funded by the same agencies that have proposed cutting many of...

FEMA Expands Flood Reinsurance Program with Private Reinsurers for 2018

Jan 8 2018 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has completed a reinsurance placement with 28 private reinsurers to help the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) recover losses it may have to pay in 2018.Expanding on its...

FEMA Declares Church Centers Now Eligible for U.S. Disaster Aid

Jan 5 2018 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that private nonprofit houses of worship are now eligible for disaster assistance as community centers, without regard to their secular or religious nature.The...