FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell had an urgent message for the people of Florida on Oct. 9 at the 10 a.m. FEMA media briefing.
“Hurricane Milton is going to be a deadly and catastrophic storm,” she said, speaking from North Carolina.
“This is going to be a difficult day,” she continued. “I need you to do everything you can to stay safe as Milton makes landfall.”
“You need to prepare for catastrophic impact,” she said. “Please continue to listen to your local officials and seek safety immediately.”
Criswell said she has been in contact with Gov. Ron DeSantis. FEMA teams are stationed in Florida in advance of Milton’s landfall.
“FEMA is ready,” she said.
She said President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have directed her to do everything possible to help Floridians.
Criswell said the FEMA effort for Hurricane Milton will not take away from the work already underway to help the victims of Hurricane Helene.
Over 5,200 federal responders are in the six states impacted by Helene.
Ahead of Hurricane Milton, FEMA has more than 1,000 personnel who were already in Florida responding to Hurricane Helene.
She said an additional 1,200 search and rescue personnel have also been sent to Florida in anticipation of Hurricane Milton.
She said FEMA staff who are not part of the regular disaster response teams have also been trained to help with disasters and will be pulled in as needed.
Criswell said misinformation circulating online continues to be a problem. Additional FEMA staff have been allocated to help educate hurricane victims who have been confused by misinformation.
“We need to continue to remain focused on our mission. Our mission is to help people,” she said.
She said the federal disaster relief fund had a balance of $11 billion as of Oct. 8.
She said the Small Business Administration’s program to help businesses after an emergency has a separate appropriation that does not come out of the disaster relief fund.
She said earlier this year, they asked Congress for additional $9 billion. “The $9 billion request still stands,” she said, and they might need to make an additional request.
“I have enough money to provide for the victims of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton,” she said. There is a concern there will not be enough funding to cover additional hurricanes this year, she explained. Hurricane season runs through the end of November.
FEMA funding is also helping after other disasters such as tornadoes, flooding and wildfires.
“I have over 100 open disasters across the United States for recovery, and I need to reimburse these communities for their recovery projects,” she said. “This is the most open disasters I have ever seen for FEMA." The United States is seeing an increase in severe weather events.
Criswell said as FEMA helps communities rebuild, they are trying to rebuild in a way to make them more resilient to future storms.
