Feed For The Fema Podcast

FEMA recently released its 2017 Hurricane Season After-Action Report. The report examines the agency’s performance during the record breaking season. Last year, hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria devastated the nation at a time when FEMA was already supporting 692 federally declared disasters. During response to the three catastrophic hurricanes, FEMA also responded to the historic wildfires in California. The report captures transformative insights from a historic hurricane season that will help FEMA, the emergency management community, and the nation chart the path into the future. On this Agency Update, we discuss the report and its implications with Associate Administrator for Response and Recovery, Jeff Byard, and Director of the National Preparedness Assessment Division, Katherine Fox.

How do you move a whole town out of harm’s way while preserving the town’s history and keeping it as a functional community space? For more than 100 years, a small riverside town in Waverly, Indiana, endured repeated flooding. By 2005, state and local officials began to address the problem, and over the last decade the community has transformed into a living history park with restored and reclaimed historical structures, added walking paths, canoe/kayak portage sites, and other amenities. We visited this transformed landscape to learn more about the FEMA hazard mitigation grants and additional state, local, and private sector funding that was used to acquire properties in the floodplain. Property owners voluntarily sold their property so the land could be returned to open space, reducing the amount of emergency response resources that are required during flood events in Morgan County.

El Programa de Asistencia de Alojamiento Transitorio (o TSA en inglés) finaliza en Texas y Puerto Rico el sábado, 30 de junio de 2018, para los residentes afectados por los huracanes del otoño pasado.  El programa de TSA fue diseñado para ofrecer alojamiento a corto plazo, como estadías en hoteles, a las personas afectadas por estos huracanes.  En esta edición especial del Podcast de FEMA, hablaremos con Emilia Diaz,  Analista del Programa de Recuperación de FEMA para que nos explique el programa de TSA y como este trabaja en concierto con organizaciones gubernamentales y organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro para asistir a los sobrevivientes en la transición de refugios provisionales a corto plazo a alojamiento a una vivienda más estable a largo plazo.

FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance for Texas and Puerto Rican residents affected by last fall’s hurricanes will be ending Saturday, June 30, 2018.  The program was designed to provided short-term accommodations—such as hotel stays—for individuals impacted by these Hurricanes. On this Update edition of the FEMA Podcast, we speak with Zach Usher, Branch Chief for Mass Care, FEMA, to help explain the TSA program and how it fits into a combined effort by governmental and nonprofit agencies to assist disaster survivors’ transition from short-term sheltering to longer-term housing.

FEMA Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training teaches important life skills to that help individuals and communities better prepare for disasters or large events they may encounter.

Homes and businesses in high-risk flood areas with loans, including mortgages, from federally regulated lenders are required to have flood insurance. This is called a “mandatory purchase requirement” under the National Flood Insurance Program.  On this episode of the FEMA Podcast we discuss this requirement in more detail and explain who is and who is not required to buy flood insurance.

Floods are the most common natural disaster in our nation, yet less than 50 percent of homes in the highest risk area across the country are insured against this type of disaster. To understand the idea of closing the insurance gap, we sat down with David Maurstad, FEMA’s assistant administrator for federal insurance, to discuss Administrator Long’s vision for equipping Americans with the knowledge and the call to action to financially prepare for disasters.

We catch up with the brave men and women of the US Air Force Hurricane Hunters.  Major Nicole Mitchell, who is a meteorologist with the hunters, gives us a tour of the aircraft and discusses what it’s like to fly right through the most intense parts of a hurricane.

FEMA’s own Andy Neal (and team) from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), was chosen as one of the 27 finalists for the Management Excellence Category of the Samuel J Heyman Service to America Medal – the “Sammie”. On this episode of the FEMA Podcast we talk with Andy Neal about the process of diversifying the NFIP’s risk through reinsurance, and what the Sammie Nomination has meant for his program.

Ken Graham is the Director of NOAA’s National Hurricane Center located in Miami, FL. He joins the Podcast while in Montgomery, AL at one of the annual Hurricane Awareness Tour stops and discusses some of the things the Hurricane Center learned from the 2017 hurricane season and how the center is working to provide better information to save lives and property.

Did you know more than 60% of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings, making it extremely difficult to recover from an emergency—whether it is a natural disaster or a broken water heater? When people hear about disaster preparedness, regardless of the hazard, we often do not focus much on the financial aspect and financial preparedness. Having a financial preparedness plan is an important part of your overall emergency plan. Being financially prepared can make a huge difference following disasters. On this episode, Alan Becker, the host of the radio program, Retire Right Radio joins the FEMA Podcast to discuss the importance of putting yourself in the best position to bounce back financially from a disaster. 

Immersed is a Virtual Reality experience developed by FEMA and its partners that puts the users at the very center of a flood crisis and uses that experience to understand the costs and impacts of flooding, but also to see the benefits of actions that communities can take to prevent that flooding mitigation. In this episode, we explore this exciting tool and how it will help local officials and eventually the public make better decisions about their risks.

A conversation with Administrator Brock Long on his vision for the future of FEMA as well as the recently released FEMA Strategic Plan. The Administrator discusses how the Strategic plan charts a path forward for FEMA as well as the emergency management system in the United States. Administrator Long was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and began his service as the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in June 2017.  Mr. Long has more than 16 years of experience assisting and supporting local, state, and Federal Governments with building robust emergency management and public health preparedness programs. 

For many Minnesotans, the spring of 1997 is a stark memory of catastrophic, costly flooding along the Red River. Water as deep as 54 feet spilled three miles inland to flood entire towns. One of the hardest hit communities was East Grand Forks, Minn., where 99 percent of homes were affected by the disaster, and the entire city’s population had to be evacuated due to the rapidly rising waters. Such a large recovery was hard fought and long-term, requiring the coordination of many to get it done. Local, state and federal agencies, along with voluntary agencies, community organizations, local businesses and residents were all a critical part of the rebuilding process.

Iowa and Nebraska emergency management discussing preparedness measures ahead of severe weather with FEMA Region VII

Cheickh Koma of FEMA and Jeff Briggs, the Earthquake Manager for the State of Missouri discuss Earthquake and New Madrid history and preparedness.