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49–949 PDF 2009

FEMA: PREPAREDNESS FOR THE 2009 

HURRICANE SEASON 

(111–28) 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON 

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, PUBLIC BUILDINGS, AND 

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON 

TRANSPORTATION AND 

INFRASTRUCTURE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

May 1, 2009 

Printed for the use of the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

( 

COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE 

JAMES L. OBERSTAR, Minnesota, Chairman 

NICK J. RAHALL, II, West Virginia, Vice 

Chair 

PETER A. DEFAZIO, Oregon 

JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois 

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of 

Columbia 

JERROLD NADLER, New York 

CORRINE BROWN, Florida 

BOB FILNER, California 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas 

GENE TAYLOR, Mississippi 

ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland 

ELLEN O. TAUSCHER, California 

LEONARD L. BOSWELL, Iowa 

TIM HOLDEN, Pennsylvania 

BRIAN BAIRD, Washington 

RICK LARSEN, Washington 

MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts 

TIMOTHY H. BISHOP, New York 

MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, Maine 

RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri 

GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California 

DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois 

MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii 

JASON ALTMIRE, Pennsylvania 

TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota 

HEATH SHULER, North Carolina 

MICHAEL A. ARCURI, New York 

HARRY E. MITCHELL, Arizona 

CHRISTOPHER P. CARNEY, Pennsylvania 

JOHN J. HALL, New York 

STEVE KAGEN, Wisconsin 

STEVE COHEN, Tennessee 

LAURA A. RICHARDSON, California 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

DONNA F. EDWARDS, Maryland 

SOLOMON P. ORTIZ, Texas 

PHIL HARE, Illinois 

JOHN A. BOCCIERI, Ohio 

MARK H. SCHAUER, Michigan 

BETSY MARKEY, Colorado 

PARKER GRIFFITH, Alabama 

MICHAEL E. MCMAHON, New York 

THOMAS S. P. PERRIELLO, Virginia 

DINA TITUS, Nevada 

HARRY TEAGUE, New Mexico 

JOHN L. MICA, Florida 

DON YOUNG, Alaska 

THOMAS E. PETRI, Wisconsin 

HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina 

JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee 

VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan 

FRANK A. LOBIONDO, New Jersey 

JERRY MORAN, Kansas 

GARY G. MILLER, California 

HENRY E. BROWN, JR., South Carolina 

TIMOTHY V. JOHNSON, Illinois 

TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania 

SAM GRAVES, Missouri 

BILL SHUSTER, Pennsylvania 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia 

JIM GERLACH, Pennsylvania 

MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida 

CHARLES W. DENT, Pennsylvania 

CONNIE MACK, Florida 

LYNN A WESTMORELAND, Georgia 

JEAN SCHMIDT, Ohio 

CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan 

MARY FALLIN, Oklahoma 

VERN BUCHANAN, Florida 

ROBERT E. LATTA, Ohio 

BRETT GUTHRIE, Kentucky 

ANH ‘‘JOSEPH’’ CAO, Louisiana 

AARON SCHOCK, Illinois 

PETE OLSON, Texas 

(II) 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, PUBLIC BUILDINGS, AND EMERGENCY

MANAGEMENT

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of Columbia, Chair 

BETSY MARKEY, Colorado 

MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, Maine 

HEATH SHULER, North Carolina 

PARKER GRIFFITH, Alabama 

RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri 

TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota 

MICHAEL A. ARCURI, New York 

CHRISTOPHER P. CARNEY, Pennsylvania, 

Vice Chair 

DONNA F. EDWARDS, Maryland 

THOMAS S. P. PERRIELLO, Virginia 

JAMES L. OBERSTAR, Minnesota 

(Ex Officio) 

MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida 

TIMOTHY V. JOHNSON, Illinois 

SAM GRAVES, Missouri 

SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia 

MARY FALLIN, Oklahoma 

BRETT GUTHRIE, Kentucky 

ANH ‘‘JOSEPH’’ CAO, Louisiana 

PETE OLSON, Texas 

(III) 

(V) 

CONTENTS Page 

Summary of Subject Matter .................................................................................... vi 

TESTIMONY 

Almaguer, Ruben D., Deputy Director, Florida Division of Emergency Management ................................................................................................................. 6 

Hagan, Karen E., Disaster Officer, Florida, American Red Cross ....................... 6 

Lord, Jonathon, Assistant Director on Behalf of Curt Summerhoff, Interim 

Director, Miami-Dade Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security ........................................................................................................ 6 

May, Major Phil, Regional Administrator, Region IV, Federal Emergency 

Management Agency ............................................................................................ 6 

Rappaport, Edward N., Deputy Director, NOAA National Hurricane Center ... 6 

PREPARED STATEMENTS SUBMITTED BY WITNESSES 

Almaguer, Ruben D. ................................................................................................ 42 

Hagan, Karen E. ...................................................................................................... 47 

May, Major Phil ....................................................................................................... 56 

Rappaport, Edward N. ............................................................................................ 70 

SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD 

May, Major Phil, Regional Administrator, Region IV: .........................................

Responses to questions for the record ......................................................... 63 

Chart of public assistance appeals .............................................................. 68 

Summerhoff, Curtis, Interim Director, Miami-Dade County Department of 

Emergency Management and Homeland Security, written testimony ............ 52 

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(1) 

HEARING ON FEMA: PREPAREDNESS FOR 

THE 2009 HURRICANE SEASON 

Friday, May 1, 2009 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

WASHINGTON, DC. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:00 a.m., in the 

Media Room of the James L. King Federal Justice Building, 99 

Northeast 4th Street, Miami, Florida, Hon. Eleanor Holmes Norton 

[Chair of the Subcommittee] presiding. 

Present: Representatives Norton and Diaz-Balart. 

Ms. NORTON. I’m pleased to call the hearing to order. We’re 

pleased to be in sunny Miami, ahead of the hurricane season. We 

think, we hope before a hurricane season, and we would like to 

keep our advantage of the hurricane season for the coming year. 

But we can’t do that by fiat, so we’ve come to Miami to see what 

is being done here, and what we have been doing around the country to be prepared. 

We are pleased to welcome today’s witnesses to this hearing concerning an important issue for both Florida, and the Nation, as we 

seek information on preparedness for the upcoming Atlantic Hurricane Season. My thanks to the Ranking Member, Mr. Mario DiazBalart for recommending this hearing, and inviting us to South 

Florida, a location that we have chosen for our first hearing in 

preparation for the hurricane season, not only because of Miami’s 

location, but, also, because of the leadership this area of the state 

has had in preparedness and mitigation. Because our Subcommittee has primary jurisdiction over the Federal Emergency 

Management Agency, or FEMA, this is our first hearing ahead of 

the hurricane season for the country. 

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th. The catastrophic hurricane, and the failure of the 

government on the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Rita, and Hurricane 

Katrina have captured worldwide headlines in recent years; but, 

unfortunately, Florida’s hurricanes have also been legendary. Hurricane Andrew’s devastating effects in 1992 is one example. While 

hurricanes are not the most frequent disasters our nation faces, 

they probably are the most notorious, and they are often the most 

catastrophic. 

Louisiana and Mississippi notwithstanding, Florida faces a greater risk from hurricanes than any other state. Since Hurricane Andrew struck in 1992, Florida has received 22 major disaster decVerDate Aug 31 2005 10:05 Oct 26, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\49949 JASON
2 

larations, and eight emergency declarations under the Stafford Act 

for hurricanes or tropical storms, a greater number of declarations 

than for any other state during the same period. In dollar terms, 

FEMA has spent about $10 billion on these disasters and emergencies; and, of course, that does not include costs borne by state 

and local governments, insurance, and voluntary agencies, and certainly by local citizens, themselves. 

The State of Florida and Miami-Dade County are recognized as 

leaders in emergency management, especially in mitigation and 

preparedness. Unfortunately, a great deal of this expertise comes 

from experience. But since the Miami area was devastated by Hurricane Andrew, Florida has taken many steps to improve in all 

areas of emergency management. One example is Florida’s statewide building code. The requirements in Miami-Dade County are 

the most stringent, generally requiring buildings to withstand 

winds of up to 146 miles per hour. Schools and other facilities that 

could be used as shelters are required to withstand winds of up to 

186 miles per hour. 

The best way to protect citizens who face the risk of hurricanes 

is to help make sure their homes, schools, and other facilities so 

they can withstand these storms through mitigation beforehand. As 

we have heard in other hearings of our Subcommittee, mitigation 

is an investment that surely works. This week, the House passed 

H.R. 1746. 

[The Bill H.R. 1746 appears on p. :] 

Ms. NORTON.—that Mr. Diaz-Balart and I co-sponsored to re-authorize the Pre-Disaster Mitigation program. Studies have shown 

that mitigation, including pre-disaster mitigation, return three to 

four dollars for every dollar invested in the program. 

While empirical studies are useful, it is also important to show 

tangible results. A specific example of mitigation occurred just 

north of here. In 2005, FEMA provided Pre-Disaster Mitigation 

program funds to finance roll-down storm shelters at five fire stations in Broward County, Florida. Soon after completion of the 

project, Hurricane Wilma struck Florida. The retrofitted fire stations not only were not damaged, but they were able to operate effectively during and after the storm. 

Mitigation can reduce the vulnerability of homes and other structures, but it is also imperative that citizens are prepared for the 

risks they face. Florida is a leader here, as well. As Floridians 

know well, citizens must take personal responsibility for preparedness for themselves, and their families, especially in the initial 

days after a disaster when responders have limited means, and will 

need to focus on the most severely impacted, and the most vulnerable. Governments and non-profits do have an important role to 

play in preparedness, in particular, providing citizens the information and tools they need to prepare, and often to survive. Here, culturally and linguistically-rich South Florida is presented with a 

challenged that government has stepped up to meet. 

Floridians who faced an unusual tornado recently, are aware 

that when citizens prepare, they are preparing not only for hurricanes, but for all hazard, or all the risks they face. What is necessary to prepare for a hurricane is, essentially, the same as one 

needs to prepare for a tornado, aa power outage, or even the soVerDate Aug 31 2005 10:05 Oct 26, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\49949 JASON
3 

called Swine Flu, or what we hope will never occur, a terrorist attack. 

Today we are pleased to hear from government officials at the 

federal, state, and local levels, and from the Red Cross, all of whom 

play vital roles in preparing our citizens, especially the most vulnerable, for whenever disasters may strike. We thank you all for 

your testimony, which will help citizens prepare for upcoming hurricanes, should they occur. 

I’m very pleased to ask our Ranking Member, Mr. Diaz-Balart, 

if he has any opening statements. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Thank you, Madam Chair. Let me first thank 

you for not only coming down here, but for your leadership. 

One of the things that you will all see is that, which I guess is 

relatively unusual, is the fact that Joan and I work exceedingly 

close together. We are friends. I am not only an admirer of her 

leadership, and I think you’ll see today that she is tough, but fair, 

and always on the forefront making sure that we are as prepared, 

as possible. 

I also want to thank all the witnesses here today from FEMA, 

the Red Cross, the National Hurricane Center, Florida Division of 

Emergency Management, Miami-Dade Department of Emergency 

Management, and, also, Homeland Security. I know how much 

work you’ve all done, and you do, and I really appreciate you being 

here today. 

I think it’s fitting and timely that, as the Chairwoman says, as 

hurricane season approaches, that we examine hurricane preparedness here in Florida. As many, I think, recognize, the week of May 

25th through 31st is recognized as National Hurricane Preparedness Week. I just this week dropped a resolution to Congress 

which, once again, recognizes that Preparedness Week, and also 

tries to remind people that this is coming, once again. And, hopefully, helps you all to make sure people listen, we’ve got to do all 

we can. 

From Hurricane Andrew to more recent hurricanes, such as 

Charlie, Wilma, and Ivan, Florida has, unfortunately, as the Chairwoman said, seen its fair share of hurricanes and natural disasters. 

Now, imagine, however, a large Category 5 coming here towards 

Florida, and making landfall just north of Fort Lauderdale. Now, 

the storm then travels northwest as a Category 4, and causes a 

breach of the Herbert Hoover Dike at Lake Okeechobee. The hurricane then spends 36 hours over land, causing tornadoes, and more 

destruction, and then moves off to the Gulf of Mexico, before, once 

again, getting strong and making landfall on the Gulf Coast of Alabama. 

This is a scenario laid out for Hurricane Ono. Is that the right 

name, I believe? Hurricane Ono, as a model for catastrophic disaster planning here in Florida, Madam Chairwoman. Now, such a 

scenario could occur. The consequences would be devastating. It 

would require the evacuation of three million people, most of south 

Florida would be under one to four feet of water for weeks, actually. And homes of about 70 percent of the population would be destroyed; and, obviously, millions would be without electricity. 

This scenario is not that farfetched. In fact, Hurricane Ono is 

modeled after the path of the great Miami Hurricane of 1926. After 

4 

that hurricane, there were reportedly 373 deaths, and over 6,000 

injuries, with 800 missing. Now, obviously, today, this is a different 

south Florida. There are a million more residents in the area, and 

much more development than there was in 1926. So a hurricane 

similar in strength and path would, frankly, create significantly 

more devastation, and probably loss of life. 

This scenario is why preparedness and mitigation is critical to 

saving lives, and protecting property. I’m really pleased that the 

Florida Catastrophic Planning Initiatives, sponsored by FEMA 

again in 2006, and continues collaboration and collaborative workshops to identify and address gaps and challenges in the planning 

process. 

Now, as you said, Madam Chairwoman, Floridians, unfortunately, know all too well the devastating effects of a hurricane. 

And, also, the importance of preparation. We all have our stories 

to tell about that. Florida state agencies, counties, local communities, and citizens have done, and continue to do, an extraordinary 

job in preparing for the disaster. We can always do better, though. 

Local communities have offered mutual aide and help, and assistance to one another, regardless of boundaries, or even funding. 

I specifically recall running into, for example, the mayor of a city 

here, a small city here of Doral, Mayor Bermudez. I ran into him 

in a different city—in Medley helping. Medley actually had gotten 

devastated. He wasn’t asking who is going to pay for this, or what. 

It was just, how can we help? I mean, you see other people. I also 

recall personally seeing a county commissioner in Collier County, 

Commissioner Colleta, going door to door before Hurricane Wilma 

in trailers, just telling people, guys, evacuate. This is a big one. So, 

again, Florida and Floridians recognize the importance of preparedness, because, unfortunately, we’ve experienced it first-hand. 

I’m also, by the way, really pleased that Craig Fugate is now the 

President’s Nominee to be the Administrator of FEMA. As Director 

of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, he has extremely—I mean, he has a lot of hands-on experience that gives 

him the knowledge and expertise to effectively lead FEMA. Obviously, when state and local resources are overwhelmed because of 

a major catastrophe or storm, and communities are trying to figure 

out how to recover and rebuild from a major disaster, FEMA needs 

to provide the resources, and the expertise that help communities 

get back on their feet. 

Now, while FEMA’s role in disaster response and recovery is critical, just as important is insuring that there is proper preparedness 

and mitigation. Good emergency management, as it relates to disasters like hurricanes, must happen before the incident, and not 

after. Preparedness before a disaster can dictate how effective the 

response is, and how well things go after that, as the Chairwoman 

was just saying. And, obviously, mitigation is a key factor in effectively preparing for disaster. 

FEMA programs, such as the Pre-Disaster Mitigation program, 

and the Hazard Mitigation Rent programs are important elements 

in advancing the goals of mitigation. CBO has determined that for 

every dollar invested in mitigation, $3 are saved. I believe the 

Chairwoman has talked about that more specifically. So, insuring 

that these mitigation programs are funded, and administered apVerDate Aug 31 2005 10:05 Oct 26, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\49949 JASON
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propriately, can go a long way in saving taxpayers dollars. And, obviously, citizens here in Florida know the value and importance of 

preparing for a disaster, even though we can all do a lot better. 

We understand the benefit of mitigation, and the savings realized when appropriate measures are taken to minimize the impact 

of disasters, like hurricanes. Part of preparedness, however, is also 

planning for the response and recovery. As we saw after Hurricane 

Katrina, you can’t wait until the storm hits to have measures in 

place to respond, and to recover from disasters. Now, one of the 

biggest lessons from Katrina, learned from Katrina, was the importance of having a FEMA that is agile, quick, independent, which 

is why I’m one of the supporters of Chairman Oberstar’s FEMA 

Independence Bill. 

During Craig Fugate’s nomination hearing last week, he pointed 

out the crucial issues that also housing can play in major hurricanes, such as the case similar to Hurricane Ono, which would result in the need for a half a million housing units. That’s hard to 

conceive. That’s about what we needed after Hurricane Katrina. 

We’re still trying to resolve the housing issues in Louisiana, nearly 

four years after the storm. So, do we have a housing plan in place 

should such a storm hit here in Florida this season? We must, as 

Craig said, look at the worst case scenario, and identify the gaps 

that exist before a hurricane strikes. 

The National Disaster Housing Strategy was released in January 

this year, and last week, FEMA issued its 2009 Disaster Housing 

Plan. The plan highlights a four-pronged approach to respond to 

housing needs following disasters. However, we must insure that 

specific plans for housing are in place in advance, before the hurricane season, which is, obviously, already upon us. For example, if 

the worst case scenario happened here in Miami, how many beds 

would we have available? What kind of temporary housing would 

be used, and who’s responsible for what? I hope that the planning 

initiative, such as those undertaken under the Hurricane Ono example, are helping to answer these questions. 

In addition, we have also learned that we must be smarter and 

fuller thinking with new technology to help preparing for the mitigation against disasters, such as hurricanes. I am very proud of the 

cutting edge research done at many of our local universities on 

forecasting and mitigation, along with, obviously, the Hurricane 

Center. FIU, for example, has done great work. It’s derived critical 

data on building code standards and mitigation. They have this, 

which if we had some more time, I would love to show you. They 

have this wall of wind, and they actually replicate wind, and you 

see roofs flying off, and the windows blowing in and blowing out. 

It’s a thing to see. Adopting reasonable building codes and using 

as many methods of communication as possible to warn the public 

of a disaster coming are just a couple of steps that we should take 

to further reduce risk to life and property. 

That’s why I’m proposing legislation, and I will encourage states 

to develop and implement building codes, like the one Florida currently has in place. Again, reasonable building codes, as the Chairwoman has said, would go a long way to minimize damage to 

homes, businesses, and the cost to the taxpayers. Allow Chairwoman Norton and others on this Subcommittee, there is legislaVerDate Aug 31 2005 10:05 Oct 26, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\49949 JASON
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tion that will create a framework for FEMA to move forward in developing integrated public alert and warning systems. We’re still 

relying on old technology there. And, right now, with Facebook, and 

Twitter, and everything else, we’ve got to make sure that we’re 

communicating as well as we can, so instead of taking advantage 

of new technologies, like cell phones and satellites, we’ve got a long 

way to go, because we’re not doing it. So, there’s, obviously, no excuse to not employ as many methods of communication as possible 

to warn the public of an imminent disaster. So, we’re working on 

that, and we continue to take more steps. 

A lack of effective warning can easily undermine preparedness 

for a disaster. The more ways in which the public can be alerted 

to a disaster, obviously, the better the people will react. So, the bottom line is that there are many moving parts, and many, many key 

issues that must be addressed to be adequately prepared for hurricane season. And we must insure that we properly plan for, and 

address them in a coordinated fashion. So, I look forward to hearing from all of you today. I really appreciate you being here, and 

I want to once again thank the Chairwoman for being here. I know 

what her schedule is. You all need to understand that this is a very 

busy person. 

Madam Chairwoman, I leave you with one more thought, which 

is, as you stated, we always have to do better, but nobody does it 

better than here in Florida, because of that cooperation between 

state, local, and federal agencies. So I am ecstatic that you’re here 

in particular right now, right before the hurricane season, and I 

look forward to the testimony. Thank you so much, Madam Chairwoman. 

Ms. NORTON. Thank you very much, Mr. Diaz-Balart. 

I want to begin by setting the stage by hearing directly from the 

national Hurricane Center, NOAA’s National Hurricane Center. 

And I’m pleased and look forward to hear the testimony from Dr. 

Edward Rappaport, Executive Director. 

TESTIMONY OF MAJOR PHIL MAY, REGIONAL ADMINISTRATOR, REGION IV, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT 

AGENCY; EDWARD N. RAPPAPORT, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, 

NOAA NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER; RUBEN ALMAGUER, 

DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FLORIDA DIVISION OF EMERGENCY 

MANAGEMENT; KAREN HAGAN, DISASTER OFFICER FLORIDA, AMERICAN RED CROSS; JONATHON LORD, ASSISTANT 

DIRECTOR ON BEHALF OF CURT SUMMERHOFF, INTERIM 

DIRECTOR, MIAMI-DADE DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY 

MANAGEMENT AND HOMELAND SECURITY 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. Thank you. Good morning, Madam Chairwoman, 

and Ranking Member Diaz-Balart. Thank you for your support of 

NOAA, the National Weather Service, or NWS, and our Hurricane 

Program. Your support enables us to make the best forecast possible, and allows us to help the people of our nation understand the 

potential effects of hurricanes, and the actions they can take to protect life and property. Today, I will discuss NOAA’s role in forecasting, warning, and helping the public prepare for hurricanes. 

The services and information provided by the NWS are built 

upon an infrastructure of environmental sensors, including satVerDate Aug 31 2005 10:05 Oct 26, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\49949 JASON
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ellites, aircraft and buoys, computer analyses and simulations, and 

advanced communication systems. Our staff comprises topnotch scientists and technical experts who maintain almost continuous 

interactions with our users. Nowhere is that more evident than in 

the Hurricane program. 

Tropical cyclone forecasts are issued from the NWS National 

Hurricane Center, or NHC, every six hours, and more frequently 

during landfall threats. These forecasts include text messages and 

supporting discussions, as well as a suite of graphical products depicting our forecasts, accompanying probabilities, and the ‘‘cone of 

uncertainty’’, as it has become known. The NHC is responsible for 

predicting the path and intensity of the storm, issuing costal hurricane watches and warnings, and describing broadly the weather 

conditions expected, including projected storm surge levels, as displayed in the handouts that you have, and the poster that we provided, as well. 

NWS weather forecast offices, or WFOs, also play a critical role 

in the hurricane forecast and warning process. WFOs use their 

local expertise to refine NHC advisories, and provide specific, detailed information about the effects from the hurricane. These include more details about storm surge inundation levels, and local 

watches, warnings, and advisories covering their local forecast area 

responsibility. Local emergency managers use this information 

when making evacuation, and other preparedness decisions. 

The NHC and WFOs disseminate their vital information through 

a broad range of methods, including the media, commercial weather sector, and the internet. These complementary sources enhance 

public awareness of the hurricane threat. 

Working with and communicating our forecast information to 

emergency managers is essential. Recognizing the need for coordinating with a large number of federal, and state-level emergency 

managers when hurricanes approach land, FEMA, and the NWS 

established a Hurricane Liaison Team in 1996. The team is made 

up of federal, state, and local emergency managers, and NWS meteorologists and hydrologists who have extensive hurricane operational experience. The team is strategically activated well in advance of potential storm impact to provide the proper coordination 

of critical information between the NHC and the emergency management community at the federal and state levels. 

In addition to storm-specific information, we work year-round 

with emergency managers to educate them about weather effects 

from hurricanes. In turn, they educate us about response issues, 

and their challenges. It is a constant learning process, and the key 

is working together to insure the public takes appropriate action. 

This week, for example, NHC Director Bill Read has been at the 

Gulf Coast States Hurricane Conference. On Monday, he will be in 

Washington providing a Hurricane Basics briefing to cabinet members, and the narrative for a tabletop exercise developed with 

FEMA. One of our outreach activities is NOAA’s Hurricane Awareness Tour, that alternates annually between the Gulf Coast and 

the Atlantic Coast. The tour raises hurricane awareness among our 

partners, and the public. This year’s tour takes place next week beginning in New Hampshire, and ending in Key West. The NHC and 

WFOs also participate in national hurricane preparedness meetVerDate Aug 31 2005 10:05 Oct 26, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\49949 JASON
8 

ings, and many state-level sessions, having tabletop exercises, including an annual State of Florida hurricane exercise. These drills 

are designed to build pre-storm expertise for emergency managers. 

Coordination and communication at the local level are also critical. During the past year, for example, NWS offices across the 

State of Florida, in Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Melbourne, Tampa, 

Key West, and here in Miami, gave numerous presentations, online chats, and training classes to discuss weather, and the potential effects from hurricanes and other tropical systems. These outreach efforts raise awareness, and are designed to teach people how 

to prepare for the storms long before they form. 

Another example of the training we provide is an ‘‘Introduction 

to Hurricane Preparedness’’ course. For more than 15 years during 

the winter, non-hurricane season, FEMA and NOAA have coordinated to teach the course at NHC. This course has trained more 

than 1,000 coastal emergency managers and local decision makers 

since the program began. 

In conclusion, I would like to state that the NHC hurricane track 

forecasts continue to increase in accuracy. Nevertheless, no matter 

how accurate our forecasts, our communities need to hear the forecasts and warnings, and then know what actions to take. In this 

regard, the combined preparedness, education, and communication 

efforts of the NWS, DHS/FEMA, state and local emergency management officials and decision makers, and the media have been 

key advances in safeguarding the lives and property of our citizens 

during the past several decades. These partnerships will remain 

critical in our efforts to minimize future losses caused by these 

forces of nature. I am happy to answer any questions that you may 

have for me. 

Ms. NORTON. Thank you very much, Dr. Rappaport. 

Let me ask you straight out, Dr. Rappaport, this is now the beginning of May. June 1st begins the Atlantic Hurricane Season. 

Forecast for us all you do for hurricanes in this region in the coming session. What can you tell us as specifically as you can what 

is going to happen, if you know. 

[Laughter.] 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Easy question. 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. Thank you for the question. Perhaps, to clarify, 

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center has the lead for the federal government in generating the annual seasonal hurricane forecast. 

That process now is under development and theMs. NORTON. Dr. Rappaport, this is a month ahead of time. That 

means we could have a hurricane June 1st. Heaven knows, I’m not 

wishing that on Florida, or any other part of the country. I was on 

this Committee during the debacle of Katrina. When you say a 

month ahead of time we are still in preparation, or are hurricanes 

such that they only develop so that you cannot forecast even a 

month ahead of time? 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. I’ll answer the second question first. We are not 

at the stage yet where we can make forecasts a month ahead of 

time. 

Ms. NORTON. When are forecasts developed? Do we have time. 

We have timed this hearing because we are pretty close to hurricane season. And if a month ahead of hurricane season we are unVerDate Aug 31 2005 10:05 Oct 26, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\49949 JASON
9 

able to make any prediction about the coming hurricane season in 

the state that has had the largest number of hurricanes in recent 

memory, then I need to know what we need to do in order to make 

hurricane predictions sooner, or I need to know whether that is 

something impossible, because of the way hurricanes develop. 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. I appreciate the question, and the comments. 

As it turns out, hurricanes have occurred in the Atlantic hurricane basin in every month of the year. If you go back historically, 

you’ll find a hurricane and tropical storm in every month. The traditional hurricane season, though, begins in June, because that is 

the time when there begins to be an increase. Typically, there are 

few, if any, storms or hurricanes before June. The most active period is actually August, September, and October. 

One of the reasons for making final adjustments to the forecast 

now is to have in-hand the latest information about what is going 

on in the atmosphere at this time, and in the oceans, so that we 

can have the best forecasts possible at the start of when hurricanes 

actually will begin. So, at this stage, while a forecast could be 

made, it’s likely not to be as good as one made several weeks from 

now, when we have the most recent information, because the atmosphere does change. 

Ms. NORTON. The only reason I ask this question, Dr. Rappaport, 

is because of an article that appeared this week in the Wall Street 

Journal questioning the reliability, indeed, the utility of a seasonal 

hurricane forecast. You suggested that there was not sufficient historical information to make reliable predictions. That’s why I’m 

asking you questions. I not only asked was there a prediction, but 

whether it’s possible to make a prediction. I know science can do 

what it can do. I mean, maybe hurricanes don’t develop such that 

one can predict, but the public needs to know, or how far in advance, particularly in a hurricane prone region, to expect some 

warnings. I ask this question because we are emphasizing to the 

public, it’s not our responsibility alone. It’s not your responsibility 

alone. But without good information, then it becomes nobody’s responsibility. 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. Yes. NOAA has two components that make predictions for hurricanes. The Climate Prediction Center will provide 

the overall seasonal forecast within the next few weeks. However, 

the state of the science has not reached the point yet where they 

can say which areas are going to be affected. So, even if we knew 

accurately how many storms will occur, that’s not really as important as knowing which areas are going to be affected, and when, 

and how strong will the storm be. 

Because of that, because the science is not evolved to that point 

yet, we recommend that all areas in the hurricane zone prepare for 

a possible strike in a given year. And the best time to do that is 

now, and meetings and hearings, such as today’s, provide visibility 

that’s important to the hurricane risk problem. It’s much better for 

the public to prepare now, shortly before hurricane season, than in 

the frantic moments when a hurricane is at their doorstep. 

Ms. NORTON. Now, the hurricane zones, the places that should 

be preparing now are? Can you name them? 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. The United States, for the contiguous United 

States it’s from Texas all the way to Maine along the coast. We’ve 

10 

had hurricanes as far inland as about 150 to 200 miles. The most 

significant component of a hurricane is storm surge, and those are 

the maps that you now have in front of you. And we have several 

different examples of where the risk areas are. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. There’s one here I think is showing the eye. 

[Laughter.] 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. Perhaps, just by coincidence we have some 

charts for the Miami area, and for the National Capitol region. And 

we can discuss those, if you would like. 

Again, to emphasize, we don’t yet have the skill to predict the 

numbers of storms with high accuracy, but I will say, it’s my personal perspective that the seasonal forecasts, while not being as 

precise, perhaps, as our short-range forecasts issued by the National Hurricane Center, do tend to lean the right way each year. 

Ms. NORTON. You say they have increased in accuracy. What has 

allowed you to increase in accuracy. After Katrina, were their findings that were directed specifically on accuracy? Although, I must 

say, the problem with Katrina was not the prediction. I think 

NOAA was right. It was the government, state, local, federal who 

did not step up fast enough. Could that happen again? I mean, 

that’s why I’m making—how much ahead of time did you predict 

the hurricane there before that catastrophe struck. 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. In 2003, the National Hurricane Center extended its forecast range from three days to five days, because of 

continuing improvements in our forecast accuracy. Indeed, over the 

last 15 years, the accuracy of our forecast tracks, or the errors, let’s 

say, of our forecast tracks, where the storm is going to go, have 

been cut in half. So, in the case of Katrina, for the last 60 hours 

or so before landfall, the forecast indicated a landfall in southeast 

Louisiana, a progression up to the Mississippi coast of what would 

be considered a major hurricane, at least Category 3 intensity. So, 

the forecast for Katrina in the last two and a half days was spoton, and did not vary. 

That said, we still have a ways to go. While track forecasts continue to improve, our forecasts for intensity are much more challenging. And, in fact, that is the component of forecasting that 

we’ve highlighted for the research community as the area we need 

the greatest help for. 

With that in mind, we’re grateful to the Congress for providing 

$17 million for this fiscal year for what’s become known as NOAA’s 

Hurricane Forecast Improvement Project. That project is intended 

to cut the errors, not only for track, but intensity, in half, by another 50 percent within 10 years. The intent there is to use those 

resources to enhance our computing capability, to develop better 

models and simulations, to get new observing platforms, and to do 

what’s called a transition process from research into our operations 

of the National Hurricane Center. So, there is effort within NOAA’s 

research arm, as well, to work on the Hurricane Forecast Improvement Project. 

Ms. NORTON. I’m going to ask Mr. Diaz-Balart if he has any 

questions at this time. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. I first have 

a confession to make, I almost didn’t recognize him when I walked 

in because I’ve never seen him so rested. Usually, I see him at the 

11 

Hurricane Center after not sleeping for a few days, so, seriously, 

I almost didn’t recognize you, you look so fresh and rested. 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. Thank you. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. In my opening remarks, I described the worst 

case scenario with regards to a hurricane. And I understand that 

that was modeled after the big one of 1926, the Great Hurricane. 

What do you think the probabilities are that a similar Category 5 

will actually make landfall in Florida in the coming year, whenever 

that might be. Is that something that, is it going to happen? Is it 

an issue of not if, but when, or not really? 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. It really is a matter of when. We do look back 

at the historical records as an indicator of what’s to come. We can 

derive some statistics to take a look at what’s the likelihood of getting a Category 5 hurricane. Unfortunately, for you and us, and everybody in this area, south Florida has the greatest risk. In fact, 

what we call the return period, how often we should expect a Category 5 hurricane in our area is every 33 years. That doesn’t mean 

that we would be hit directly by a Category 5, but it means that 

one will be passing close-by, at least. 

Now, if you expand that to include the rest of the state, you can 

see that we have a very significant risk of having a Category 5 hurricane again in our lifetimes. The risk does decrease as you go farther north, so, for example, the Washington, D.C. area, the likely 

most intense hurricane to expect there would be a Category 2, and 

that would on the order of once in 100 years. That doesn’t mean 

we have 100 years to wait. It could come this year. We could get 

two this year. But, on average, that’s the kind of frequency that 

we’re looking at. So, for south Florida, we’re looking at a major 

hurricane in our vicinity roughly every 10 years or so, and a Category 5 hurricane, like Andrew, in our area three times a century, 

every 33 years or so. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. That’s a scary proposition. You highlighted in 

your testimony, and you kind of mentioned about it, as well, about 

how you disseminate warning information, and information in general. And, as I mentioned, I plan to introduce legislation that will 

provide a framework for the development of an integrated public 

alert and warning system, hopefully, dealing with new technologies 

that are available, et cetera. I would love to work with you if you 

have any suggestions, not necessarily now, but if you have some 

now as to what you think are some of the elements that should be 

part of that system. I don’t know if you have some recommendations or have any thoughts, but also continue to work with you as 

we go along. 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. We would be pleased to work with you. As I 

mentioned, the major components for improving the technical part 

of our work, the hurricane forecasts, are computing capabilities, the 

computer models that we rely very heavily on, the data that goes 

into the research that builds up all those activities. And then making sure that those advances get their way to the Forecast Operations, both here at the National Hurricane Center, and in our 

Weather Forecast Offices. And we’ll look forward to working with 

you on that. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Thank you, sir. You also have in your testimony that FEMA and the National Weather Service, obviously, the 

12 

Hurricane Liaison Team in ‘96, federal, state, and local emergency 

managers along with other experts. Can you talk a bit more about 

that, and how it operates in disasters, and what planning is done 

by this team to prepare for a hurricane? 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. In advance of a hurricane, typically, on the order 

of two days before, this team will be activated, which includes 

bringing in experts from around the country to augment our staff. 

And what it allows us to do is have both emergency managers, and 

meteorological experts on site, kind of speaking their languages to 

each other, and then communicating to those outside of our facility. 

We do that via video teleconference to the various preparedness 

agencies. It could be in the state, or in the federal government, 

through, occasionally, through the White House. These are daily 

briefings, but more frequent, as necessary. And it allows us to have 

a situational awareness where all parties are listening, and talking 

with the same information, at the same time. They’re able to see 

what each other’s problems are, what the issues are, and contribute, we hope, to minimizing those problems. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Thank you, sir. A couple of more questions, 

Madam Chairwoman? 

Ms. NORTON. Continue, sir. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Kind of going off the Chairwoman’s question, 

she was talking about Katrina and New Orleans, how much advance notice did they have. How much time, usually, does a community have notice-wise to know that something is coming their 

way? Obviously, I know that the cone gets smaller and smaller, but 

usually what’s that time frame that a community has to know, hey, 

the chances are this is going to hit us? What’s that time? 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. It could vary a little bit, but I’d like to commend 

you, because of the preparedness that we have in south Florida, 

Floridians, especially down here in south Florida, seem to be 

watching and knowing when there’s a hurricane moving off the 

coast of Africa, and they’ve got two weeks of notice. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Oh, yes, we watch. 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. As the storms approach the coast, however, our 

forecasts go out five days in advance, so you do get some indication 

that there’s at least a potential risk for your area that far in advance. The information becomes more specific, and what we call 

hurricane watches and warnings are issued beginning roughly two 

days in advance. The definition of a warning, of a hurricane warning is that hurricane conditions are expected in your area within 

the next 24 hours, or perhaps a little bit greater than that. That’s 

really your call to take action now. And the 24 hours was actually 

designed to ensure that everybody had at least 12 hours of daylight 

to take those actions. Those actions will vary, of course, depending 

on your vulnerability, and your location, and the intensity of the 

storm. And we depend very highly on the media to get the word 

out, and our colleagues in emergency management to provide the 

additional information to the public that interprets the meteorology 

so they can make their decisions. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. I would imagine that there’s a lot less sense 

of urgency as you go more north up the coast. Obviously, those 

areas that are expecting it have recently received damage. I’m sure 

in Florida— I see a storm out there, and I start getting nervous. 

13 

But I imagine that it’s a lot less sense of urgency as you go up 

north. I don’t know how you do that, because if you haven’t got hit 

by one, you don’t really take them that seriously. 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. Right. Fortunately, there is likely significant difference in how the public perceives a hurricane in those areas, and 

how the emergency management officials and our colleagues in the 

weather forecast offices perceive them. Yes, there are two sides to 

this. By living farther north where the hurricanes come less frequently, that’s good news. But when it does come, you may not be 

as well prepared. Fortunately, the local weather forecast offices of 

the Weather Service, and the emergency management officials all 

the way up the coast are doing the same kind of preparations that 

we do here in south Florida. It just may not be quite as visible, but 

they have their plans ready, as well, should a storm approach. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. And, lastly, Madam Chairwoman. These maps 

are a little scary. Could you just kind of describe a little bit of what 

we have here? 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. Sure. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. I guess, we should look at Category 5, which 

is the mostDr. RAPPAPORT. Okay. There are two different depictions of Category 5. Let’s look at the one that has in white the various locations labeled. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. All right. Let’s see. Which one is that? That 

would beDr. RAPPAPORT. It shows Category 5, and it has Miami Beach. 

Yes, that would be it, two feet. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Oh, I’m sorry. That one. Okay. 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. What we’re showing here in the gray area is the 

populated region of south Florida, the metro area. The brown is 

also land. The kind of aqua way off to the right side is the Atlantic. 

And the vibrant colors in-between are indications of how deep the 

storm surge would get for a Category 5 hurricane that has the center taking a track across the very lower left of your page. See the 

little black line across the lower left, if the center of the hurricane 

crossed the coast down there, this is the kind of storm surge you 

would expect. Storm surge is worse on the right side, because that’s 

where the winds are pushing the water ashore. 

The storm surge is the increase of water being pushed ashore by 

the very strong winds. What you see is that the entire coastline 

from south of Homestead, all the way up to the top of the page will 

be underwater for at least some hundreds of yards. And that the 

depth can be, in red you see on the scale there, as much as 12 feet. 

Some areas, though, are much seriously effected. If you look at Key 

Biscayne, just offshore, it’s all blue. Key Biscayne goes completely 

underwater by two to three, some places four feet. So, in essence, 

you have just the buildings sticking above the waterline. 

Making this more complicated and severe is that on top of that 

are the waves, and the waves are what really have the power and 

the momentum to damage buildings. On the immediate coast, we 

talked about water levels as high as 10, 12 feet, but you could look 

and see that other areas in Miami and south also flood, particularly going up the Miami River, and then spilling across to Miami 

International Airport, which would also be partly to all underVerDate Aug 31 2005 10:05 Oct 26, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\49949 JASON
14 

water. Coral Gables, historic Coral Gables, would have as much as 

10 feet of water. And down south, where we had problems with Andrew, which was a much smaller storm. I should say this was a 

large storm, so it spreads the effect further north than Andrew, but 

the same kind of effect we saw with Andrew, deep water. 

The other issue here I’d like to point out is, in the areas that are 

not quite as highly populated south of Homestead, look how far the 

water moves inland, more than 10 miles. So, we have an immediate 

risk at the coast for water levels on the order of 8, 10 feet, and 

even higher, offshore some of the islands, including part of Miami 

Beach will go underwater, and to the south, the water will spread 

as much as 10 miles inland. So, this is a very serious risk. We’re 

fortunate that we don’t get this very often, but we know that we 

will have another storm like this some day in the future. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Thank you, sir. And, Madam Chairwoman, I 

hope nobody takes this personally, but I hope I don’t see you a lot 

this season. 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. I understand. 

[Laughter.] 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Thank you. 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. Thank you. 

Ms. NORTON. Has there ever been a storm like this in memory. 

I’m talking about a Category 5. 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. There have been three Category 5 hurricanes to 

hit the United States. One was Andrew in 1992, one was Camille 

in the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 1969, and the other was the Labor 

Day Keys Storm, 1935. Fortunately, none of the Category 5 hurricanes that made landfall have been large, but that will happen. 

And the 1926 Miami Hurricane, which affected so much of Florida, 

and which would be the most devastating in terms of damage, dollars lost, if it came ashore now on the order of—the projections are 

$200 billion losses. That hurricane was a large Category 4 hurricane, so on a similar track to what is showing here, maybe a little 

bit north of this. 

Ms. NORTON. This doesn’t have anything to do with dikes or anything else. It essentially says there’s nothing you can do except be 

underwater. 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. You can prepare for the worst of the conditions. 

Ms. NORTON. It may matter to planners of buildings only. 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. Well, as I’m sure you know and will hear, there 

are plans to move people out of harm’s way, and we rely on our 

colleagues in the emergency management community to do that. 

Ms. NORTON. In the emergency management community, the 

great debate is how much the dikes and the like—but there’s nothing here between south Miami and the Port except the kind of preparedness you are doing. 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. If I may comment just briefly on Katrina. There 

was a great loss in Katrina in Louisiana in the New Orleans area. 

But apart from that, which was caused, to some degree, by the levy 

system, or failure there. There was still on the order of 200 deaths 

along the coast in Mississippi. That’s the kind of threat we’re dealing with here. So, even if we didn’t have the problem in New Orleans, we would have had a major loss, unfortunately, from Katrina, 

so there’s still much to do in the way of outreach and education. 

15 

And that’s why we spend so much of our off-season focusing on 

that. 

Ms. NORTON. Did you have much effect from Katrina over here? 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. We did. Katrina did come ashore here first as a 

Category One hurricane. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. I remember Katrina. I was out of power, I 

think it was—I don’t know if it was Katrina. I think it was 

Katrina. I think I was out of power for two weeks. 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. Yes. There were problems here in south Florida, 

but, fortunately, nothing like what they experienced in the Gulf 

Coast. 

Ms. NORTON. A final question about climate change. Has what 

you now understand—what we all now understand about climate 

change on the one hand. What relationship, if any, does that have 

to the development of hurricanes, and has there been any change 

in the development of hurricanes that you can attribute to climate 

change? 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. The relationship between climate change, or 

global warming and hurricanes is still a matter of open debate 

among the scientists. There are recent publications in the scientific 

literature, which suggest that the relationship is relatively small, 

that warming of the atmosphere and the oceans will make minimal 

difference in the number of storms, but could increase their frequency a little. 

Again, though there are views - 

Ms. NORTON. Their frequency, but not their effect? 

Dr. RAPPAPORT. No. The frequency, I’m sorry. The frequency 

would not change much, but their intensity, I’m sorry, could increase a little. I appreciate the chance to clarify. 

There is still ongoing research, and NOAA is sponsoring some of 

that as part of our responsibility for dealing with the environment. 

And we would think that this will be an ongoing issue for some 

time to come. 

Ms. NORTON. All right. The relationship between melting of ice 

caps and what happens with climate is very impressive to hear. 

And this research could not be more important, because here we 

could have an effect on climate change in the short run— the kind 

of warming that science has now categorically established in the 

longer term, whatever that turns out to be. We have a responsibility. Thank you very much, Dr. Rappaport, for your opening testimony before this hearing. It’s very important for us to be able to 

go further and hear from the other witnesses. And we’re going to 

ask the other witnesses if they will come forward at this time. And 

we’re going to ask to hear from the Federal witness first. Then 

from Florida, then Miami-Dade, and then the Red Cross with this. 

I’m going to ask the witnesses to the greatest extent that they can, 

to summarize their testimony in five minutes—because we do want 

to hear your testimony, but bear in mind that we’d like to have 

summaries of your testimony. Your testimony, and I will indicate 

that all your testimony will be received for the full record. It’s very 

valuable for us to have the full testimony for the record because 

we use this testimony in our own policy, and especially our own 

legislative changes. 

16 

Let me begin with the Regional Administrator, I suppose that 

would be with you. Introduce Major May. 

Mr. MAY. Thank you very much, Chairwoman Holmes Norton, 

and Ranking Member Diaz-Balart. It’s good to be here today. 

You already covered in some of the opening comments and statements some of the many things we’re involved with, not in Region 

IV, with all of our states, but also the State of Florida, specifically, 

some of the planning. I’d kind of like to go back over some of that 

now in more detail. 

I serve as the FEMA Regional Administrator for the Department 

of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency. In 

this role, I oversee FEMA’s All-Hazard efforts in Alabama, Florida, 

Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, 

and Tennessee. I have six coastal states. As a primary representative and coordinator for the disaster-prone region, I oversee the 

planning, development, implementation, execution of all FEMA Region IV programs and initiatives. My goals has to been to make 

sure that FEMA Region IV has a robust infrastructure, and all appropriate resources in terms of people, operational systems, planning, assessment tools, training exercises and equipment are in 

place. 

Region IV has been preparing for the 2009 hurricane season. 

We’re building our operational capabilities more effectively with response to recovery, amplifying our stance on hurricane readiness. 

And I’d like to provide more of that information now. 

FEMA Region IV administrators have been charged to be more 

active and engaged in this state. We work more than ever before. 

As a result of PKEMRA, our own initiatives, we’re working to improve our regional communications, performing gap analysis with 

each state, undertaking multi-state evacuation planning efforts, 

and supporting regional exercises. Among the lessons learned after 

the 2005 hurricane season, none have been taken more seriously 

than the breakdown of the inter-agency and intra-agency communications. Over the past four years, we’ve taken major steps to 

make sure this breakdown does not happen again. 

Critical information is shared and problems are solved among 

our states and federal partners in the Regional Response Coordination Centers, known as the RRCC. 

Communicating during an event with various responders on the 

ground is always a challenge. We recently had an experience in 

Kentucky with the ice storms, which allowed us to exercise with 

great success our FEMA Strike Force, known as Mobile Emergency 

Response System, or MERS. MERS allows us to provide communication links rapidly in disaster stricken areas. Continued communications has been improved through the Regional Advisory Council, known as the RAC. The RAC is a regionally focused version of 

the National Advisory Council. Both elements were established 

from the Homeland Security Act of 2002. The RAC provides valuable advice, recommendations on regional emergency management 

issues, and has helped facilitate to further enhance our national 

and regional planning efforts. 

We use a formalized analysis process known as the Gap Analysis 

program. The Gap is helping us to identify the shortfalls in all of 

our hurricane prone states. It was validated during the 2008 seaVerDate Aug 31 2005 10:05 Oct 26, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\49949 JASON
17 

son when the commodity numbers that we agreed upon pre-season 

were accessible during the event. Some of the improvements we 

have made based on Gap findings in the area are in fuel planning 

and logistics. The regional fuel planning effort has been derived 

from a scenario driven to catastrophic planning development over 

the last two years for the State of Florida. 

We have worked closely with Florida Emergency Management in 

identifying the needs, and coming to solutions. The inter-agency 

agreements with the Defense Energy Supply Center is structured 

to support FEMA’s request, and will supply an identified supply of 

fuel within 72 hours. 

Logistics. Over the last year, FEMA Region IV has greatly improved logistics capabilities. Commodities are now staged near disasters in National Logistics Staging Centers, where they can distributed to locations specified identified for the state and the impacted areas. I’d also like to mentioned that Florida is one of the 

most prepared states in terms of their logistics program. Efforts 

will simply augment and enhance their very advanced state capacity here in the State of Florida. 

Some of the other efforts we have here in the State of Florida, 

we have a joint warehouse in Orlando. We have completed statespecific logistics schedules for commodity distributions in sync with 

the state plan that’s described under the Florida Catastrophic 

Planning effort, and Gap data collection. We are using GIS mapping capability to lay out the state staging area sites, and we’re 

hosting a conference call among Florida and its sister states within 

our region, which offer a perform forum for logistics-specific discussions, planning, and sharing of best practices. 

Our Mass Evacuation Transportation Planning effort goal is to 

have updated state evacuation plans with a focus this year on the 

Atlantic coast, specifically, South Carolina and Georgia. To make 

this effort work, we coordinate with several key players, such as 

Amtrak, and also private ambulance services and bus contractors 

to make this happen. 

In 2008, the focus was the Gulf State region, and we are confident that the evacuation plans are functional and effective for the 

2009 season. 

To further strengthen our partnerships, FEMA is actively engaged with state governments in joint exercises to prepare for the 

2009 season. In late May, Region IV, in partnership with the State 

of Florida, is preparing for the Hurricane Suiter tabletop exercise. 

Hurricane Suiter is a state and federal collaborative exercise to test 

selected systems and procedures prior to hurricane season. The exercise will provide FEMA and Region IV with an opportunity to 

test new methodologies, and approaches developed from the Florida 

Catastrophic Hurricane Planning process. 

In conclusion, I believe we’ve made real progress in strengthening our relationships with our federal, state, and local counterparts. Ultimately, as our Acting Director, Nancy Ward, has stated, 

‘‘If we do not plan together, train together, and develop policies and 

procedures together from the start, we, as an emergency management community, will never be as effective as we should be. It’s 

that simple.’’ I look forward to taking your questions. Thank you. 

18 

Ms. NORTON. Thank you very much, Mr. May. Now, I think our 

next witness then would be Mr. Ruben Almaguer. Is that right pronunciation? 

Mr. ALMAGUER. That is correct, Madam Chair. 

Ms. NORTON. Deputy Director, Florida Division of Emergency 

Management. 

Mr. ALMAGUER. Thank you, Madam Chair, Congressmen. My 

name is Ruben Almaguer, Deputy Director, Florida Division of 

Emergency Management. I’ve served in this capacity for about two 

and a half years, appointed by the governor of Florida, Charlie 

Christ. I’ve had the blessing to serve under Craig Fugate, as well 

as a former administrator of FEMA, Dave Paulison, who is my fire 

chief. I previously served as a Division Chief and a Paramedic for 

Miami-Dade County here in south Florida for the last 20 something 

years, and so I’ve experienced first-hand, as a firefighter paramedic 

Hurricane Andrew hitting south Florida. I’d like to just briefly 

share with you this simple question, is Florida prepared today? Is 

Florida better prepared than we were in 2004-2005 hurricane season? I’m going to focus on a couple of things that are unique to our 

state. 

First of all, it comes down to people. States need to be focused 

at not only the state, the federal level, and the local level, that 

you’ve got to have the necessary people to do the job to respond to 

these disasters, and remind everybody that the aggressive approach that Congress has taken in the Post Katrina Emergency 

Management Reform Act to make sure professional standards and 

emergency management for the FEMA Administrator of the State 

of Florida, from my state’s perspective, as well as the local, are hiring the best and brightest, and making sure people are qualified 

and trained to do their job. 

Second of all, one of the unique things that we learned that we 

did not have in place that Mr. May mentioned was commodities. 

Really, most states in this country still today have focused on when 

disaster strikes, we get contractors in place. We get resources that 

we purchase, and that means you’re a day late and a dollar short. 

So, Florida, through the leadership of this governor, as well as the 

legislature, has put dollars on the table through a state statute 

that forces that the Division of Emergency Management has a 

200,000 square foot logistical resource center pre-stage in Orlando 

with over $16 million of commodities in place that we own, that we 

manage, and we will distribute for disaster. That gives us the ability to get in front of these events, and push out water, and food, 

tarps, and key resources that will affect the survivor of these disasters within hours of the event, and even before the event. That way 

it will allow us, the contractors, as well as the federal system, to 

come behind us, three, couple of days later and bring those resources. But, generally speaking, if you’re relying on contractors 

and contracts, you’re very late in responding to a disaster. 

Second of all, there’s technology. And Congress, you actually 

talked about the ability to get effective communications out to residents of these communities. But, also, the technology to receive the 

information. So, being located in Tallahassee, Florida, one of the 

things we’ve realized that you’ve got to be on the ground. For as 

much as we have significant enough technology in an emergency 

19 

operation center, and expanded that to have unified command with 

FEMA, we want to make sure this governor and the Director of 

Emergency Management are on the ground at the disaster site to 

see the impacts of this event, so we can effectively respond to those 

counties who will request assistance from the state. 

One key thing that Florida has done, and has taken the lead 

from FEMA, establishing a full-time disability coordinator. Many 

times, people with disabilities are forgotten. People with physical 

disabilities, mental disabilities, hearing impaired, visually impaired, and so we have a full-time person who works for the Director, who his job every single day, and this is a gentleman, Chip 

Wilson, who, unfortunately, is wheelchair-bound, his job every day 

is to remind me and this state that there’s people out there with 

disabilities. On the average, potentially 20 percent of the population has some sort of disability. Are they being reached in the 

proper way being prepared? How are we responding to them, as 

well as how can they get through the recovery efforts of these disasters? 

I will also emphasize that we can have all the people, and all the 

resources in place, but if you don’t practice, you’ll never play well. 

And that being said, as already mentioned here, and I won’t go into 

detail, but Florida will conduct the largest scale hurricane exercise 

in its history the last two days in May, and the first two days in 

June. We will replicate the great Miami Hurricane of 1926 that affects south Florida, Tampa-St. Pete area, as well as the Panhandle, 

and we will put huge resources to make sure that we find out what 

gaps are in place in case that event happens this year. 

In closing, the last two things I want to emphasize, it’s about 

public outreach. We have a simple plan in Florida, every state does 

it a little differently, we tell people get a plan. It’s real simple. 

There’s civic responsibility. If you rely on the federal and state government, and even local government to save the day during a disaster, unfortunately, I’m not proud to say that they will come to 

the table. We will still assist people who are affected by disasters, 

but the best way to solve a catastrophic disaster is for residents of 

these communities to have the message of being prepared themselves, and that means food, water, commodities. Where are they 

going to go? Where are the closest shelters they should go to? 

Those are things that I cannot do for them. With almost 20 million 

residents in the State of Florida, I would need 50 warehouses the 

size that I have today to reach all of the residents of our community. So, the more people that are prepared, who have the resources, and have plans to take care of them, their family members, and their pets during disaster, the better the state can focus 

and use those commodities for people who are living paycheck to 

paycheck, the elderly, and the people living in south Florida in the 

communities that have very little to live on, and have no family 

members. Those are the people that these commodities should go 

to. And, so, we’ve talked about a very aggressive outreach program, 

which this year we kicked off ‘‘Kids Get A Plan.’’ We realize that 

we have to get to the children, almost 3 million children in school 

every single day in Florida, so we are asking kids across this entire 

state to go to KidsGetAPlan.com, so they can actually put together 

a kit on line in a very friendly interactive way to take these kids 

20 

and plans home and simply tell their parents, mom, where is our 

flashlight? Where is our water? Where is our kits? 

And, in closing, I will tell you that Florida is only good because, 

unfortunately, the state has been impacted by more disasters than 

47 other states in this nation. And it’s nothing to be proud of, but 

also in Florida, out of the top 10 disasters in the state, seven affected Florida, so we gain a lot through experiences. We do some 

things well, and every time that we fail to meet the mark, we improve and use the best practices for future disasters. Madam Chair, 

I’ll be available for questions, as well. 

Ms. NORTON. Thank you very much, Mr. Almaguer. Now, I’m 

going to have to be through with this hearing before 12:00, and I 

want to get all this time to ask questions, so I appreciate that you 

all have your testimony reasonably within the 5 minute summary 

period. And I want to especially go to Mr. Lord now. 

Jonathon Lord is Assistant Director, Miami-Dade Department of 

Emergency Management and Homeland Security. 

Mr. Lord. 

Mr. LORD. Thank you, Chairwoman Norton, Ranking Member 

Diaz-Balart. Good morning, and thank you for asking me to speak 

before you today about Miami-Dade County’s Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, and the County’s state 

of readiness for the 2009 hurricane season. 

Miami-Dade County is approximately 2,000 square miles in size, 

and has a population of about 2.5 million people. In terms of 

square miles, Miami-Dade County is larger than the District of Columbia, the states of Rhode Island, and Delaware. Miami-Dade 

government provides municipal government services for roughly 1.1 

million of those residents in unincorporated areas, employs more 

than 30,000 people, and has an overall annual budget of $7.5 billion, and an operating budget of $4.9 billion. 

The other 1.4 million residents live in 35 municipalities throughout the county. The cities of Miami, Hialeah, and Miami Gardens 

are the most populous municipalities in the county. Miami-Dade 

County is bordered by two national parks, to the southeast, Biscayne National Park, and to the west, Everglades National Park. 

Miami-Dade County is one of only three locations in the United 

States of America that has ever been struck by a Category 5 hurricane. And, as you all know, that was Hurricane Andrew in 1992. 

Since 1992, Miami-Dade County has activated its Emergency Operation Center 45 times; 20 of those activations were because of the 

threat of a hurricane or tropical storm. Since then, since 1992, 

Miami-Dade County has ordered evacuations and/or opened hurricane evacuation centers 20 times because of those same threats of 

a hurricane or tropical storm. The 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons were, by far, the busiest for our county. Our Emergency Operation Center was activated seven times to deal with those threats. 

The last three hurricane seasons have been relatively uneventful. 

The county did activate its Emergency Operation Center in August 

of 2006 for Hurricane Ernesto, August 2008 because of Tropical 

Storm Fay, and September 2008 because of Hurricane Ike. Thankfully, those storms did not cause any significant damage or injury 

in Miami-Dade County. 

21 

While we are thankful for three consecutive years of relatively 

uneventful hurricane seasons, we are always concerned that complacency could set in amongst residents because of inactivity. The 

Miami-Dade County Department of Emergency Management and 

Homeland Security works tirelessly to keep residents prepared for 

hurricane season. The county produces all hurricane and emergency preparedness publications in English, Spanish, and Creole to 

serve the three major languages in our community. 

The Department actively organizes and participates in local hurricane preparedness fairs, and expositions, no matter how small or 

large they are, and where they take place. The county works very 

closely with local municipalities to insure that all residents, not 

just those in unincorporated areas, are prepared for hurricanes. 

While Miami-Dade County is rich in resources, the county works 

closely with Florida Division of Emergency Management when certain resources cannot be identified within the county. The Florida 

Division of Emergency Management then works to provide those 

resources to our county. 

Our Department manages Miami-Dade Alerts, a wireless emergency notification system that alerts residents whenever a hazardous situation, like a hurricane, threatens the county. This system currently has more than 120,000 subscribers. The Department 

also engages private sector businesses through our Local Mitigation 

Strategy. This program actually just celebrated its 10th year anniversary last year, and its participants include major corporations, 

and small businesses. 

Together, the public-private partnership has completed more than $250 million in strengthening infrastructure around MiamiDade County. This program’s members are represented in the 

Emergency Operations Center, as well, during activations. Some 

examples of the work completed by the LMS Group, the Local Mitigation Strategy Group, include several major flood mitigation 

projects, and the shuttering of critical infrastructures, such as hospitals, and public safety agencies. Miami-Dade County has completed approximately $800 million in public assistance enhancements when restoring infrastructure after declared emergency 

events. 

The County also works very closely with Miami-Dade Public 

School system to establish hurricane evacuation centers that can be 

open, should their County Mayor order an evacuation. Presently, 

there are a total of 56 hurricane evacuation centers throughout 

Miami-Dade County, with a capacity of over 85,000 spaces. These 

totals include primary, secondary, and tertiary hurricane evacuation centers. In addition to these hurricane evacuation centers, 

the County has six special needs evacuation centers to serve our 

vulnerable population. 

The County established an Emergency Evacuation Assistance 

Program. This program provides transportation to special needs 

centers that are operated by medical personnel. There are currently 

2,000 people registered for this program. The Miami-Dade County 

Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security 

works also very closely with the National Hurricane Center. Any 

storm within 1,500 nautical miles, and with a forecast track to 

bring it in the general direction of south Florida, is closely monVerDate Aug 31 2005 10:05 Oct 26, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00031 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\49949 JASON
22 

itored by our Department, as well as any system that initially develops in the Gulf of Mexico, or the Caribbean. 

The Department issues readiness advisories to all of our Emergency Operations Center partners, and engages in conference calls 

with local agencies, and the National Hurricane Center. These 

advisories including things like the storm’s position, and forecast 

track. We also provide a tentative planning schedule in which we 

enter data provided by the National Hurricane Center, such as direct path calculations, forward speed, and potential arrival of tropical storm force winds in our community. These advisories provide 

a time line for preparedness activities, including the issuing of 

press releases, conducting special needs population call-downs, and 

the opening of evacuation centers. And, additionally, establishing 

EOC activation levels, and considering a Local State of Emergency, 

and beginning general evacuations or Bus Pickups for assistance of 

those who cannot get to an evacuation center on their own. 

Let me conclude by saying that maintaining local, state, and federal partnerships exhibited here in south Florida, are key to ensuring our community’s preparedness. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, for this opportunity. 

Ms. NORTON. Thank you very much, Mr. Lord. 

Ms. Hagan. 

Ms. HAGAN. Thank you very much, Chairwoman Norton, and 

Congressman Diaz-Balart. I am honored to represent the American 

Red Cross. My name is Karen Hagan. I’m the State Disaster Officer for the American Red Cross in Florida. And I know that you’ve 

read the written testimony, and I’d like to just focus on a couple 

of key points. 

Behind me is Sam Tidwell, and he is the CEO of the Greater 

Miami and the Keys Chapter. And any specific questions related to 

this area, I’d like to engage him in that. 

Today’s issue is preparedness for the 2009 hurricane season beginning June 1st is important to the Red Cross, and it’s especially 

important to me, and my colleagues around the state. The Red 

Cross stands ready to respond this hurricane season, and we continue to improve our coordination and relationship. We have a wonderful relationship with FEMA Region IV, with state Emergency 

Management, local Emergency Management agencies, other state 

organizations, and, of course, the other non-governmental and 

faith-based communities. 

Specifically, what we bring to the table, the first and most foremost is mass care, that presence, that opening of a shelter where 

survivors can go. They can expect a place to sleep, a safe place to 

exist, food, mental health. And one thing I want to say about sheltering is the survivors that go into either a hurricane evacuation 

center or a shelter, when they are in that building, they do not 

know when they leave there whether or not they’ll find a home to 

go back to. So, the mental health component to that is very important, and very critical. 

We have been participating with the Catastrophic Planning Process since its inception. We’re prepared to test some of the planning 

scenarios, and some of our planning assumptions at the statewide 

hurricane exercise at the end of May and beginning of June. 

23 

The other thing I want to mention is the difference between a 

hurricane evacuation center, a place where people need to get out 

of harm’s way, a lifeboat, and a shelter. Once we can move people 

from an evacuation center into a shelter, then that’s where they 

can expect a place to sleep, the food, and the support that is more 

traditionally thought of when we talk about a shelter. 

I can say that in the State of Florida, Florida Division of Emergency Management has utilized the American Red Cross National 

Shelter System as its shelter database of record. Last year, as we 

prepared to enter into hurricane season, we had about 695,000 

shelter spaces in that system. Today, we have 842,000 plus shelter 

spaces. That’s an increase of 150,000 shelter spaces, which is very 

exciting. With that increase, however, is a need to train more shelter managers, more shelter workers, et cetera. So, it’s an ongoing 

process of readiness and preparedness. 

Along with sheltering, we provide feeding, both feeding within 

the shelters and mobile feeding for folks that haven’t left their 

home. We’ll be able to bring food to them, as well as bulk distribution items, such as: comfort kits, cleanup kits, and other necessities. And we have a whole system to provide that. 

I mentioned mental health services in a shelter. We’ll also have 

that available to folks wherever they may congregate because it is 

such an important component. We’re available to do client case 

work, advocating for people, connecting community resources to the 

needs that the people have, and working with our partners, both 

government, and non-government partners. 

We also have a tool, our Safe and Well website, which will allow 

survivors to communicate with family members outside of the affected area, just to allow them to know that they’re okay. 

Mr. Almaguer was talking about the outreach to people with disabilities. The American Red Cross is making it a nationwide priority to ensure that services and shelters are accessible, and as accessible as possible to people with disabilities. And we have initiated two big programs in Florida, both working with our State Disability Coordinator, Chip Wilson. One is to train emergency managers, the Centers for Independent Living and American Red Cross 

representatives to survey buildings for accessibility so that they 

can meet ADA requirements. The other is to teach disability etiquette to our shelter workers, so that we can provide the kind of 

services that we should be providing to people with disabilities 

when they come into our shelters. 

The demographics of this state are diverse. We are trying to recruit the type of volunteers who can truly meet the needs, and communicate with people that we’re going to be serving all over the 

state. And from training, to case work, to public messaging, everything we do is in Spanish, and much is in Creole. 

Our collaboration with our government and non-government 

partners cannot be understated. We are in this together. We are 

actively working with many groups. This year, for example, besides 

the myriad of faith-based, community, and other religious organizations, we have worked significantly with the NAACP, with our 

Florida Association of Centers for Independent Living, and with 

our CERT, the Community Emergency Response Team, because 

24 

with that increase in shelter spaces, we need to see an increase in 

training and capacity building. 

Are we ready for 2009? I believe that we are and will share some 

of our efforts taking place at the national level. We’re expanding 

and pre-positioning supply inventory to support feeding and sheltering. We have on hand 500,000 meals, and MREs that we’re storing. We’ve upgraded our IT systems to have greater controls over 

our financial management, and to share sheltering client information with our partners. We have pre-positioned communications 

equipment. In fact, in Florida, we have 20 Red Cross shelters serving all 67 counties, and every one of those chapters has a satellite 

communication unit, so that we can make sure that we’re communicating. We have built more effective logistics, supply chain, and 

inventory control systems. 

And, as far as our trained disaster workers, we have more than 

80,000 people in the disaster response database; 93 percent are volunteers, and we’ve had an increase in Florida in that database of 

11 percent since last year. So, we are ever-increasing our capacity. 

I am confident, in closing, that the plans, processes, and partnerships that we have with our federal, state, local, non-profit, and 

faith-based organizations positions us well as we look to this hurricane season. Thank you, and I’ll be happy to answer any questions. 

Ms. NORTON. Thank you very much, Ms. Hagan. 

In his home jurisdiction, I’m going to defer now to the Ranking 

Member for the first set of questions. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. 

First, Mr. May, the National Disaster Housing Strategy, which 

was released in January, and FEMA recently issued its 2009 Disaster Housing Plan. And, as I mentioned before, the plan advances 

a four-pronged approach to addressing housing units. And I think 

I’m going to have a couple of questions later about housing, as well. 

What plans specifically have been made here in Florida, and do 

they improve how housing would be managed in a worst case scenario? If you look at those flood lines, you realize that could be a 

huge issue. 

Mr. MAY. Right. And, yes, we have been working with state and 

local government to identify that. And, as the Strategic Housing 

Plan, one of the big parts of that is, not only does it bring some 

of the old pieces of the FEMA housing opportunities, which were 

mobile homes and travel trailers to the scene, but also takes a look 

at the community, helping us make decisions how they want that 

housing to look in their communities. And, yes, we’re working with 

them. A catastrophic event, though, is a catastrophic event. And we 

will have to work our way through a catastrophic event. The housing plan specifically does not address the catastrophic event. It creates a framework to establish a housing plan for the State of Florida. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Last year, I co-sponsored a bill that would provide incentives to states, and also to enforce statewide building 

codes. And how often do you think that building codes are for mitigation purposes? 

Mr. MAY. How often do they contributeMr. DIAZ-BALART. How successful are they, building codesVerDate Aug 31 2005 10:05 Oct 26, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00034 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\49949 JASON
25 

Mr. MAY. I think they’re tremendously successful. And normally, 

after an event, we will go out and do a survey to validate the flood 

heights, especially in the flood surge area, to determine if the mitigation efforts have been successful. And you heard, and you mentioned in your opening statements, I think both of you did, about 

the 4-1 ratio on mitigation efforts. They do work, and most cases, 

the maps are pretty accurate, and are reflective in the type of construction, and the height of construction, and those things do work. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. May, one of the things that I think is a 

concern always, is you guys have to develop a balance, when FEMA 

should step in, and, obviously, who inlocal government has jurisdiction, or whatever. And you’re doing a heck of a job, by the way, as 

I see it firsthand. Madam Chairwoman, I know that FEMA sometimes gets a bad rap, but you know, number one is they’ve done 

an incredible job of improving, and they’ve done some really good 

work. So I want to commend you for the work that you do. It’s a 

delicate balance. How do you make sure that you don’t overstep in 

order to make sure that you don’t disincentivize local governments, 

and state governments from doing what they need to do. Obviously, 

they’re closer to the ground than you are, so how do you balance 

that out? 

Mr. MAY. Well, it is a partnership, and we’re at the table in a 

partnership today. Second, we understand the responsibilities 

under the constitution of the governor and the state and local government, what their responsibilities are for the protection of the 

citizens of the community. 

We mentioned the Gap Process earlier, how we engage, or are 

more engaged in asking probing questions of local officials about 

what their capabilities are, and then suggesting that maybe we 

could provide some assistance there; understanding it’s their responsibility. 

I think the catastrophic planning effort we’re doing with Florida 

with the hurricane is a perfect example. Normally, when FEMA 

would let a contract to support an exercise, we would let a contract 

in Washington, and set the work schedule, things we want, the outcome of the exercise. This time, we went to Craig and said, ‘‘Craig, 

what do you want this exercise to accomplish? And you tell us what 

to put in the contract.’’ And, so, by engaging that contract in that 

way, and it really is a bottom-up effort, and many of the folks who 

are at this table have been engaged in that process, so I think 

that’s helpful, and how we approach the engagement with local 

government, and state government. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Thank you, sir. 

Also about housing. If the worst case storm were to happen, and 

50 percent of the homes and apartments were destroyed, how do 

you deal with that? How do you deal with that in the short term? 

Mr. ALMAGUER. Well, one of the things we recently did that we’ll 

be publishing is what Floridians want to do. We did a survey statewide, and we’ve realized, and we’ve already known, people want to 

stay either next to their house on their property, or very nearby, 

while their community rebuilds. It’s their neighborhoods, it’s where 

their churches are, it’s where their jobs are. And, so, to displace 

people outside of these communities, and move them to other states 

is not what they want, and not what’s going to happen in Florida. 

26 

So, even though it’s the federal responsibility for the housing plan, 

it is a partnership with the state and locals, so the state already 

has in place contracts for implementing and assisting FEMA to get 

temporary housing units in these areas. We call it haul-and-install, 

and so, one of our responsibilities is to get as many travel trailers 

into these communities quickly to assist. But during catastrophic 

disaster, Congressman, I’ll be very clear, for an exercise that we’re 

going to conduct to replicate that great Miami Hurricane, there is 

not a housing plan in this country, in this world, that will be able 

to come to the table to assist in that event. We are still planning 

for that, but our focus is to focus on disasters in which we can get 

temporary housing in communities, but there will be situations 

where we have to move people outside of these communities, hopefully not outside of Florida, because generally, when they leave, 

they don’t come back. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Well, right. And I think one of the things that 

we ought to realize is that there’s something to be said about personal responsibility. Now, we’re the ones that have to have—individuals have to have plans, have to have alternative places to stay. 

And I think the government always has to be the last gap approach, obviously. But let me restate the question that I asked before about the balance between FEMA and the state and local communities. How do you deal with that? How much is too much of a 

stretch for FEMA to be involved in the states and local communities? And how do you deal with that balance? 

Mr. ALMAGUER. The public today would ask the media, or ask us 

where is FEMA? Which is actually the wrong question. Really, all 

these disasters, all the fire truck, police officers, paramedic, nurses 

and doctors, nobody owns any — the state doesn’t have any of that 

stuff. FEMA doesn’t have any of that stuff. It’s the locals. So the 

question always needs to be at the local level. 

The other side of this, sir, is, there is a very cautious approach 

in which a state doesn’t want to be, and the counties in which we 

want them to grow their emergency management capabilities, and 

them to be as self-sufficient as possible. 

I will tell you the worst thing Congress can do would be to 

embold and empower FEMA to the point where they become so 

heavy-handed that it disincentivizes states to prepare, and have resources, and have the personnel to manage their own disasters. In 

our state, we love to be very proud to manage some disasters, and 

we do, many tornadoes and wildfires, and we don’t ask for federal 

assistance. But there will come a day, and right now we have a 

Presidential declaration for the floods in north Florida, no one even 

knows about, that FEMA was right there at the table, very low-key 

assisting us, but the reality is, FEMA needs to—excuse me, the 

federal government needs to strengthen states and locals, and 

allow FEMA to have the resources for those large events that we 

would have to reach out to the federal government to assist us. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. You talk in your written testimony about 

building—which I thought was interesting—a survivor mentality, 

rather than a victim mentality, and that citizens should be encouraged to— and to empower the state to help in recovery efforts 

themselves after a disaster. Now, what are some of the steps that 

27 

can be taken to help empower individuals in preparing for a storm, 

and for the consequences after a storm? 

Mr. ALMAGUER. I think we would all agree that it’s a psychological dynamic in which, when we call ourselves victim, we feel 

like something has happened to us outside our control that now we 

can’t do anything about. But now we deserve for someone to take 

care of us as a victim. We’ve been violated, something has happened, and that we are now traumatized. We actually look at victims are those unfortunate people who actually, we have to bury. 

We want very few of those people to ever happen in Florida. But, 

you know what, disasters will happen. 

We believe that anybody who survives a disaster is a survivor. 

That means you have the responsibility to take care of you and 

your family, more importantly, check on your neighbor. Reach out 

in your community. There is not enough federal, state, and local resources for a large-scale disaster for everybody to come to the table 

and save the day. It’s going to be Floridians in Florida who help 

neighbors to recover from these disasters, recovery that goes on 

many times for up to 10 years, so we want people in Florida to be 

survivors, not victims. And the way to do that is to get a plan, and 

be prepared for you and your family. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. You know, one of the things that is interesting 

is because when you have—you obviously warn people that these 

things are coming. You also help them to get prepared. You also 

have to tell them what’s available, when it will be available, and 

that’s also an interesting balance. We saw that after a few of the 

storms that we had able-bodied people standing in line for water 

and ice, when we never lost water in parts of the county. All you 

had to do was open the tap, and there were people waiting in line 

for hours, waiting for water, which I thought was interesting. So, 

that’s a very interesting balance, to make sure that we continuously remind people that it’s really our responsibility. The government is not the first line of defense, it’s the last line of defense. 

Once you’ve—you can’t do it for yourself, that’s a very difficult balance to achieve, obviously. 

Mr. ALMAGUER. If I may, one of the things that has not been 

mentioned here is the private sector. The private sector, the Publix, 

the Home Depots of all of Florida, as well as many other private 

companies really are the saving grace in Florida. It’s easier and 

cheaper for the federal government and the state to get a Home 

Depot and a Publix open, to allow people to go in there and have 

the resources that these companies on a daily basis have the capabilities of reaching out and getting resources on the table, much 

better than the state and locals will ever be able to do. So, if they 

just need a generator, they need fuel, I’d rather get Publix and 

Home Depot open, where you can go and get your stuff. That 

means, guess what? It’s not for free. And that’s not the responsibility of government, but there is going to be times in which we 

can’t do that, and those isolated communities is where we will open 

up points of distribution to get food, and water, and key assets to 

those areas that are very isolated. Our focus is generally to get private sector open to partner with the state, and get more resources 

on the table much more quickly. 

28 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Thank you, sir. Mr. Lord, kind of the same 

question. How much is too much of an overreach, and what’s the 

kind of relationship that you have with the state, and with FEMA? 

Mr. LORD. I think the most important thing for us, actually, in 

looking at the partnerships is for us, at the local level, to truly take 

emergency preparedness very seriously, and help our residents 

build that culture of preparedness, whether it’s housing, or having 

your supply of food and water, or having your place to go. And our 

concern is to make sure that all of our residents are always prepared for that. We have a great partnership with the state and the 

federal government. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. How do the localMr. LORD. Yes. And the cities. You know, while we have the— 

the onus is on the county to provide emergency management services in the State of Florida, we have a very— like I said, 35 very 

strong municipalities in our county, that also do take emergency 

management very seriously. Even in the non-hurricane season, we 

focus on them, and meet with them on a regular basis, and address 

the concerns they have, make sure they’re prepared for not just 

hurricanes, but other disasters, as well. Many things, such as providing ice and water when the time is needed for that to be provided, those municipalities do look to us to help provide those services. Many of them can provide it themselves, some rely entirely on 

us, depending on their size and their ability. And we take a look 

at the community as a whole, and try to find those areas that need 

our assistance the best. 

We can also expect the same from the State of Florida, while we 

try to do as much as we can on our own, there’s a point where 

Miami-Dade County cannot provide services any more, need assistance providing those services. Our great relationship with the State 

of Florida allows us in a matter of a phone call or an email to get 

those services and items we need almost instantaneously from the 

State of Florida. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Thank you, sir. The Chairwoman has been 

very generous with me, so I’ll be quick. 

You spoke about outreach efforts to people with disabilities, 

which is something that I know the state has been very active 

with, and so has the local municipalities, and the county. But I’m 

also pleased to see that you’re expanding your language bank, ensuring effective communications with those who speak Creole and 

Spanish. Can you talk about the progress that you’re having there, 

and how you’re doing there? Are you satisfied where you are there? 

I also want to thank you for, you and your’s for the efforts that you 

make. I’ve also, unfortunately, I went to see not only with the shelters, but also in your trucks out there, feeding people in different 

areas, which is one way to keep people in their homes, which is 

great. A lot of people just don’t have access to food anymore, so, 

again, thank you for your efforts. But talk to us a little bit about 

the language challenges, and how you’re doing. 

Ms. HAGAN. Okay. And let me first answer your question about 

disabilities. It’s a national priority. It’s a state priority. It’s a local 

priority, and we’re really in this together to make sure that we 

meet the needs of people with disabilities and can accommodate 

them. And I think I articulated that in my testimony. 

29 

I’d love to ask Sam to share some examples of what they’re doing 

here locally with the language banks, and their training. Sam? 

Mr. TIDWELL. Well, let me just say that certainly here in - 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Sir, give your name. 

Mr. TIDWELL. Oh, Sam Tidwell, CEO of American Red Cross, 

Greater Miami and the Keys Chapter. Certainly, here in greater 

Miami and the Keys, our culture is so diverse. Seventy-five, eighty 

percent of our volunteers are bilingual, mostly in Spanish, but 

more and more in Creole, as well. And so, everything that we have, 

all of our communications, everything that we do is multi-lingual. 

And we have volunteers at every shelter, every evacuation center, 

and every feeding process that have people who are bilingual, or 

trilingual. And we certainly work closely with our partners in local 

government and state government to make sure that all the communications that we have going through that same process are in 

multi-language. 

We engage so many partners from community organizations to 

traditional organizations that deal with the specific cultural communities that we have, as partners in the American Red Cross. 

And they are our volunteers, they are our sites for sheltering after 

storms, and they are communications with the communities. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Thanks so much. Madam Chairwoman, can I 

ask one more. 

Ms. HAGAN. Thank you. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Again, I apologize for abusing your generosity, 

but I’ll ask Mr. May, the status of the Long-Term Recovery Office 

in Orlando. You talked about a little bit. Is it operational, is it fully 

operational there? There was plans I guess last year to downsize 

it, and closing it. Where are we on that? How is it going? What insurances do we have that it’s going to continue to be there? 

Mr. MAY. It’s up and operational, and we continue to rightsize 

that office, when appropriate, based on workload. We use those 

personnel throughout the State of Florida for work to work in other 

disasters. We’ve used them also because of their expertise in other 

states around the country to work disasters, sometimes several 

months at a time, so it’s a valuable resource for me. And I consider 

that’s so, but it is our intent at long-term to watch, to continue to 

rightsize that office, like I have an office also in Biloxi, one in Alabama, also, that have been stood up as a result of previous disasters, that we also look at the needed staffing levels on a daily basis, 

on a weekly basis, excuse me, and determine what that should be. 

The staffing level there is very stable right now, as far as the workload is concerned. The state is staffed up their resources there, and 

we’re making great progress on the 2004 and 2005 storms. And it’s 

a valuable resource for us. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. That’s one of the reasons I need to talk to you about the 

drywall later. 

Mr. MAY. Chinese drywall? 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Chinese drywall, yes. 

Mr. MAY. I’ve heard about it. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Yes, I’, sure you’ve probably heard about it, 

and there’s a bill that Congressman Wexler and I have spent some 

time on. 

30 

Mr. MAY. Yes, sir. 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Ms. NORTON. Certainly. I wish all of you would tell me what resources have been pre-positioned, and how that works as of now for 

any upcoming hurricane season. Which of you goes in first with resources? How are the others clicked in, if at all? What resources 

are we talking about? Where are they? Would you briefly give me 

answers on this. 

Mr. MAY. Ms. Norton, I cannot specifically give you all the numbers, but FEMA does have strategic storage sites around the country. 

Ms. NORTON. I’m only talking now about the Florida area. 

Mr. MAY. Okay. We have co-located with the State of Florida in 

Orlando, we have resources there. And we do logistics planning 

with the State of Florida to determine what their logistics needs 

would be, and bring those resources in, primarily in the area of 

water and MREs, or meals ready to eat. And they’ll be available 

based on the State of Florida’s need. 

Mr. ALMAGUER. Madam Chair, to be very specific, the State of 

Florida has 300 tractor trailers load of water, pre-positioned in Orlando. We have 50 tractor trailers pre-loaded of water in Homestead. 

Ms. NORTON. So, does the state go in first? 

Mr. ALMAGUER. Well, the state will always be - 

Ms. NORTON. How is that coordinated with water, for example, 

that FEMA has? 

Mr. ALMAGUER. The local county administrator, mayor, emergency management official will ask the state for assistance. At that 

point, we are going to mobilize all the resources. 

Ms. NORTON. So, Miami-Dade goes in first? 

Mr. ALMAGUER. Yes. 

Ms. NORTON. So, it’s Miami-Dade in front of Florida, the ultimate 

source is FEMA. Is that the way it works? 

Mr. MAY. That’s correct. We bring the water to a staging site, 

and the state takes it from there. 

Mr. LORD. Obviously, our supplies are much smaller, our stockpiles, but we do every year make sure we have supplies of masscare items, sheltering items. Actually, our school district is very 

good, which serves as our shelters, actually having three days supply of food on throughout the entire hurricane season. So, in the 

event we have to turn those schools into shelters, they can actually 

be self-sufficient for three days, and provide feeding, and water, 

and care to those residents in the shelters. At that point in time, 

when we can no longer provide that care level, probably even before that when we know we’re getting close to that breaking point, 

we would make the request up to Tallahassee, and the state would 

then help push out more items for us, if we do need them. 

Ms. NORTON. Now, I want to find out, Mr. May, who is going to 

bear responsibility for Puerto Rico? You closed the center in Puerto 

Rico. How does this enable you to provide assistance to a largely 

Spanish-speaking island? 

Mr. MAY. We’ve closed the NIPC, which is the application taking 

center that was established to serve the Spanish-speaking population there. 

31 

Ms. NORTON. Also, the people. 

Mr. MAY. Yes, ma’am. We have three sites around the country, 

and we haveMs. NORTON. You have what? I’m sorry. 

Mr. MAY. We have three NIPC sites. 

Ms. NORTON. NIPC, what’s that? 

Mr. MAY. That’s a siteMs. NORTON. Speak English. 

Mr. MAY. It is a center where we take the applications for disastrous needs after a disaster. 

Ms. NORTON. Now, why did you close that? It is a very vulnerable, to say the least, area for hurricanes. 

Mr. MAY. It was determined that the operational need for the facility based on capacity and the other sites that were located in 

this country could still take those applications. 

Ms. NORTON. What about how isolated it would be, if people have 

to get there. We’re talking about an island right off our coast, and 

if there’s no center to take applications, and you’ve got to go from 

here to there? 

Mr. MAY. Well, these applications—the NIPC Center applications 

are taken by telephone or by electronic means. We would still provide individuals in our mobile disaster centers to take applications. 

Ms. NORTON. But who do you have on the island toMr. MAY. We would have peopleMs. NORTON. — to receive telephone— applications that would be 

relayed to where? 

Mr. MAY. To three locations in the U.S. We have people standing 

by to take those applications. 

Ms. NORTON. I hope you all have done some tabletops on that. 

We do not need to leave people who are very vulnerable in 

hurricanesMr. MAY. Based on the workloadMs. NORTON. — with any delay whatsoever. These are American 

citizens, they just happen to be a little offshore. 

Mr. MAY. Yes, ma’am, we understand that. And we think we 

have capacity to meet that need. 

Ms. NORTON. Let me ask you about trailers, Mr. May. I understand that, from the Disaster Housing Plan, that you’re going to 

get the trailers with improved quality of air care exchange and the 

rest. How many of those do you have? What’s happening with the 

older trailers that caused so much pain, and lawsuits, and all that 

goes along with that? Are there trailers available should they be 

needed here in the Atlantic, Florida, south Florida area? 

Mr. MAY. There are trailers available if they’re needed here. 

Ms. NORTON. And what kind of trailers would they be, these new 

improved air quality, air exchange trailers? 

Mr. MAY. We have some of those available. And I don’t have 

those numbers. I can get back with you and give you exact numbers on those. We also have some trailers that meet a standard. 

Ms. NORTON. Are any of these refurbished older trailers, of the 

kind we already had onMr. MAY. Some of the trailers are refurbished, and meet the 

formaldehyde standard that we need to meet. 

32 

Ms. NORTON. I don’t have any problem with that, so long as they 

meet the standard. 

Mr. MAY. Yes, ma’am. 

Ms. NORTON. The problem I had was throwing away stuff. I 

never did understand throw-away society, and we’re seeing a structural change in the American standard of living. I hope everybody 

knows, everybody—get you to throw your credit cards away. The 

United States is going to have to throw its away, too. But this is 

not just Wall Street’s fault. Everybody has been living this way in 

a society that no longer makes anything, but thought it could still 

keep making dollars. 

Mr. MAY. We will get back with youMs. NORTON. So, we’ve got all these trailers out here that turned 

out to cause sickness, if not death. I wish you would get to this 

Committee within 30 days, the disposition of all of these old trailers, particularly for reconditioning them 

so that they are so safe for human beings, for long-term occupancy, if necessary. We certainly hope that won’t be necessary. 

Have there been any recent—are people still in trailers here in 

Florida? 

Mr. MAY. I think we have seven families, maybe, in the State of 

Florida that are in trailers from the 2005 and 2005 season. And 

those trailers did not have a formaldehyde issue, if my understanding is correct. 

Ms. NORTON. Mr. Almaguer? 

Mr. ALMAGUER. That is correct. We still have the Long-Term Recovery Office managing 18 open disasters out of Orlando, but, 

Madam Chair, I think you’re bringing a point well taken, that I 

don’t think has a final answer to. I think the long-term temporary 

housing solution is not a Florida issue, it is a national issue. So, 

the next event, and it doesn’t have to be a hurricane, it could be 

a massive catastrophic wildfire, tornado, and any other event, 

housing, after food and water, is a long-term issue that this country needs to address. And we’d love, as the State of Florida, as well 

as with the other states, we’d love to partner with FEMA, try to 

come up with those solutions. 

Ms. NORTON. This, of course, continues to be an outstanding 

problem. You have jurisdiction over several states, that includes, 

you said, Biloxi. How much of Mississippi do have? 

Mr. MAY. The entire state. How many trailers there, ma’am? 

Ms. NORTON. Is that your jurisdiction? 

Mr. MAY. Yes, ma’am, it is. 

Ms. NORTON. I’d like you to get to this Committee within 30 days 

how many people are still living in trailers in the State of Mississippi following Katrina, and Rita. This was a particularly troubling state, Mississippi. The state has spent a lot of their housing 

money on other economic development, in other ways, and we had 

to extend the period for care for people. That’s something we very 

much want to hear. You don’t have Louisiana? 

Mr. MAY. No, ma’am. 

Ms. NORTON. So, 30 days get us that information. The state of 

the trailers, how many people are still in trailers, and what are the 

plans for getting people out of trailers. Those are the most vulnerable people. Those were the most handicapped people. Those were 

33 

the disabled people, so we would like a status report on that, if you 

will. 

Now, how much has each of your jurisdictions used on mitigation, preparation and mitigation for hurricanes or other disasters? 

How much in funds have you used? And could you give me examples of where mitigation preparedness has been useful to you? 

Mr. LORD. Actually, I don’t have exact numbers, but we can get 

back to you with those. 

Ms. NORTON. With those numbers in 30 days. 

Mr. LORD. But we actually have a very good example of a partnership with the state, and local, and federal mitigation project. 

One of the big things that keeps south Florida dry is our canal system. It’s actually managed primarily by the South Florida Water 

Management District, which is a quasi-state agency. But, obviously, for us to keep our communities dry, we rely very heavily on 

these canals. 

When a storm comes, the storm surge on top of the rainfall in 

one of these tropical systems actually fight against each other, and 

actually double the impact in South Florida, because you have 

storm surge coming in from the ocean, as well as rainfall we’re trying to drain through the canals. One of the huge mitigation 

projects, I think at this point in time, is actually the largest mitigation project in the country funded through FEMA, was actually reverse pumping stations, and retention basins built actually in Central Dade County. So, at times when we can’t pump water out to 

the ocean to keep Dade County dry, we can actually pump back 

into these gigantic retention basins. And that was a project that 

was primarily funded through the Mitigation Program through 

FEMA, and partnership with the State of Florida, as well. 

Ms. NORTON. Any examples we can get. Mr. Diaz-Balart and I 

are both great supporters of mitigation and preparedness funding. 

This goes against the grain of the federal government, to spend 

money to keep something from happening. It is almost anti-American; that is to say, if it happens, we will be there for you. If you 

get terribly sick from cancer, or heart disease, or high blood pressure, and you get so you can’t work, we will get you some disability, and we will get you to the emergency room. But if you ask 

us for wellness programs, because you have high blood pressure, 

you don’t have health insurance, we will tell you I’m sorry, we don’t 

fund that. If you get so living in your home, if you are an elderly 

person, and you are declining, and you finally get so you’re among 

those in the elderly, of course, because they are elderly, need more 

hospital care than anybody else, we will take care of you in your 

final days, but we will not provide you with someone to come into 

your home to help you take care of yourself. And the reason I have 

this historical sense of our country, it’s because it seems to me we 

live in this vast continent-size country—well you go to the next 

place. You know, we own the world. We don’t own it any more. So, 

when we come and say there hasn’t been a disaster in Florida yet. 

Louisiana and Mississippi got by without a hurricane. Then we ask 

for money in advance in order to help the states to take the kind 

of action that Mr. Lord has taken. We’ve got to be able to show 

what our studies show you were able to get this reauthorized. Huge 

savings, just huge savings to the American. We’ll take care of you 

34 

one way or the other. And we’re going to take care—let us take 

care of you with our funds behind the fact, as possible, because we 

will spend any more of those funds. 

I would like to ask you about reimbursements following a disaster. What has been the experience here when there need to be 

reimbursements from FEMA? How long does it take to get a reimbursement? What happens when there are disagreements? How do 

you work out those disagreements? 

Mr. ALMAGUER. Madam Chair, on behalf of the State, that’s the 

value of having the Long-Term Recovery Office in Florida. Director 

May, even allowed the State of Florida to sit on the interview panel 

of a gentleman who actually is the Director of that office, because 

it truly is a partnership, so when you say if there is a problem, I 

call Robert Ives, the Director in Florida. If not, I call Phil May. I’m 

not sending memos from my governor to the White House, and 

these are relationships that have been built over the years. And I 

will tell you, it’s been very successful in Florida, my short two and 

a half years, and that I know of right now, there is not an outstanding issue in Florida that either a Congressional Member, or 

a state legislative member have brought to our attention, or that 

we’ve identified that could not have been resolved on a phone call, 

or a face-to-face meeting. 

I will tell you, it will never be fast enough. These are long-term, 

complex projects. Road repavements, drainage, ditches issued, to be 

rebuilt, as well as homes and communities that have been devastated, especially, we’re stillMs. NORTON. I’m talking about who is responsible for what? 

Mr. ALMAGUER. Well, it’s really—three people are responsible, 

the locals areMs. NORTON. I’m talking about disagreements between the state 

and FEMA over who pays before—I’m talking, Mr. May, about the 

kind of disagreements, if I can give you an example, that we have 

outstanding, shameful, in Louisiana. In Louisiana, more than $3.5 

billion hung up because the state and FEMA have been unable to 

resolve who should pay for what. In Mississippi, Mr. May, a billion 

or more, same problem, less, of course, than Louisiana, except they 

only had more of the—so much so, and I understand this was an 

unusual catastrophe, but it really brought to light very, very terrible issues that we didn’t have in place, mechanisms in case you 

got to that point. And so what we have here was they could build 

their major hospital down, Charity Hospital. Well, they’re hung up, 

and FEMA tells me well, we have a field mechanism, as if we’re 

fools. The problem is not with appeal. They can’t agree first where 

the disagreement is. It’s like being in District Court, and the District Court doesn’t come to a decision, to you can’t go to the Court 

of Appeals. That was the kind of gobbledygook I was getting back 

from FEMA. So you know what happened? In that case, Mayor 

Landrieu, whose state this was, put something in the Omnibus Appropriation Bill that had the President appoint an arbitration 

panel. Now, isn’t that disgraceful? Instead of doing so, he and I got 

together and now what is supposedly happening is that there’s 

some ALJs that are supposed to work it out. 

We are prepared to deal with differences, different situations in 

different ways. My great disappointment in FEMA was that it 

35 

didn’t see that wait a minute, you know, this is outsized. And we 

just can’t—and I can understand the position of the federal government. The federal government say okay, we give up. Here’s the 

money. Meanwhile, the state is always going to want more money 

than the federal government has to give. What bothered me was 

that nobody had the sense to sit down and say well, wait a minute, 

do we have anything in our arsenal that could enable us to find 

some objective way to deal with this? 

I’m asking, of course, and I’m getting good answers here, but 

then you haven’t had a catastrophe since 1992, I’m asking you, Mr. 

May, where are with, between one and two billion dollars lying up 

there, when the federal government is having to distribute money 

out in order to get jobs for people? Where are we on that money 

in Mississippi? 

Mr. MAY. I can’t give you the specifics. By the way, I was just 

given the responsibility for that disaster, Katrina, about two weeks 

ago. 

Ms. NORTON. Well, are you new, or is thatMr. MAY. No, they had a construct called the Gulf Coast Recovery Office that ran that operation out of Louisiana. And just recently, the Director Ward changed that relationship, and has given 

me the responsibility for that disaster for Mississippi, about two 

weeks ago. 

Ms. NORTON. I hope that means that you’ve been so successful 

in dealing with respect to disputes, that they decided that you 

are—that’s the biggest thing there. That’s the biggest thing going, 

Mr. May, as far as I’m concerned. 

Mr. MAY. Yes, ma’am. I understand. And I know the arbitration 

piece is not set up for Mississippi, but it is set up for Louisiana—— 

Ms. NORTON. So that means you’re under real pressure. 

Mr. MAY’. And I have been on the phone with the governor. 

We’ve been talking about projects that need to be turned, dirt 

projects that need—and we’ve been working. We’ve met with local 

officials in the Gulf Coast to talk about the fact this could be Mississippi’s economic stimulus package, just get this money going. So, 

weMs. NORTON. I don’t know if this affected how much money—I 

think it sort of affected how much stimulus money both Mississippi 

and Louisiana got. I don’t know why the federal government, trying 

to stay struggle ready, shouldn’t have given a cent to people who 

have been sitting on billions of dollars for many months. I could 

not believe it when the amounts came forward at the hearings, 

which got us to move in this direction. So, Mr. May, 30 days, we 

want to know how much money is left. What mechanisms you are 

using to rapidly dispose of this backlog. I am not, as you well know, 

as a guardian of federal funds, I am not saying just to go out and 

spend money, because then it reverberates on you, and on us. Well, 

how come you paid that money to Mississippi when they clearly 

weren’t ready to use the money, or they misused the money. So, the 

reason that I’m pressing is precisely because of stimulus, precisely 

because if we’re talking about getting jobs for people, who has been 

jobless more than the people of Mississippi and Louisiana? So, in 

30 days I want to know the status of these funds, what is the 

mechanism for disposing of those funds, and any information you 

36 

can give us to restore our confidence, the confidence that was completely lost with the outstanding number—I understand you 

weren’t there, but if you were moved, whether they moved it to 

your jurisdiction, I would take that as a compliment, that you can 

resolve it. 

Mr. MAY. Some of these issues are hung up on insurance issues, 

settlements, FEMA pays a portion, insurance company pays a portion, if they have insurance. One of the other issues in mitigationMs. NORTON. Insurance issues of individuals. Are you talking 

aboutMr. MAY. No, ma’am, I was talking about the public projects, not 

the individual projects. 

Ms. NORTON. No, see I’m interested in the public projects. 

Mr. MAY. Yes, ma’am. 

Ms. NORTON. Charity Hospital couldn’t have been insurance 

issues. The whole thing—the London Bridge fell down there. Some 

of it, and here you will have that in spades, because we have this 

question of wind versus water. 

Mr. MAY. Water. 

Ms. NORTON. That has to do with housing, as I understand it. 

I’m interested in public projects. 

Mr. MAY. Right. And some of the other public projects or applications for mitigation grants have required cost-share. We approve a 

mitigation project for say the State of Mississippi for a particular 

local government, they have to come up with their cost-share. And 

that’s difficult to do that sometimes, so there’s monies sitting aside 

for mitigation that local governments cannot access then because 

they don’t have their cost-share monies to make that match. 

Ms. NORTON. Where local governments don’t have the money, 

then we spent—you need to—then where is the State of Mississippi? I mean, I don’t understand—see, that’s what we don’t 

want to hear. If Miami-Dade didn’t have it, I would expect Florida 

not to let a whole lot of money go to waste, just sit there, with a 

deep recession, with people with no jobs. You’ve got a double reason wanting to get this money going, so I’m telling you, I am in 

no mood to hear excuses. Now, what is it, Rainwater? The one person I have heard since Katrina who had a problem solving approach looking at what he has as his disposal was this person who 

is charge of Louisiana. What’s his name, Paul? 

Mr. MAY. Rainwater. It is. It’s Rainwater. 

Ms. NORTON. I don’t know the—I’m a former law professor, and 

as I heard him, I would ask him hard questions, even hypothetical 

questions, and this is somebody who didn’t have at his disposal 

anything more than anybody else when they began. What was so 

impressive, and he went down there without—he’s in the National 

Guard, a lot of managerial experience. He had an analytical approach to questions. Disaggregate the problem, let’s disaggregate 

the problem. Let’s look at what we have here. Let’s not look for bureaucratic obstacles. The sign posts of an obstacle are very clear 

that you can’t cross. 

What really bothered me was that that administrative authority 

that FEMA had that it was not using. Some have said that we 

have enacted Post Katrina Act mostly because the Post Katrina Act 

simply tells FEMA to do what it already could do. You know, if you 

37 

think you’re crossing the line, all you’ve got to do is go to our Subcommittee or the Homeland Security Committee, and we will tell 

you if you’re crossing the line, rather than say we didn’t think we 

could do that. We don’t think the law allows us to do that. 

Now, I understand that Florida spends a lot of its own money on 

mitigation. Is that the case? 

Mr. ALMAGUER. Well, one of the successes, and I would encourage most states to do this, FEMA has got a program that’s called 

Enhanced Mitigation Program, which means after a disaster, states 

generally get 7.5 percent of the cost of that disaster for mitigation. 

It’s a great success story. 

Ms. NORTON. Oh, that’s amazing. 

Mr. ALMAGUER. But, if you’re a state that has enhanced mitigation, which means the federal government, FEMA has come in, 

evaluated your state programs, looked at your locals, and has 

blessed you for to be an enhanced state, which Florida now is as 

of last year, we get 20 percent of that disaster dollars towards mitigation. So, we recently got declared for the North Florida floods, 

those 20 percent, which now is a huge advantage to Florida, that 

we can work with locals, and to have governor statewide initiatives 

for mitigation, are great success stories in Florida. I believe only 

20 states in the union actually have the enhanced mitigation. 

I would encourage every state in this country to have enhanced 

mitigation. There are dollars that are being left off the table postdisaster. But, to the point of mitigation, Florida has had, historically, a program called ‘‘My Safe Florida’’, which uses state dollars 

to go to the locals. One specific example is West Florida Coast Rebuild, which actually has rebuilt in hardened homes the entire envelope. Not just hey, we’re going to give you some money for 

redoing your windows, but we’ve emphasized the importance of the 

entire envelope, strap down your roofs, harden the windows, the 

garage doors, the front doors. So, Florida has put millions of dollars 

on the table. But, more importantly, these years forward will have 

more federal dollars because of disasters to enhance mitigation efforts statewide. 

Ms. NORTON. What you had to say about people leaving money 

on the table is really of interest to me. Mr. May, how come people 

are not picking-up these funds? Do you have any idea? 

Mr. MAY. It, primarily, is, every county that’s in the plan, the 

program, has a mitigation plan. And in that plan, they identify 

projects for future disasters. 

Ms. NORTON. Now, he said it’s only 20 states? 

Mr. ALMAGUER. I’m aware of only 20 states that are enhanced 

mitigation states. 

Mr. MAY. There are some standards they have to meet, and some 

of the states have not met those standards to come into that program. 

Ms. NORTON. I know that you’re only in-charge of three southern 

states, but would you take it back to headquarters that we would 

like a report within 30 days of who are the states that haveMr. MAY. Right. And I have six of mine that are in it, so I’ve gotMs. NORTON. Are alreadyMr. MAY. Yes. Six of my eight states are in the enhanced program. 

38 

Ms. NORTON. It may be states that have experience. 

Mr. MAY. That’s correct. 

Ms. NORTON. Yes. But I, therefore, would like to know what 

states have, the amounts, and especially what the 20 would be. It 

looks you all account for a fair number of them. 

Final question is for Ms. Hagan. The bane of our existence has 

been transitioning. We’ve heard some discussion of it here, from 

temporary housing. Indeed, I understand we are at the end, Mr. 

May, that the Katrina Temporary Housing program was supposed 

to end literally as of today. Does that mean that all the families 

are out of FEMA housing as of today? 

Mr. MAY. No, ma’am. They’re still in FEMA housing. 

Ms. NORTON. What is going to happen then to those families still 

with the Housing program? 

Mr. MAY. The program will be extended. We’re working with 

HUD to try to provide a bridge to place those people, using case 

work, and local assistance to provide a bridge for those individuals 

to get in appropriate housing. But, yes, it is a tremendous challenge. 

Ms. NORTON. So, it’s going to have to be extended for those—as 

long as you all can’t find housing for people, you realize you’re 

going to have to take responsibility for that. 

Mr. MAY. That’s correct. We have to continue to work for them, 

work with them to get them to a point where they can move onto 

other housing. 

Ms. NORTON. I need to know how many, within 30 days, how 

many people are still in housing as of today, when the Housing program was supposed to end, the status of those families that you expect—because if the program is supposed to end, I have to send the 

assume the money— what do youMr. MAY. We will be giving notice to some families, I think in 

Mississippi we’re giving notice, that they have two weeks to find 

alternate housing. And then, at that point in time, we will address 

the issue of their housing need—— 

Ms. NORTON. Good luck, Mr. May. Mr. May, you’re new, but our 

hearing last year shows that those were mostly the most vulnerable people. They were the older people, I mean, really old. They 

were disabled people. They were people that somebody is going to 

have to place, not sort of bridge. You’re going to have to find a 

place for people like that. Those are the only ones left. 

Mr. MAY. Yes, ma’am. That’s why we need to work very strongly 

with HUD to see if these people are eligible for HUD housing 

vouchers to move them into more stabilized housing. 

Ms. NORTON. We know they are. But we also know that there are 

long lines, and I don’t know priorities they have. That’s what I 

want to know in 30 days, what priorities, in your areas, what priorities do they have? We keep extending them. I just need to know 

how many of them are there in Mississippi. I want to know how 

many of them right now, how many as of the last time you extended, so I can see the progress that you’re making. 

Mr. MAY. Yes, ma’am. 

Ms. NORTON. Ms. Hagan, have you had any such-or, for that 

matter, the state and local officials here, have you had any such 

problems? 

39 

Ms. HAGAN. I’ll start, and then pass it over to Mr. Almaguer. 

You know, when people are in a shelter environment, we’re really planning to move them out of that sheltering environment into 

some sort of transitional housing. And it is a challenge, especially 

when there’s not housing stock, especially when the schools need 

to reopen so we can get a community back to normal. So we would 

work with federal, state, and local government organizations to see 

what kind of housing is available, both transitionalMs. NORTON. Has it been a problem, orMs. HAGAN. It’s been a problem in different communities, at different times, depending upon the availability of transitional housing, and long-term housing. 

Ms. NORTON. That’s true. Red Cross is not a government funded 

organization. When you perform these services, how are you funded 

to perform the services? When you come straight into a community 

and you have to stay there longer, who funds it? 

Ms. HAGAN. Well, we are primarily funded by the American people, not primarily funded by government. 

Ms. NORTON. We know, at least in the United States, government, that we’re the American people. 

Ms. HAGAN. Yes. By donations, by voluntary donations of the 

American people. But if I could just say, as we look to long-term 

recovery, in Florida we have a pretty strong system of long-term 

recovery organizations that is primarily made up of faith-based and 

non-governmental organizations to look at the people, like you were 

talking about in Mississippi, and help work them through, get 

them back into their community, and move forward. But that’s 

where the partnership between government and non-governmental 

organizations is so critical, because everybody has a piece of the pie 

to bring to the table to try to help these people move forward. 

Ms. NORTON. What has the state and city, I’m sorry, county representatives here. Are there people still in, if not trailers, I think 

you said not trailers, but not placed back in some kind of permanent housing from any recent disaster? 

Mr. ALMAGUER. I think we discussed there may be seven people 

or less in the State of Florida. Even though we had 57 counties affected by the recent Presidential declaration of Tropical Storm Fay 

last year, we got hit with Ike and Gustav, most of those events did 

not cause widespread housing problems. So, anybody who’s really 

still affected by the housing issue are people who have already 

been affected in the 2004-2005 storm. So, if there are any, there’s 

probably none, but just to not know the exact number, it’s very 

small. And it’s not our problem today. Probably, the bigger issue 

today is to continue working the recovery efforts for long-lasting 

storms. 

I mean, we talked a little bit about ice, Madam Chair. I think 

the most important visual effect for people to know is an iceberg. 

In an iceberg, what you can see above the surface is no more than 

20 percent. That’s response. That’s the nice exciting thing that people like, and see. Recovery is that 80 percent of that iceberg beneath the surface of the water that people forget about. People 

have been impacted, they’ve lost their jobs, they’ve lost their 

homes. And, in Florida, that’s my full-time responsibility on behalf 

of the governor, so these long-term disasters, people are not forgotVerDate Aug 31 2005 10:05 Oct 26, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00049 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\49949 JASON
40 

ten. And that’s what recovery is, that’s the hard part about emergency management. It’s not the response. People forget about that, 

and so FEMA’s long-term success, when people ask about their 

ability to respond to disasters, I say FEMA’s long-term success is 

to have more resources for getting dollars to states and locals in 

the recovery effort, and that will never happen fast enough. 

I’ll tell you, with the leadership of Craig Fugate, and leadership 

of Phil May, I have trust in FEMA now. I will tell you that. And 

my governor feels the exact same way. We have leaders, we have 

people who know about how this works. They’ve been at the local 

level, the state level. Boots have been on the ground. But I’m going 

to tell you right now, it’s about recovery. 

And, in closing, I will just tell you that I encourage the federal 

government, like you said, Madam Chair, to get more dollars for 

mitigation. This is no different than fire prevention. The day that 

there’s no fires, is a great thing, which means a lot of people put 

a lot of dollars into sprinkler systems, standpipe systems, into 

homes and businesses so they don’t burn down. This is no different, 

and so the more dollars that can harden locals, and the state, the 

better off all these states will be in future disasters. 

Ms. NORTON. You’ve closed this hearing with some wise words, 

Mr. Almaguer, that recovery is the point, and mitigation is the 

other part. 

As much of a scandal as the evacuation debacle of Katrina was, 

the worst part surely was the aftermath. After the evacuation, people left on the rooftops. That’s the part you see. I guess that’s the 

tip of the iceberg. But then they developed catastrophe after catastrophe, the trailers, the long-term rebuilding, the recovery. And the 

answer to that, of course, is mitigation, mitigation, mitigation. But 

one thing that our experience and our coming to Florida as the first 

hearing of the season on hurricane season tells us, is that Florida 

is the model for the country. And Florida’s experiences come out of 

what Florida could not control, that it is located where these disasters occur. And instead of sitting around waiting for the next one, 

the state here in Miami-Dade, has seen itself as the guard of the 

country, frankly, to be most proactive on disasters. We think you 

have much to teach us, not only in terms of disasters, natural disasters, but parts of the country where we must prepare even for 

disasters of the kind we saw in 9/11. We are poised for an all-hazards approach. That what you do to prepare for a hurricane, and 

there was even a tornado down here in recent years, what you do 

to prepare for one is essentially the same. What we’re doing in the 

National Capitol region area to prepare in case there is, God forbid, 

some other attack on those parts of our country that would be highly targeted for some kind of terrorist attack is in a real sense no 

different from what you are doing. So I think we have a great deal 

to learn, and probably more to learn from Florida, especially South 

Florida, about an all-hazards approach than any other section of 

the country. I think people from the West Coast, who are petrified 

that there’s going to be an earthquake need to come here. They’ve 

done a lot of mitigation, of course, but whether they’ve done 

enough, or whether they’ve had to go through some of what you 

had to go through, is something that they need to look at. 

41 

I don’t know of any other part of the country, there may be parts 

in the Midwest that have constant floods, but the people who had 

the ice storm in Kentucky, and Midwest, were facing a very different kind of hazard, one that was much harder to prepare for. 

But, in a real sense, the very same issues came up. 

I want to thank Mr. Diaz-Balart for recommending that we come 

here for our first hearing of the hurricane season. I particularly 

want to thank each and every one of you, because your testimony 

is valuable to us, as we recommend to the Administration, and as 

we contemplate whatever changes we ought to make in our own jurisdiction. This hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 12:24 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.] 

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