SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — President Donald Trump announced plans to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency after the 2025 hurricane season.
That means states, counties and cities will have to develop their own plans for handling the aftermath of emergencies.
Regan Smith knew FEMA’s demise was a possibility. So the man in charge of emergency response in Sioux Falls has been doing his homework. He’s been talking with other emergency managers, trying to get a handle on what is ahead.
“We don’t know, right now there is a lot of uncertainty, a lot of policy debate going on, so we are waiting to hear what might actually happen,” Smith said.
Smith says on the local level, not much will change. Sioux Falls has a preparedness, response and recovery plan in place. He says people often misunderstand the role of FEMA during a disaster.
FEMA is not first responders, they don’t have an army of people that are responding to these types of things that happen at the local level and then at the state level.
“Their role is to coordinate federal resources to assist state and local government, and individuals and businesses with funding,” said Smith.
Last week, South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden created a state disaster preparedness task force. Without FEMA, states would need to develop their own disaster response teams, manage stockpiles of essential supplies, and coordinate federal assistance.
Changes are coming, and during and after disasters, states are trying to figure out what life without FEMA will look like.
“There is a lot of talk and speculation, we just don’t know,” said Smith.
