welch — Making the aid application process simpler and less stressful for disaster survivors that lost everything and even loved ones to floods and other disasters is one of FEMA’s ongoing goals, the agency’s administrator said Friday while visiting a county still recovering from February’s devastating flood.
Acting FEMA Director Cameron Hamilton stopped at McDowell County’s Welch Armory with U.S. Senator Jim Justice, R-W.Va., to see flood damage firsthand and speak with county officials about the ongoing recovery. McDowell County experienced the worst flood in its history on Feb. 15.
“Driving through the area, we saw the waterlines where a lot of the flood waters came up and communities have this really amazing support, neighbors helping neighbors,” Hamilton said. “I saw a couple of distribution points for supplies.”
One goal was to see how FEMA could make its responses to disasters better.
“We always want to improve. There are things we’ve done well and things we haven’t done well,” Hamilton said. “That’s why I’m here, to understand all that. Like I said, every day we want to get better. Every day, we want to get faster. We want to insure we are communicating more and more clearly as the time goes on.”
Hamilton said FEMA is still encouraging flood victims to apply for aid.
“That’s absolutely true. Number one, if you don’t know if you’ve been impacted, please go to DisasterAssistance.gov,” he said. “You can find information there. You can find out if you’re in one of the regions that’s been assigned and if you’re also not sure, go to your state, county and local officials. Ask them for help. Ask them for their feedback and advice. Contact your emergency management.”
FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers are located at Bradshaw Town Hall and Mount View High School for survivors who want to speak with the agency’s representatives personally.
Another goal is to make applying for assistance easier, Hamilton said.
“We are. We’re making sure we find ways to cut red tape everywhere,” Hamilton said. “The president cares very deeply about eliminating bureaucracy so that the American people can have simple and understandable solutions, so we’re looking at a variety of different methods, ways within DHS (Department of Homeland Security) within specifically FEMA to achieve that. We’re simplifying the application process for survivors. We’re simplifying our public and individual assistance programs so that they’re more easily understood. You don’t need a Ph.D. in government bureaucracy to understand what you qualify for.”
“Those are some of many examples that we’re trying to make easier, more discernible because we care about survivors,” he said. “They’ve faced their worst day ever. There’s a woman I spoke to in North Carolina who lost her home, lost her husband within the same incident. These are some of the people applying for aid and assistance, so the easier and more comprehensible that we can make this application process, the better. That’s what we want to strive for.”
FEMA is also working with the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to streamline bureaucracy and find savings, Hamilton said.
“We’ve had the opportunity at FEMA specifically to work with some of our DOGE counterparts and I can tell you they’ve been incredibly helpful and very informative,” he said. “We’ve saved right now about $170 million worth of contracts that were duplicative and not necessary, so there’s been a variety of things. They’ve been incredibly informative and they’ve been strong partners with us to decentralize and cut bureaucracy. I can also tell you DOGE does not have the authority to fire federal employees. That’s not their role. It’s not been their job. They’re advisors. They’re advisors that are trusted by the president and we’ve implemented them at FEMA. “
Hamilton also told the audience at the armory that President Donald Trump reviews each disaster declaration requests personally.
“I can tell you the president reads every single declaration because the man deeply cares about people,” he said. “He cares about insuring there’s a way we can provide resources and support and that we do so. That is the intention and the focus of this president and this White House. He reads every single declaration request that comes across his desk.”
Senator Justice said that President Trump knows about McDowell County’s people and cares about them.
“And you would think in all honest here’s a guy that always a tough guy – and he is – and he’s a super smart guy, and I’ve said it over and over you don’t know,” Justice said. “I know. I’m his buddy and he cares. He genuinely, genuinely cares. He wants to help. He really, really wants to help.”
Hamilton said that his family has been touched by natural disasters.
“Natural disasters are very personal to me and my family. I have the honor of being a FEMA administrator, but I can tell you that disasters have impacted my family in a variety of capacities,” he said. “I’ve had friends and loved ones lose their homes in the fires of Northern California in 2017. I’ve had family impacted by the flooding of western North Carolina. I’ve also had family impacted, my own parents, in the flooding in Florida, so when I come here and talk to your constituents, talk to the citizens of this state, my counterparts, it’s because I do understand some of what they’ve gone through.”
“As the senator said, there are lives that have been lost that will never be replaced. I recall a phone call I had with a woman in North Carolina who watched her home washed away with her husband still inside of it,” Hamilton said. “Think about that. That’s what keeps me up. That’s what makes me want to make sure that the FEMA we respond with today is the FEMA that the American people deserve, so I just want to thank for your hospitality and the opportunity to speak with you specifically about disasters.”
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