Where do disaster relief funds for helping hurricane Helene victims come from?
Despite viral rumors and unscrupulous politicians running for office, FEMA has money for the moment for disaster relief. How it works and where to apply.
Hurricane Helene slammed into Florida’s Big Bend late in the evening on Thursday, September 26 as a Category 4 storm and proceeded to carve a path of destruction over 500 miles into the interior of the United States. Communities from the Gulf Coast to the middle of the Appalachian Mountains felt the fury of the tempest.
Emergency services, utility and road crews, neighbors and FEMA have been working to help the victims of the monster storm in its aftermath. Unfortunately, some have been trying to make political hay out of the death and destruction, impeding the recovery efforts by spreading false rumors about financial assistance that is available to those most affected.
Where do disaster relief funds for helping hurricane Helene victims come from?
President Joe Biden announced after the initial damage from Helene had been assessed that on top of other measures, victims would be able to access a one-time payment of $750 to cover the cost of essentials. Contrary to those who want to sow discord among the public, there is more financial assistance to which that can apply.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) offers a number of resources for those that have been afflicted by natural disasters such as wildfires, floods and in this case hurricanes, among other possible cataclysmic events.
The Secretary of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas recently said that FEMA has enough money to cover the costs of Helene, but has warned that it will need more funding to get through the rest of hurricane season. That statement has been used to falsely claim that funding for the agency has been used for “illegal” immigrants by the Republican ticket, Donald Trump and JD Vance, in the 2024 election and those supporting their campaign.
On the contrary, funds for dealing with immigration and natural disasters, which both go through DHS, are separate. “The funding for communities to support migrants is appropriated by Congress to Customs and Border Patrol – it has nothing to do with FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund,” states FEMA in a press release to counter the falsehoods being spewed by MAGA politicians and pundits.
Likewise, Congress appropriates funding for FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund. Congress recently approved $20 billion to the FEMA disaster relief fund as part of a stopgap funding bill. $8 billion of which will go to cover previous disasters. Helene will most likely cost more than what is left over, thus the warning from Secretary Mayorkas with hurricane season far from over.
Funds from FEMA have been diverted from its disaster relief fund once during hurricane season. That was in 2019 under then President Donald Trump. He informed Congress that his administration “was taking $271 million from DHS programs, including $155 million from the disaster fund, to pay for immigration detention space and temporary hearing locations for asylum seekers who had been forced to wait in Mexico,” reported The Washington Post.
The rumors, conspiracy theories and falsehoods that Trump and his MAGA kowtowers are spreading are hampering recovery efforts and even those in the Republican party are pleading for it to stop. “Friends can I ask a small favor? Will you all help STOP this conspiracy theory junk that is floating all over Facebook and the internet about the floods in WNC,” posted North Carolina state Sen. Kevin Corbin on Facebook.
“Please don’t let these crazy stories consume you or have you continually contact your elected officials to see if they are true,” he added.