When Denton County experienced deadly tornadoes and straight-line winds in 2024, the Federal Emergency Management Agency .
Those tornadoes are for those who were affected, and another natural disaster could strike at any point. However, next time, the assistance funding could look different.
President Donald Trump said during a briefing with reporters Tuesday that by the end of the current hurricane season, which lasts from June through November.
Trump said responsibility for response and recovery will instead shift to the state level.
is located at 800 N. Loop 288 in Denton. It provides federal emergency management to Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and 68 tribal nations. In 2020, a spokesperson for Region 6 told the Denton Record-Chronicle that the Denton office was .
The local FEMA office forwarded the Record-Chronicle鈥榮 request for comment Wednesday about the development 鈥減articularly related to the impact on the Region 6 office鈥� to the national FEMA press office in Washington, D.C.
In response to the Record-Chronicle鈥榮 request, a national FEMA spokesperson sent the following statement, which references that CNN reports indicate the agency 鈥渋s not ready鈥� for hurricane season:
鈥淭here is no uncertainty about what FEMA will be doing this Hurricane Season. FEMA is laser focused on disaster response, and protecting the American people. It鈥檚 not a secret that Under Secretary [Kristi] Noem and Acting Administrator [David] Richardson, FEMA is shifting from bloated, DC-centric dead weight to a lean, deployable disaster force that empowers state actors to provide relief for their citizens. The old processes are being replaced because they failed Americans in real emergencies for decades. Under Secretary Noem鈥檚 leadership, and the efforts of Acting Administrator Richardson FEMA is fully activated in preparation for Hurricane Season.鈥�
Samantha Taylor, Denton County鈥檚 Office of Emergency Management director, provided the following statement Wednesday about the presidential administration鈥檚 plan: 鈥淎t this time, we are monitoring the evolving situation and will adapt as needed once more information becomes available.鈥�
In a phone interview Wednesday, Taylor told the Record-Chronicle that her office does not have much day-to-day interaction with FEMA.
鈥淸FEMA] really only comes in on the major catastrophic disasters, like wildfires and hurricanes,鈥� Taylor said. 鈥�... We normally just deal with them whenever we鈥檙e several days into the disaster trying to seek reimbursement or funding opportunities to give back to the communities affected.鈥�
More often, Taylor said, the Denton County Office of Emergency Management is coordinating with the Texas Division of Emergency Management and relying on state assistance.
鈥淲e actually coordinate a lot better with the state because we have a county liaison officer that鈥榮 housed with us, and they help provide additional response support that is more timely,鈥� Taylor said. 鈥淸With FEMA assistance,] it has to hit the president鈥檚 desk to get federal funding to help other local jurisdictions in some major events.鈥�
As for grant funding that DCOEM receives from FEMA, Taylor said the county currently has a hazard mitigation action grant.
DCOEM has pending plans to use this grant funding for its . If a Denton County resident builds a storm shelter or safe room, the county could reimburse them 50% of the cost, up to $3,000.
The funding was not yet guaranteed. The county applied for the grant by Feb. 28, and FEMA and the Texas Division of Emergency Management are then meant to review the applications, which can take several months to a year.
Taylor said most of DCOEM鈥檚 grant funding comes from the Department of Homeland Security, which FEMA is under.
Apart from the Storm Shelter Rebate Program, she said there is not any grant funding that would be impacted if FEMA is dismantled.