FEMA Fumbles Again: Naval Resources Left Idle in Hurricane Milton Response
John Konrad October 8, 2024
By Captain John Konrad (gCaptain) As another intense storm barrels down upon us—this time Milton, a hurricane of record-breaking intensity heading directly for Florida—it’s time to confront a harsh reality: FEMA’s disaster response system is fundamentally flawed. Time and again, we’ve witnessed the same predictable cycle: relief supplies positioned directly in the path of impending storms, vital maritime assets called into action far too late, and the underutilization of the U.S. Army’s robust watercraft and Department of Transportation’s disaster relief fleet.
This troubling pattern leaves vulnerable communities stranded and underscores a systemic failure to learn from past mistakes in providing disaster relief. This time, however, the lack of aid will be exacerbated by severe cuts to the Coast Guard’s budget and hurricane rescue capabilities.
One of the most baffling practices is FEMA’s tendency to stage relief supplies within areas most likely to be devastated by the very disasters they’re meant to mitigate. In a post on X today, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas provided a long list of assets he has already positioned in Florida.
The problem is that placing them in Florida right now positions them directly in the storm’s path. Even if these supplies are stored high and dry in well-built structures, roads will likely be blocked, requiring them to be helicoptered to the densely packed and hardest-hit areas near the coast.
The government’s default response when roads are blocked is even more flawed because it relies on deploying helicopters for resupply missions. While helicopters are invaluable for certain tasks, they are not the most efficient means for large-scale disaster relief. They consume enormous amounts of fuel and have significantly less cargo capacity compared to trucks, which, in turn, have significantly less than maritime vessels.
During Hurricane Maria, for instance, the Navy’s reliance on helicopters to deliver aid to Puerto Rico fell short of pressing needs. The limited lift capacity and high operational costs resulted in slower, less effective relief efforts. Similarly, after hurricane Helene, the airspace over affected regions became so congested with helicopters that the FAA had to impose restrictions to manage the swarm of aircraft, leading to the use of painfully slow mule teams. This aerial bottleneck not only hampered rescue operations but also highlighted the pitfalls of over-relying on helicopters.
This land and air approach not only puts critical resources at risk but also hampers immediate relief efforts when they are most needed. It’s akin to parking fire trucks inside a building that’s already ablaze. The aftermath of hurricanes like Katrina and Maria showcased warehouses full of supplies rendered inaccessible or destroyed because they were strategically misplaced.
The Maritime Administration (MARAD) possesses ships designated for disaster relief, yet they’re consistently activated after the storm has passed—when the need is most urgent and media pressures on government failures are most intense—but the response is too late.
These ships—including the Department of Transportation’s brand-new National Security Multi-Mission Training Ships and Military Sealift Command hospital ships—are specially equipped to provide power, housing, and medical facilities. Yet they remain docked during the critical pre-storm window when they could be strategically positioned just outside the danger zone and sail in directly behind the storm to dock immediately in the aftermath.
For this to occur, Secretary Pete Buttigieg or Admiral Ann Phillips, who heads MARAD, would need to proactively offer the ships to FEMA. However, this seems improbable given Buttigieg’s well-documented neglect of the merchant marine and Phillips’s reputation as the “Ghost Admiral”—a moniker that speaks volumes. In fairness, though, the failure to deploy MARAD’s disaster relief fleet in a timely manner has been a consistent shortcoming across the last three administrations.
Supplies prepositioned on land are ineffective because they’re either vulnerable to hurricane damage or must be positioned too far from the affected area to be immediately useful. Air operations can only occur if massive amounts of fuel are available. In a state like Florida—which lacks gasoline, diesel, or aviation fuel pipelines—this means relying on Jones Act oil tankers, of which we have a shortage.
Ships don’t have these problems. They can carry enough of their own fuel to operate for months and can sail right behind the hurricane, pulling into port immediately after the destructive winds hit.
Bureaucratic red tape and a lack of proactive planning lead to unnecessary delays that cost lives and prolong suffering. Moreover, the problem is exacerbated by the time it takes to load and sail the relief ships down to Florida.
This results in the same dangerous and repetitive cycle nearly every time. I don’t have a crystal ball, but I predict this is how Hurricane Milton relief efforts will go:
As the hurricane approaches the coast, civilians are evacuated, and the Army prepositions supplies on land (WE ARE NOW HERE) that inevitably get damaged by the storm. In the aftermath, the U.S. Coast Guard surges in for rescue efforts. After hours or a couple of days, the Army and Navy attempt resupply via highways and helicopters, which proves inefficient due to road damage and the limited capacity of helicopters. Despite the Army possessing beach-landing watercraft and port logistics teams (as were deployed to build the failed Gaza Pier) capable of delivering aid directly to affected areas, these resources remain unused. After about ten days of failed attempts, public outrage intensifies to a level where politicians are inundated with calls and bad publicity. Then someone mentions the Department of Transportation’s fleet of disaster relief ships, and the Maritime Administration is finally ordered to load up and respond. However, by the time these ships arrive—a process that can take a week or more—the highways have reopened, and the immediate need has passed. The supplies are often left unused, and politicians criticize the high cost of the relief ships and delayed response, leading to funding cuts for future maritime relief efforts.
Here’s a novel plan: Load the ships before the storm hits, positioning them to provide immediate assistance once it’s safe to do so. Let them sail behind Milton and surge into Tampa directly after the storm leaves.
Just think if every year, @DHSgov @fema @DeptofDefense @USDOT @US_TRANSCOM @MSCSealift @DOTMARAD @USCG @USNorthernCmd loaded out a Ready Reserve Force ship with relief supplies, crewed it & had it on standby to sail in support or Hurricane relief.
Sail into port, drop the ramp… https://t.co/KXzjf7LGTa pic.twitter.com/HTm6ElGpo0
— Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping) ???????? (@mercoglianos) October 8, 2024
More:
https://gcaptain.com/hurricane-milton-fema-fumbles-again-naval-resources-left-idle-florida-storm-response/