Federal agencies have deployed 3,600 employees in Helene response

Federal agencies have sent 3,600 employees to the Southeast and Appalachia in response to the devastating fallout from Hurricane Helene, a storm that has so far claimed more than 100 lives and left sweeping damage throughout the region. 

At least eight agencies have sent personnel to 10 states as officials continue to engage in search and rescue operations and begin recovery efforts. After the number of residents without power peaked at 4.6 million after the hurricane hit last week, federal and local teams have cut the figure in half. 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is leading the federal response and has 900 employees in affected areas. It is sending dozens of trailers with food and water to North Carolina, the state currently reeling the hardest from the storm’s wreckage. Cell phone service is unavailable in much of the western part of the state, and other areas, and FEMA is working with the Federal Communications Commission to set up mobile assets that can restore coverage. 

President Biden on Monday promised that federal responders will remain present until “the job is done.” 

“I'm here to tell every single survivor in these impacted areas that we will be there with you as long as it takes,” Biden said. Both he and Vice President Kamala Harris vowed to visit storm-damaged sites as soon as officials deem it no longer disruptive to do so. 

FEMA said on Monday more Incident Management Assessment Teams, search and rescue teams and other personnel are en route to North Carolina, while Biden noted the number of federal personnel deployed to storm recovery efforts is “growing by the day.” 

Twenty-four federal search and rescue teams are already in the region and have worked with state and local partners to assist more than 1,400 people. Biden said those efforts will continue until every person is accounted for. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in the area providing power restoration, infrastructure assessment and debris removal.

The Environmental Protection Agency also has personnel on the ground working to provide technical assistance with debris management and water systems. The Agriculture Department's Farm Service Agency sent staff to the region to provide emergency credit to those who lost crops and livestock. 

The Health and Human Services Department’s Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response has sent 200 personnel to Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, where various teams are assessing the status of health care facilities or preparing to provide health care themselves. 

Biden noted FEMA is working with the Small Business Administration to provide assistance to individuals whose homes or businesses “were literally destroyed, washed away or blown away.” The U.S. Postal Service is working to restore delivery and retail service in large swaths of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida and South Carolina. The storm has also affected processing and transportation of mail and packages, USPS noted. 

The federal government’s response to Helene is one of its first major tests after FEMA promised to take a new approach in 2024 that would focus on more prepositioning to reach victims more quickly. The agency said it would place both commodities and personnel just outside of impact zones before storms hit this year, allowing it to “jumpstart the recovery process.” It also comes as FEMA is fighting to make progress in a longstanding push for more staffing. 

A Government Accountability Office report earlier this year found FEMA was 6,000 employees short of its staffing targets, forcing it to function at 65% of its operating capacity.

FEMA employees in recent years have deployed to natural disaster sites, wildfires, the U.S.-Mexico border, in support of the resettling of Afghan evacuees and for pandemic assistance. Employees have warned they are fatigued due to the lack of downtime between deployments and said burnout is spiking as they no longer experience a true offseason. GAO confirmed in its report that increased workloads have caused burnout to increase and attrition to jump. 

Employees and GAO have said burnout at FEMA has increased since the pandemic and recruiting remains a challenge since most of its staff are reservists who only work part of the year. The benefit for those employees was commonly that they had months of break in between deployments, but increasingly the workers—particularly those with specialized skills—are being sent from one disaster to the next without any time off.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell—who surveyed the damage in North Carolina on Monday—told Congress earlier this year she was optimistic her agency is better retaining its part-time workforce after Congress passed the Civilian Reservist Emergency Workforce Act to provide those employees who leave their day jobs to address disasters with the same protections as members of the armed forces deployed to active duty. She also said recruitment bonuses are helping to bring in more employees, as FEMA has been regularly onboarding new personnel every two weeks.

Jaclyn Rothenberg, a FEMA spokeswoman, said the agency can tap its cadre of federal employees at other components and agencies who volunteer to deploy to disaster sites when needed to ensure it maintains adequate staffing. 

“FEMA has the ability to use the Surge Capacity Force across the federal government to help with response and recovery efforts,” Rothenberg said when asked about potential staffing concerns. 

Congress created the force in the 2006 Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act and FEMA has activated it on limited occasions for hurricane response, as well as to address upticks in migrants arriving at the southern border and for COVID-19 response. It activated the federal workers last year in response to the wildfires in Hawaii and Hurricane Idalia. 

While Biden vowed for the federal response to continue as long as necessary, he conceded such efforts will require emergency funding from Congress. He noted he may have to request lawmakers—who are currently on recess until after the Nov. 5 election—to come back for a special session to pass a supplemental disaster spending package, but no decision has been made on that front.