The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency says money available to help communities hit by disasters has shrunk after back-to-back hurricanes Helene and Milton.

The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency tells lawmakers she has encouraged the agency’s inspector general to review whether an employee was acting alone when directing workers helping hurricane victims to avoid homes with yard signs supporting President-elect Donald Trump.

The leader of the Federal Emergency Management Agency says a worker has been fired after she directed workers helping hurricane survivors to avoid homes with yard signs supporting President-elect Donald Trump.

New research shows Russia has worked to amplify false and misleading claims about the U.S. government's response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton as part of the Kremlin's efforts to manipulate Americans before the Nov. 5 election.

A sheriff says witnesses reported seeing a group of armed people harassing hurricane relief workers in a remote Tennessee community last weekend.

Officials say federal disaster workers have resumed door-to-door visits as part of hurricane recovery efforts in North Carolina.

Governor Ron DeSantis will hold a news conference Saturday in Bradenton to give an update on Hurricane Milton recovery efforts.

Milton is set to become the second hurricane to strike Florida in two weeks, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency is once again positioning supplies and personnel where they’re needed and coordinating with state and local officials.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has been fighting misinformation since Helene slammed into Florida nearly two weeks ago.

Vice President Kamala Harris is calling former President Donald Trump “incredibly irresponsible” for spreading falsehoods about the federal response to Hurricane Helene’s destruction.

The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency is again forcefully pushing back against false claims and conspiracy theories about how her agency is responding to Hurricane Helene.

The U.S. government’s top disaster relief official says false claims and conspiracy theories about the federal response to Hurricane Helene, which are being spread most prominently by Donald Trump, are “demoralizing” aid workers and creating fear in people who need recovery assistance.

The National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Milton is intensifying and will likely be a major hurricane before it slams into the storm-ravaged Florida coast, most likely on Wednesday.

False and misleading claims about Hurricane Helene are spreading about the storm and recovery efforts.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is tasked with helping states and communities hit by disasters like Hurricane Helene.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says the agency tasked with helping communities recover from Hurricane Helene and other natural disasters does not have enough money to make it through the hurricane season.

Former President Donald Trump is criticizing the Biden administration’s response to widespread devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, even as his supporters call for cuts to federal agencies that warn of weather disasters and deliver relief to hard-hit communities.

Two private power companies in Puerto Rico have come under scrutiny while presenting plans to stabilize the island's crumbling electric grid as officials demanded immediate action to minimize chronic power outages.

Hawaii's congressional representatives say the nation’s disaster relief fund needs to be replenished so the U.S. government can continue to help survivors of Maui’s deadly wildfires and other disasters around the country.

Thousands of people live downstream from dams yet may not always realize the risks.

An Associated Press review has found that thousands of people may be paying more for flood insurance or remain unaware of the dangers of dam failures because of conflicting federal policies.

Multiple counties in Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia are eligible for federal assistance after Tropical Storm Debby.

The head of the Homeland Security Department says the agency tasked with responding to disasters across the country is prepared as it goes into what is expected to be an intense hurricane and wildfire season.

Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey says recovery from a May 10 tornado outbreak has cost Florida’s capital city $50 million so far.

The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency has toured the Houston area to assess the damage from last week’s deadly storms.

Texas officials say power outages could last weeks in parts of Houston after thunderstorms with hurricane-force winds tore through the city and killed at least four people.

Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Deanne Criswell says “our heart aches for the loss of life” in tornadoes that left four dead and about 100 injured in Oklahoma.

California cities and counties still don’t know how much they’ll have to pay for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s pandemic program to house homeless people in hotel rooms.

The federal agency in charge of emergency management is changing its program that helps those who survive wildfires, hurricanes and other natural disasters.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green says he he wants 3,000 condos and homes normally rented to Maui tourists converted to long-term housing for displaced wildfire survivors who are still living in hotels.

Thousands of people displaced by the deadliest U.S. wildfire in over a century are facing uncertainty as they try to find housing in an expensive housing market that’s also in high demand as a vacation spot.

If your cellphone was on at 2:20 p.m. Eastern time you should have heard a loud noise and seen a message flash across your screen.

President Joe Biden ordered federal agencies to continue holding Norfolk Southern accountable for its February derailment in eastern Ohio and appoint a FEMA official to oversee East Palestine's recovery, but he stopped short of declaring a disaster.

President Joe Biden is approving a disaster declaration for three Georgia counties following Hurricane Idalia’s sprint across the state.

It's been nearly a month since the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century killed at least 115 people in Hawaii.

Some Vermont residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed during severe flooding in July still face housing shortages.

The White House will seek another $4 billion to address natural disasters as part of its supplemental funding request, bringing the total to $16 billion.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Friday it has approved more than $5.6 million in assistance to nearly 2,000 households in Maui so far as the federal government tries to help survivors of the devastating wildfires.

Nonprofits and volunteers in Maui have cobbled together countless improvised and urgent solutions since the deadliest wildfire in over a century hit their community.

Poverty is adding to the challenges of recovering from a massive tornado that pushed through Mississippi.

As California begins to dry out from its recent deluges, one stark reality is coming into focus: Only 230,000 homes and other buildings are insured against flooding in a state with about 39 million residents.

Government officials say documents aimed at helping Alaska Natives apply for aid following typhoon damage last fall featured nonsensical phrases instead of useful instructions.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will close the Disaster Recovery Center it has been operating at the Flagler County Fairgrounds at the end of business on Jan. 31.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will open a Disaster Recovery Center on Saturday at the Flagler County Fairgrounds, the Flagler County Emergency Management said Friday.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has opened a Disaster Recovery Center in St. Johns County in the wake of Hurricane Ian.

Christine Barrett and her family had to climb on top of their kitchen cabinets because of flooding that surged into their house during Hurricane Ian.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is advising Hurricane Ian survivors to be aware of potential scams and attempts of fraud during a time of vulnerability.

Individuals and households in Flagler, Putnam, St. Johns and Volusia counties can apply for FEMA Individual Assistance, which may include temporary housing assistance, basic home repairs and certain other uninsured disaster-related needs.

The Internal Revenue Service announced Thursday that taxpayers affected by Hurricane Ian are eligible to receive tax relief following the recent disaster declaration issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

President Joe Biden says the entire United States "hurts" along with the people of Florida after Hurricane Ian flooded communities across the state, knocked out power and raised fear of a "substantial loss of life.”.

Nearly five years have passed since Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory of 3.2 million people.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has developed a new strategy to better engage with hundreds of Native American tribes facing climate change-related disasters.

One million fewer people may purchase federal flood insurance by the end of the decade, according to a financial report obtained by the AP.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is releasing the largest update to its mobile application in a decade, the agency announced today.

Hot real estate markets have made some homeowners wary of participating in voluntary flood buyout programs.

Hurricane season officially began Wednesday, and federal and state leaders are reminding everyone that now is the time to get ready for a storm.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency may have been double-billed for the funerals of hundreds of people who died of COVID-19, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report Wednesday.

A federal appeals court has upheld President Joe Biden’s requirement that all federal employees be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The federal government has provided more than $2 billion to help cover funeral costs for more than 300,000 families of people who died from COVID-19.

President Joe Biden says “it’s time for Americans to get back to work” and he's announcing new efforts to allow people to return to normal activities safely after two years of pandemic disruptions.

Families who have lost loved ones to COVID-19 can apply for reimbursement from the federal government for up to $9,000 to cover the cost of funeral expenses.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Jan. 7 on whether the Biden administration can order that workers at private companies and health care employees be vaccinated for COVID-19.

A revamped federal flood insurance program means higher rates for many homeowners — including in areas where coverage isn’t required because the government previously deemed them low or moderate risk.

The White House says President Joe Biden is extending the federal government’s 100% reimbursement of COVID-19 emergency response costs to states, tribes and territories through April 1, 2022.

U.S. officials are rolling out a new flood insurance program they say will more accurately calculate rates to reflect a home's risk.

Response to disasters such as Hurricane Ida falls primarily to state and local officials, but the federal government is playing an important support role.

Response to disasters such as Hurricane Ida falls primarily to state and local officials, but the federal government is playing an important support role.

Rescuers in boats, helicopters and high-water trucks have brought hundreds of people trapped by Hurricane Ida’s floodwaters to safety.

Federal officials say hundreds of emergency responders are in place in Louisiana and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has power restoration experts and generators at the ready as Hurricane Ida bashes the region.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is expanding its COVID-19 funeral assistance program to provide financial aid to more families whose loved ones died of the disease.

President Joe Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have both approved emergency assistance as crews continue working at the scene of a collapsed beachfront condominium building in Surfside as dozens remain missing.

Some people living in St. Johns County are taking matters into their own hands to save their homes. To help, St. Johns County Commissioners approved a $34 million FEMA enhancement project for extra protection to 20 miles of homes and businesses on Tuesday.

President Joe Biden says his administration needs to “bring every resource to bear” to deal with natural disasters as huge swaths of the country have endured a spurt of extreme weather just as the summer season is starting.

President Joe Biden says he's doubling U.S. emergency spending to help communities prepare for hurricanes and other extreme weather events.

Two days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration recommended a pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, public health officials in Florida were still trying to figure out how to make up for the doses they can no longer administer daily.

Government imposters may have hit a new low with a scheme that targets the grieving survivors of people who died of COVID-19 by offering them help to pay for their loved one’s funeral expenses.

Gateway Mall and other vaccination sites run by the federal government in Jacksonville discontinued giving Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccines after a joint call from the CDC and FDA. State-run sites and private pharmacies have also suspended giving J&J doses but continue with the two-shot vaccines.

Johnson & Johnson vaccines are available to Florida residents 18 years of age and older until 7 p.m. Monday at Murray Hill Baptist Church on Post Street.

FEMA begins accepting applications on Monday for financial assistance for COVID-19-related funeral expenses.

Two federally-supported vaccination sites reopened at 9 a.m. Sunday to give second doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

Officials said Friday, March 26, 2021, that the vaccine sites have provided nearly a half-million doses so far. The two sites in Oakland and Los Angeles opened in February for an eight-week pilot program that concludes on April 11. AdOfficials in the county and city of Los Angeles are in discussions about maintaining the site in some fashion, said Dr. Paul Simon, the chief science officer for Los Angeles County. “California’s commitment to equity is much more than just two vaccination sites," she said. It was updated on March 27, 2021 to correct that vaccination sites will close April 11, not April 15.

FILE - In this Aug. 23, 2019 file photo, immigrants seeking asylum walk at the ICE South Texas Family Residential Center, in Dilley, Texas. The number of children crossing by themselves, mostly from Central America, appears to be surging in particular in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. AdThe total of 561 unaccompanied minors from Monday offers a snapshot of how quickly conditions have changed along the border. “They’re all coming across the border, they’re coming fast, and they’re wearing Biden T-shirts,” said the Oklahoma Republican. The Biden administration last week ended a Trump policy that made relatives reluctant to contact HHS to retrieve children for fear of being deported themselves.

People line up Sunday morning at the federal vaccination site at the Carver Center in Jacksonville Beach. Two vaccination centers run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency opened Sunday morning in Duval County. The satellite sites moved from the Westside and Northwest Jacksonville to the Carver Center on 5th Avenue South in Jacksonville Beach and the Oceanway Center on Sago Avenue West on the Northside. FEMA opened the two satellite sites in conjunction with the federally-supported vaccination clinic at the Gateway Mall on the Northside. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is offered at the Gateway Mall site -- not the sites at the Carver and Oceanway centers.

FILE - In this Monday, March 1, 2021 file photo, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington. The Biden administration is turning to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for help managing and caring for record numbers of unaccompanied immigrant children who are streaming into the U.S. from Mexico. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says FEMA will support a government-wide effort over the next three months, Saturday, March 13, 2021. – The Biden administration is turning to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for help managing and caring for record numbers of unaccompanied immigrant children who are streaming into the United States by illegally crossing the border with Mexico. During an record influx of unaccompanied minors in 2014, the Obama administration also turned to FEMA for help coordinating the governmentwide response.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Starting Saturday morning, both the Pfizer and the Johnson & Johnson vaccines are available at the Gateway Mall, Normandy Community Center and Hammond Senior Center sites in Jacksonville. The Duval County Alert System sent an alert Saturday morning about who is eligible for coronavirus vaccines. FEMA said approximately 790 people were vaccinated Saturday at Gateway Mall. AdThe Department of Health said that as of Friday, 137,499 people have completed their series of vaccines in Duval County. The site at Gateway Mall is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.Gov.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – One of four federally-supported vaccination stations to open in Florida next month will be at Gateway Mall on Jacksonville’s Northside, Gov. Additionally, each site will have two smaller, mobile satellite sites that will conduct 500 vaccinations per day in underserved areas. The current public vaccination site in Jacksonville run by the Florida Department of Health at Regency Square is averaging 1,000 vaccinations each day. Residents of the area were pleased to hear there’ll be a vaccination site nearby. AdAlso Friday, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried announced that her agency is launching a bilingual vaccine education campaign to encourage COVID-19 vaccination among the state’s farmworkers.

President Joe Biden’s administration said delays in vaccine shipments and deliveries were likely, and that’s the case in Florida. DeSantis said the state did get the vast majority of its Pfizer vaccine shipment this week, about 136,000 doses, but it is still waiting on about 9,000 doses. When it comes to the Moderna vaccine shipment, DeSantis said the entire 200,000-dose shipment has yet to arrive. AdDeSantis said the delay could result in appointment delays for those who are scheduled to get their vaccine at Publix. Ad“So that allows us to increase doses in counties that need it -- (so) that they try to catch up.

Members of the National Guard help motorists check in at a federally-run COVID-19 vaccination site set up on the campus of California State University of Los Angeles in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021. FEMA opened its first COVID-19 inoculation sites in Los Angeles and Oakland, part of a broader effort by the Biden administration to get shots into arms more quickly and reach minority communities hit hard by the outbreak. In snowy Chicago, Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said more than a hundred city vaccine sites didn’t get shipments Tuesday because of the extreme weather, leading to many cancellations. The Los Angeles site is “proximate to a community that has been disproportionately impacted by this pandemic,” Gov. “The effort here is to address that issue forthrightly.”The Biden administration plans to establish 100 federally assisted vaccination sites nationwide in cooperation with state authorities.

Plastic surgeon Daniel Suver receives the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine from Andrea Castelblanco during a vaccine clinic on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020, at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, Alaska. Anchorage is averaging about 60 new COVID-19 cases a day, said Dr. Janet Johnston, the epidemiologist for the Anchorage Health Department. More than 90 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine will be produced in Japan. Ad___SACRAMENTO -- California reported its second-highest number of COVID-19 deaths — while the rates of new coronavirus infections and hospitalizations continue to drop. ___ALBANY, N.Y. — New York may have undercounted COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents by thousands.

State health officials Monday reported fewer than 13,000 people were being treated for the virus in Texas hospitals, marking the seventh consecutive day of declining patient loads. Some hospitals and clinics have reported having to cancel immunization appointments because they didn’t have enough vaccine doses to distribute. A little more than half of Ochsner employees have yet to get the vaccine, officials said at a news conference Monday. Tessa Walker Linderman, co-lead of Alaska’s COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force, told reporters the state expects to learn soon what its vaccine allocation will be for February. Health officials are also worried about variants that were first reported in the United Kingdom and South Africa.

New York officials are pushing for more COVID-19 vaccine doses as the effort to speed up inoculations collides with a lack of vaccine. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that the city will run out of first doses of COVID-19 vaccine sometime Thursday without fresh supplies. The U.S. mask order for travel being implemented by Biden will apply to airports and planes, ships, intercity buses, trains and public transportation. As part of his COVID-19 strategy, Biden will order the establishment of a COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force to ensure that minority and underserved communities are not left out of the government's response. Biden is ordering FEMA to reimburse states for the full cost of using their National Guards to set up vaccination centers.

President Joe Biden speaks about the coronavirus in the State Dinning Room of the White House, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021, in Washington. “We didn’t get into this mess overnight, and it will take months to turn this around,” Biden said at the White House. Asked about that at the White House on Thursday, Biden told a reporter: “When I announced it, you all said it’s not possible. But administration officials stressed that reopening schools safely depends on increased testing. “We do not have nearly enough testing capacity in this country,” said White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients.

FILE - In this Monday, June 20, 2016 file photo, smoke from wildfires burning in Angeles National Forest fills the sky behind the Los Angeles skyline. And of the more than 3,000 counties, Los Angeles County has the highest ranking in theNational Risk Index. Chiu)Spending her life in Los Angeles, Morgan Andersen knows natural disasters all too well. And of the more than 3,000 counties, Los Angeles County has the highest ranking in the National Risk Index. The way FEMA calculates the index spotlights places long known as danger spots, like Los Angeles, but some other places highlighted run counter to what most people would think.

The survey by the RAND Corp. found that such civil rights violations were “common” at FEMA, reported by about 29% of the employees surveyed last year. It found that 20% of FEMA employees reported harassment and discrimination on the basis of sex. A little more than 18% reported violations based on their race or ethnicity. That earlier survey found 24% of women in the military experienced sexual harassment, slightly higher than what was found for women at FEMA. Coreen Farris, the lead author of RAND’s report on FEMA, said the results will provide a baseline for a follow-up survey planned for this spring.

The disaster declaration from the Federal Emergency Management Agency covers all categories of public assistance for hard-hit Escambia County, including direct federal aid. Damage estimates from Hurricane Sally range from $2 billion to $10 billion. DeSantis' office on Wednesday activated the Florida Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan program through the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. The Florida Division of Emergency Management is also conducting damage assessments that could ultimately lead to federal assistance for individual residences. If it’s bad enough, it grants individual assistance to help victims like Holly and Wayne recover.

Floridas request to tap into federal money to provide additional unemployment benefits has been approved, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said over the weekend. Ron DeSantis to implement a system to make this funding available to Florida residents, the federal agency said in an online post. President Donald Trump announced the assistance after a program that provided $600 a week in federal unemployment benefits expired in July. That amount, approved in a stimulus plan in the spring, came on top of state jobless benefits. Florida provides up to $275 a week in state benefits that last for 12 weeks, a period that ended long ago for many people who started getting assistance early in the pandemic.

The federal disaster agency has a major role in hurricane response, working with state and local authorities to prepare beforehand and clean-up and rebuild in the aftermath. I think even in a normal hurricane season, a traditional hurricane season, its complicated enough," Gaynor said on ABC's Good Morning America" on Thursday. FEMA, in a written response to questions about the fund, said the executive order includes a provision that ensures the disaster fund won't drop below $25 billion. FEMA has sufficient resources to handle the ongoing response to Hurricane Laura as well as delivering other assistance that has been authorized and directed by the president," Bibo told reporters. With a hurricane season that runs through Nov. 30 and fires still blazing in California, it may get worse.

FILE - In this July 5, 2020, file photo, healthcare workers help each other with their personal protective equipment at a drive-thru coronavirus testing site outside Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. The lack of equipment forced states and hospitals to compete against each other, the federal government and other countries in desperate, expensive bidding wars. In general, supplies of protective gear are more robust now, and many states and major hospital chains say they are in better shape. As of mid-June, for example, Montana had received 1,125 items of protective gear per case, compared with 32 items per case in Massachusetts, an early hot spot. A nonprofit group called #GetUsPPE was established in March by physicians to help distribute donated protective gear.

That is a public relations nightmare that FEMA is hoping to avoid by reworking the deal that a federal judge approved last month. He also expressed indignation at being forced to seek money from the $13.5 billion settlement, even though FEMA was excluded in the confidential negotiations that led to the deal. Fire victims already have been expressing their outrage over the possibility that a taxpayer-backed agency that's supposed to help disaster victims might end up reducing the amount of money available to them in the $13.5 billion settlement. California has no plans to seek any money from the fire victims even if it isn't fully repaid from the $13.5 billion settlement, Gov. The government agency said it will only ask fire victims for repayments of losses that they also recover from the $13.5 billion settlement.

CNNJACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A Jacksonville man was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for providing false information to the Federal Emergency Management Agency in order to receive disaster assistance, the office of U.S. Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez announced Wednesday. Lepoleon Spikes, 47, was also ordered to pay more than $57,789 in restitution after pleading guilty to wire fraud. According to federal prosecutors, Spikes submitted applications to receive disaster aid from FEMA after Tropical Storm Debby in 2012, Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and Hurricane Irma in 2017. He falsely claimed that his house in Jacksonville was damaged, causing him to relocate, prosecutors said. The case is part of the Disaster Fraud Task Force, created in September 2017.