09-05-2025
Charleston County prepares for possible changes to FEMA disaster reimbursement
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Hurricane season begins at the end of the month, and Charleston County is working to get ahead of possible changes coming to how disaster relief is issued.
County officials said while they are still uncertain about what changes the federal government could make to disaster reimbursement, they are working to put themselves in a good position to provide relief.
'It's very sobering discussions, because I remember Hugo and everything, and the image you're presenting is we'd be on our own almost if the same thing happened,' said Councilman Larry Kobrovsky, of District 2.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has traditionally been responsible for the majority of disaster response efforts. However, with the Trump administration's push to reduce the size and scope of the federal government, more of the responsibility may be shifted to state and local agencies.
Charleston County is working to ensure it's able to meet the need.
'Seems to me, the benefit of having this done on a national level is you don't know where the hurricane will hit, you don't know where the tornado will touch down, there's an insurance function. Maybe we can do the next best thing and mitigate those risks on a state level,' said Councilman Robert l. Wehrman of District 3.
In the event of a disaster when state resources have been exceeded, the governor can request a presidential disaster declaration, which opens up a federal disaster relief fund, providing money to state and local governments impacted by that disaster. Now, the threshold for those funds may change.
'The threshold in which the state can request that fund that's being discussed as being increased which means typically the funds we see from the federal government for reimbursable might not be there,' said Justin Pierce, the Director of Emergency Management for Charleston County.
The new threshold may require 50 million dollars' worth of damage. In the last 11 years, South Carolina has had 13 disasters that qualified for federal assistance. Under the new threshold, only five of those would have qualified.
'We know the areas that FEMA wants to step back on or pivot their traditional response, so that gives us very clear clues of the gaps we need to fill that we're working on right now,' said Pierce.
The council passed a motion in the finance committee to activate the emergency management recommendations as they prepare for possible changes to FEMA.
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