Watchdog warns FEMA staff cuts could leave SWFL exposed this hurricane season

FORT MYERS, Fla. — A government watchdog is raising alarms that FEMA may not be ready to handle the next major storm to hit Southwest Florida.

The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office says FEMA has lost more than 4,300 employees in the last fiscal year, cutting nearly 17 percent of its staff.

But the GAO says the bigger concern is not just how many people left; it is who left and what they knew.

The agency says FEMA cut many positions without taking a close look at what roles those employees played or the skills they brought to disaster relief efforts.

"It's really not good practice to let a bunch of people go without any sense of how it's going to impact the mission," said Chris Currie, a director with the GAO.

Currie told WINK Investigates that people in Southwest Florida should be concerned about the state of FEMA.

"Workforce issues have plagued FEMA for several years. I'm even more concerned now that they've lost 4,300 people," Currie said.

FEMA paid out more than $10 billion after Hurricane Ian hit Southwest Florida, but nearly four years later, Fort Myers resident Donald Jones says he is still waiting on his assistance.

WINK Investigates introduced Jones this week while covering his four-year battle with the relief agency.

"They just ask for the information, you give them the information and then when it comes around to they pay you, they just deny you," Jones said.

When Jones learned about the GAO's findings, he was not surprised.

After his battle, he says FEMA is “not trustworthy.”

The GAO is recommending that FEMA create a strategic plan with clear goals for its workforce and that Congress require the agency to report its workforce analysis before each hurricane season.

FEMA says it is prepared for any storm this season.