A shortfall in federal disaster relief funds is cutting into wildfire recovery efforts in Maui, a top official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency said at a congressional field hearing Wednesday.
Without quick action by Congress to replenish FEMA’s disaster relief fund, long-term rebuilding could stall out in the Lahaina community, where last summer’s fires killed 102 people and left the town in ruins, said Bob Fenton, regional administrator for the agency’s Region 9.
“It delays long-term recovery. It delays building, rebuilding of infrastructure,” Fenton said at a Hawaii field hearing of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce.
FEMA’s disaster fund is projected to stand at a nearly $2 billion deficit by the end of September. Anticipating that shortfall, FEMA last month imposed new spending restrictions, halting payments for ongoing rebuilding projects in order to save cash for new emergencies.
