Mid-Atlantic States Prepare for More Billion-Dollar Disasters as Trump Considers Cutting Emergency Funding 

PHILADELPHIA—In 2024, Pennsylvania endured a record number of the nation’s billion-dollar weather disasters, from winter storms to drought: 12. Even adjusting for inflation, that’s more than the state faced over the entire decade of the 1980s. 
Last week, representatives from government, academia, medicine and activism gathered at Drexel University in Philadelphia to tackle an urgent question for Pennsylvania and neighboring states: How can we better prepare for increasingly disruptive severe weather?
“Last year was the hottest year on record. We’re seeing the most number of designated hurricanes. We’re seeing tornadoes in this area that we’ve never seen before,” said Mathy Stanislaus, vice provost and executive director at Drexel’s Environmental Collaboratory, which organized the event. “Whatever you think about the cause, it’s happening. We need to prepare.”
The event took place against a backdrop of turmoil, from last month’s devastating wildfires in California and a torrent of disaster-related misinformation to President Donald Trump’s threats against the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and his determination to cut off funding for combating climate change. 
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The loss of funding from FEMA could be catastrophic in terms of planning for extreme weather. FEMA supports a number of grants specifically focused on emergency preparedness. FEMA also assists in recovery; in 2022, for example, in the wake of Hurricane Ida, FEMA sent affected Pennsylvania homeowners and renters more than $100 million.
“The federal government’s disinvestment is going to exacerbate the need for state and local governments to further step up their game,” Stanislaus said. 
The White House and FEMA did not respond to a request for comment.
Stanislaus said preparedness—getting ready for an emergency well before it happens—is too often overlooked in discussions about climate change. “I view this as the leading crisis of the crisis,” he said. Emergency preparedness includes planning and training for things like early warning systems, evacuation routes and back-up energy and communication networks. 
“It’s very, very hard to connect with people so that they understand the severity of the issue,” he said. The pattern of increasing and intensifying extreme weather events like heat waves, flooding and hurricanes is directly linked to fossil fuel-driven climate change. As the planet warms, the implications for public health, economic recovery and social stability are enormous. 
The event at Drexel brought together a diverse group of policymakers, researchers, residents and local officials to talk about preparation and recovery in the aftermath of a disaster. “We see ourselves as a facilitator of those conversations,” Stanislaus said. The Environmental Collaboratory plans to use insights from the gathering to create a roadmap for how to bette