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Disaster Funding?

It is a numbers game, state by state.

Money makes the world go around, the world go round...  

Should you not be familiar with the song. It is what we seem to always be singing as emergency managers and agencies seeking federal largeness to fund this or that program or need. 

See the quick analysis below and then also the actual report linked at the bottom of the blog post:

"The effects of COVID-19 combined with damage from strong summer storms will supersize FEMA's expenses in 2020.

According to a new report from ValuePenguin.com by LendingTree"


• FEMA has allotted more than $45 billion toward disaster relief and financial aid since 2017, of which more than 80% has been used. $10 billion remains unspent, free to be included in future budgets.
• Texas has received the most money from FEMA, totaling more than $7.6 billion in federal aid. Florida, California and North Carolina also received more than $1 billion in federal aid in the last three years. Arizona, Montana and Utah received the smallest amount of FEMA disaster relief - amounting to less than $10 million since 2017.
• Arizona both receives and spends the least FEMA money. Since 2017, the state has received $2.3 million in FEMA aid and spent about $720,000. Additionally, Hawaii, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Minnesota have all spent less than 40% of their FEMA money — the lowest utilization rate among all states. Utah, Montana, North Dakota and New Hampshire have all spent the largest proportion of the FEMA money they receive — at least 85%, with Utah spending close to 90%.
• In response to COVID-19, FEMA has budgeted nearly $10 billion of its relief funds to states affected by the virus, with 40% going to New York and California alone. States where COVID-19 is currently seeing a resurgence, such as South Carolina, Arizona and Ohio, could see more funds from FEMA before the end of its fiscal year - however, the funds budgeted to these states at the moment account for a total of $294 million, or just 3% of FEMA's budget.
• FEMA has also committed $2.4 Billion in relief funds to emergency facilities and firms producing medical supplies, such as ventilators, with most of the beneficiaries located in North Carolina. Vendors in North Carolina received $751 million from FEMA — by far the most of vendors in any other state.

You can read the full report at Which States Depend the Most on FEMA's Aid?

Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.