AP finds major disaster declarations are taking longer under Trump
By DAVID A. LIEB/AP, SOPHIE BATES/AP, M.K. WILDEMAN/ AP, ALEX ROZIER/Mississippi Today and ILLAN IRELAND/MISSISSIPPI FREE PRESS
Updated 1:25 PM EDT, September 9, 2025
TYLERTOWN, Miss. (AP) — As an ominous storm approached Buddy Anthony’s new home, he took shelter in his Ford F-250 pickup parked under a nearby carport. Seconds later, a tornado tore apart the one-story brick house and damaged the truck while lifting it partly in the air. Anthony emerged unhurt. But he had to replace his vehicle with a used truck that became his home while waiting for President Donald Trump to issue a major disaster declaration allowing federal money to flow to individuals reeling from loss. That took weeks.
“You wake up in the truck and look out the windshield and see nothing. That’s hard. That’s hard to swallow,” Anthony said.
Disaster survivors are having to wait longer to get aid from the federal government, according to a new Associated Press analysis of decades of data. On average, it took less than two weeks for a governor’s request for a presidential disaster declaration to be granted in the 1990s and early 2000s. That rose to about three weeks during the past decade under presidents from both major parties. It’s taking more than a month, on average, so far during Trump’s current term, the AP found.
The delays mean individuals must wait to receive federal aid for daily living expenses, temporary lodging and home repairs.
Delays in disaster declarations also can hamper recovery efforts by local officials uncertain whether they will receive federal reimbursement for cleaning up debris and rebuilding infrastructure. The AP collaborated with Mississippi Today and Mississippi Free Press on the effects of these delays for this report.
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THIS is where they need to be - helping all the disaster victims "left behind".
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