Joe Henderson: As Florida braces for hurricane, disaster aid is shifted away

Florida could soon be in the crosshairs of Hurricane Dorian. Forecasters expect it to grow to a Category 3 major storm with winds reaching 130 miles per hour, and either brush Florida’s east coast or cut across the middle of the state. Everyone is closely watching developments.

Maybe you’ve heard about that.

Puerto Rico, with its nearly 4 million United States citizens, also could take another serious punch from tropical weather.

This storm comes as the Department of Homeland Security notified Congress it is transferring $271 million in disaster relief funds to beef up border security, the Washington Post reported.

Plans include expanded detention facilities and additional beds.

“This realignment of resources allows DHS to address ongoing border emergency crisis by alleviating the surge along the Nation’s Southwest Border while minimizing the risk to overall DHS mission performance,” the agency noted.

Well, guess what? There’s a reasonable chance that before long, Florida and other southern states also could be facing a crisis on a much larger scale.

Remember the havoc wrought to the Florida Panhandle last year by Hurricane Michael? No one can forget. Michael was forecast to be a Category 2 storm but turned into a monster almost overnight.

The estimated damage to the state’s timber industry alone reached $1.2 billion. The Florida Department of Insurance Regulation reported $6.9 billion overall in covered losses.

That was one storm, in one state.

But now, DHS is diverting money from disaster relief to cover a border “emergency” that by President Donald Trump’s admission doesn’t exist. Nice timing, eh? Hurricane season is about to peak.

Of course, we know why.

The President and part-time Florida resident wants to look tough on immigration.

The Post also reported that Trump wants his border wall completed by the 2020 election. During a meeting, he said he would pardon anyone who breaks environmental or other laws while fast-tracking this project.

A White House official told the Post the President was joking, but it is not funny.

Nothing about this is even remotely humorous. And transferring disaster relief funds now is a stunningly reckless move.

FEMA’s budget in 2018 was $18.4 billion, but damages frequently far exceed that total. In 2017, for instance, damage estimates from disasters across the U.S. reached $300 billion.

This isn’t just a dry statistic.

The money represents people displaced from their homes, and businesses destroyed.

It helps pay for repairs to devastated infrastructure that keeps cities going and rebuild demolished schools.

In Florida, we understand the risk these storms bring to our state this time of year. It’s worth asking if the President does the same.