I am having flashbacks to Katrina. 16 years to the day........

[RockRaven]

5. An unfortunate reality about FEMA is that they're better at providing money than physical goods

or elbow grease directly. FEMA can massively support local governments, yes, but the execution at the human/street/neighborhood level is often dependent on the locals taking the ball provided and running with it. If the local officials are determined to be irresponsible and idiotic there is very little FEMA can do to prevent it in the short term. We cannot assume that better federal leadership will yield better outcomes.

[this is in no way a defense of prior FEMA failures, including Katrina]