Rescuers Lacked FEMA Tornado-Tracking Tool as Contract Stalls Under Noem's Spending Review

When search-and-rescue crews from state and local agencies rushed into tornado-damaged areas of the Midwest and Plains last weekend, they found something missing only after they had deployed: the FEMA-provided mapping tool that normally shows where a tornado has hit. Two sources familiar with the situation told CNN that without it, responders had a less precise picture of where to search first.

The tool pinpoints a tornado's path of destruction within minutes of touchdown, which lets rescuers concentrate on the hardest-hit neighborhoods quickly. Even in storms where FEMA itself does not respond, state and local teams rely on it, because the agency supplies it to them. One source described the result bluntly: rescuers were driving around or watching news reports to work out where the damage was. When a tornado strikes in the middle of the night, that source said, every moment counts.

The cause was administrative. FEMA's roughly $200,000 contract with the company that supplies the data expired in February. The request to renew it is still working through Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's spending-approval process, according to the two sources and internal documents CNN reviewed. That process includes a rule that any spending over $100,000 needs her personal signoff. DHS did not respond to a request for comment.

The storms have been significant. Over the past week, dozens of tornadoes were reported from Texas to Michigan, part of a wave of severe weather that has killed at least 11 people. As it spread, officials in several states began asking FEMA why they could not reach the tracking data. By early this week, they were contacting FEMA's acting chief, Karen Evans, who was appointed by Noem and the Trump administration, urging her to approve the contract, particularly with more tornadoes forecast. Inside FEMA, leaders pressed Evans and DHS to restore the tool.

That was not their first attempt. FEMA staff wrote to DHS in January asking for renewal so the technology would be available heading into spring, when tornadoes are most common, according to two sources with knowledge of the request. As of earlier this week, it had still not been renewed. Thousands of FEMA spending requests have reached the desks of Evans and Noem, the sources and documents show; many have been cut and others have sat for months. Billions of dollars in contracts and grants have stalled amid the Trump administration's effort to curb what it calls wasteful spending and shift more disaster responsibility to the states. One source said FEMA has been told to get out of the way and empower states, yet is not even providing them basic enabling technology.

The delay recalls last July's deadly Texas floods, when the same approval procedures slowed FEMA's ability to pre-position search-and-rescue teams, left call centers understaffed and delayed data sharing with state partners.

The agency's internal state is also strained. When DHS partially shut down last month, Noem directed FEMA to limit itself to "bare-minimum, life-saving operations only," and Evans emailed regional leaders that "all activities at FEMA need to cease." Her email, obtained by CNN, made four exceptions: work tied to the State of the Union address, response to the recent winter storms, meetings related to the World Cup and Olympics, and nuclear activities. Officials called this unusual, since much FEMA work normally continues through shutdowns because it is paid from the Disaster Relief Fund, a separate pot Congress provides.

Seven FEMA officials in different parts of the country told CNN that work stopped immediately for some employees, while other regions kept operating at or near normal. One high-ranking official said staff in their regional office were told not to open their computers, calling it the most appalling experience of their professional life. Another described colleagues sitting idle, one asleep at his desk, with a cookout planned. Others are assigned made-up work such as case studies and inventory. Insiders say they should be preparing for hurricane season, spring tornadoes and a severe drought that could fuel wildfires. Noem and the administration blame Democrats for the budget impasse; Democrats favor standalone funding for agencies including FEMA, which Republicans have opposed.

Noem, a persistent FEMA critic who has called it bloated, partisan and ineffective, is due to leave DHS at the end of March. Trump has nominated Sen. Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican, to succeed her. A presidential task force on FEMA reform is expected to deliver final recommendations within weeks. Until then, the question is whether the tornado contract is renewed before the next storms arrive.