Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) denied his state’s appeal for federal disaster relief for flooding in May.
Moore, in a Thursday release, called the move “deeply frustrating” and said it “leaves Marylanders on their own.”
“FEMA has a responsibility to weigh the merits of each emergency request objectively,” Moore added. “Instead, President Trump and his Administration have politicized disaster relief, and our communities are the ones who will pay the price.”
The floods occurred over two days, impacting Garrett and Allegany counties in western Maryland. They resulted in $33.7 million in damages, with homes, schools, libraries and other community buildings impacted, according to a letter Moore sent to Trump in August.
The president did not issue a major disaster declaration, which would have made FEMA assistance available, following the floods. In July, the administration denied disaster assistance to Maryland.
Moore appealed the decision in August, noting that the damages were nearly triple Maryland’s federal threshold for assistance.
“Maryland has met long-standing criteria for FEMA support in the wake of historic floods across Mountain Maryland. And this appeal isn’t simply justified, it’s necessary,” Moore said at the time.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Hill that the president “provides a more thorough review of disaster declaration requests than any Administration has before him” and responds to disaster relief requests “with great care and consideration, ensuring American tax dollars are used appropriately and efficiently by the states to supplement—not substitute, their obligation to respond to and recover from disasters.”
“The Trump administration remains committed to empowering and working with State and local governments to invest in their own resilience before disaster strikes, making response less urgent and recovery less prolonged,” she added.
The Hill has also reached out to FEMA for comment.
Maryland’s senators, Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks, also criticized the denial in Thursday’s release. Van Hollen said the administration “has turned its back on these communities,” while Alsobrooks claimed Trump “cares more about supporting billionaires than supporting Americans facing disaster.”
Updated at 11:15 p.m. EDT
