As hurricane season has begun along Alabama's coast, the federal government is considering the dissolution of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). How will Governor Ivey and the State of Alabama respond to future storms if the agency is not able to assist?

President Donald Trump is making fundamental changes to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The president said he wants states to "wean" themselves off FEMA.

Trump created the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Review Council to reform and streamline the agency. The Council is charged with streamlining operations. After hearing from the Council, Trump said FEMA has been ineffective. He wants states to develop their own systems, make their own decisions during disasters and stand on their own.

"If they can't handle it, they shouldn't be governor," Trump said.

The Council has stated that the federal government will still provide financial aid in the event of catastrophic events. Officials in Alabama are now waiting to see what happens.

Jefferson County EMA director Jim Coker, a past president of the Alabama Association of Emergency Managers, said the first people on the ground following disasters are local agencies. He said that would not change.

"We live here, we're in the community, so the local response serves to assist local residents directly, and that won't change," said Coker. "As for the things that happen above us, we're really in the wait-and-see mode right now."

Baldwin County EMA director Tom Tyler agreed, saying it's too soon to speculate what restructuring FEMA would entail.

"Statements made in public from the administration have been kind of all over the map," said Tyler. "We don't have facts and none of us here locally are being introduced to a plan, so we don't know what it's going to look like, so it's really just speculation at this point."

Along the coast, people are concerned about a forecasted active hurricane season. Tyler said changes will not impact this year's hurricane season.

"We do know that this year's hurricane season is going to be handled as previously," said Tyler. "If there was no federal assistance at all, it would make recovery much more difficult than it is now. But like I said, without a plan, we're really just kind of speculating."

In Orange Beach, City Councilwoman Annette Mitchell said she has lived through hurricanes and witnessed how FEMA responds. She supports restructuring. "It needs to be reorganized because having it and filing a claim are easy, and getting paid, not so much," Mitchell said. "So, it's hard. That needs to be reformed, and I think that it will be reformed under Trump. But I don't think it can go away."

Tyler said the preparation at the local level is on response and then recovery. He said FEMA is not heavily involved in the response phase, which includes saving lives and clearing roads.

"FEMA's role comes in the recovery phase and building things back to get like they were before the storm," he said. "And most of that's money for the individual assistance and assistance processing centers and so forth. But they're not really heavily involved in the response phase."

Emergency Management Performance Grants are allocated to each state, and in Alabama, the funds are distributed among counties for operational purposes. Coker said those funds are critical, and he noted that if federal emergency funds are restructured, he believes they would remain in place, possibly in a different form.

Coker said Alabama is one step ahead, thanks to a bill passed this year that allows local emergency management organizations to enter into mutual aid agreements with other public and private agencies. That law goes into effect on October 1.

"That will make mutual aid smoother around the State of Alabama, from city to city and county to county," Coker said.

Erica Thomas is a contributor to Gulf Shores News and a resident of south Baldwin County. She is also a writer for 1819news.