Twenty years after Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. enters another dangerous season with a fractured national emergency response system. Katrina showed what happens when truth and trusted communication are missing. Those lessons are now in danger of being lost.

The Gulf of Mexico is nearly two degrees warmer than normal. The Atlantic is very active. Floods are striking communities across the country, and wildfires are burning in the West. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasts an above-normal number of storms as we move into the most dangerous stretch of hurricane season.

And when we should be at our best, federal systems for delivering life-saving information are at their weakest in years.

When disaster strikes, one of the most critical lifelines is not food or water. It is information. People need to know what is happening, why it matters, who has answers, and what comes next. They need honest updates, a clear plan and credible voices — not spin, not confusion, but just the truth, especially when it is difficult.

Help only works when people trust it. After Winter Storm Uri in 2021, multiple reviews found serious communication gaps in Texas. When local messages were delayed, vague, or not translated into locally spoken languages, trust collapsed, no matter how much aid arrived.

I know this because I led the team responsible for getting it right. From 2021 to early 2025, I served as FEMA’s associate administrator for external affairs and directed the National Joint Information Center,through some of the........

© The Hill