Trump's FEMA denies Washington disaster relief for 'bomb cyclone' windstorm

The Federal Emergency Management Agency denied a request from Washington state last week to help pay for damage caused during a storm last year.

In November 2024, about two weeks after the election, winds from a cyclone struck the Pacific Northwest, pelting Washington with gusts over 70 miles per hour. Trees fell on power lines and hundreds of homes and businesses, shattering the window of an Amtrak train and damaging highways.

RELATED: 2 killed, hundreds of thousands without power in Western Washington amid pacific bomb cyclone winds

In January, as then-Gov. Jay Inslee was preparing to leave office, the state applied for aid from the federal government to pay for an estimated $34 million in damages from the storm.

Gov. Bob Ferguson, a Democrat like Inslee, took office shortly after that application. On Monday, Ferguson said the state had met all the criteria to qualify for emergency relief funds, but those funds were nevertheless denied.

A letter from a senior FEMA official doesn’t give a reason for the denial, and FEMA’s regional and national spokespeople didn’t immediately respond to KUOW’s request for comment.

"You would like to think that our federal government would not be making decisions about emergency assistance based on political considerations or how a state leans politically or how a state voted in the last presidential election," Ferguson told KUOW. "But we have to acknowledge that that is certainly a possibility here, and if that's true, that would be deeply concerning."

RELATED: Western Washington windstorm victims may qualify for disaster and tax relief. Here's what to know

Ferguson said the state plans to appeal.

Since January, the Trump administration has declined requests for major disaster declarations from Arkansas, California, Tennessee, and Washington state, following severe storms in three of those states and fires in California, according to an internal FEMA document reviewed by KUOW.

Trump also has said he'd like to get rid of FEMA, and in March, Trump issued an executive order directing states and cities to play larger roles in handling major disasters.

"It is the policy of the United States that State and local governments and individuals play a more active and significant role in national resilience and preparedness, thereby saving American lives, securing American livelihoods, reducing taxpayer burdens through efficiency, and unleashing our collective prosperity," the order states.

RELATED: Trump wants states to handle disasters. States aren't prepared

Washington State Military Department spokesperson Karina Shagren said this was the first time "in recent memory" the state met the criteria for public assistance and was denied.

"I have no clue why we were denied, and we're all kind of scratching our heads trying to figure that out," Shagren told KUOW.

In his first term, President Donald Trump reportedly withheld aid for wildfire damages from Washington while he was feuding with Inslee. On the campaign trail last year and as president this year, Trump has talked about withholding relief from California over disagreements with its Democratic leadership on voter ID laws and even water policy.

RELATED: How Seattle is preparing for potential federal funding cuts

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, quietly changed its standard terms and conditions a little over two weeks ago, requiring that states and cities comply with the president’s executive orders on cooperating with immigration officials and banning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, according to reporting from The New York Times.

It's not clear if the denial of aid for Washington's recent cyclone damage was due to a specific state policy. Washington state has a law directing local police not to work with federal immigration officials, and the state superintendent of public instruction has defended DEI, refusing to sign a Department of Education letter last week certifying the state had halted DEI programs.