Residents of Florida’s Gulf Coast have more than an impending hurricane to worry about. The question: “Will there be enough FEMA funds for us” can be added to their concerns.

As the Florida Sentinel reported, Hurricane Milton is expected to hit Florida’s Gulf Coast late Tuesday, bringing potentially a “life-threatening” storm surge, destructive winds and flooding rainfall to a large portion of the state, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Milton’s forecast cone “covers almost the entire west coast of Florida,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis Sunday morning.

If the worst-case scenario comes to pass, Florida could see a reprise of the damage left by Hurricane Helene, or God forbid, the devastation wrought on North Carolina by the hurricane.

This is where FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) comes in. According to the agency’s website, aid for Helene survivors has already surpassed $137 million.

It’s there in emergencies and disasters, like the recent flooding in Vermont, for which FEMA assistance was announced late last month. It was there for the severe winter storm that hit Massachusetts in 2022.

It’s also there, apparently, to give money to “non-federal entities” as the FEMA website says “to provide humanitarian services to noncitizen migrants following their release from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).”

FEMA’s Shelter and Services Grant Program is a Joe Biden production, having signed it in law in December of 2022.

So now FEMA provides help during emergencies and natural disasters, as well as emergencies of the Biden Administration’s own making.

Hurricane-force winds didn’t sweep millions of illegal immigrants across our southern border under Biden’s watch, the president’s open-borders policies did that. And yet FEMA funds are being used to support the consequences of his actions.

As the Herald reported, South Carolina representative Nancy Mace wants to redirect funds to hurricane relief efforts from that FEMA program.

The Republican congresswoman has called for the termination of FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program, requesting all unspent funds be redirected to help Americans recover from natural disasters.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said last week that while the Federal Emergency Management Agency can meet immediate needs, it does not have enough funding to make it through the hurricane season, until the end of November.

We should never be in a situation where FEMA funds are insufficient during hurricane season. Or any season, given the natural disasters that have grabbed recent headlines. What is particularly baffling is that this administration is so invested in mitigating climate change, which environmental groups cite as making hurricanes more intense and contributing to weather events that cause massive flooding.

Shouldn’t Biden and Co. make sure FEMA funds are shored up as climate change-driven weather patterns worsen and states are more vulnerable?

Instead, Biden is working a game of three-card monte with taxpayer dollars. By funneling FEMA funds to migrant services, it bolsters the illusion that Biden has the immigration crisis under control. He doesn’t, even though he took better-late-than-never action to limit the number of migrants crossing the border.

FEMA funds should be for the kinds of emergencies that wash away homes, rip apart businesses, devastate communities and leave death in their wake. We pray we don’t need them, but it’s vital they be there.

Editorial cartoon by Bob Gorrell (Creators Syndicate)