Trump considers scrapping FEMA, pledges disaster help

US President Donald Trump has floated shuttering the Federal Emergency Management Agency during a trip to disaster areas in North Carolina and California, where he pledged government support and sparred with Democratic officials.

Fresh from assuming office on Monday, Trump's visit showcased a desire to show up early in the two states, hit by a hurricane and massive wildfires, respectively. But he punctured the visits with criticism of FEMA, vowing to sign an executive order to overhaul or eliminate the main federal agency that responds to natural disasters.

"FEMA has turned out to be a disaster," he said during a tour of a North Carolina neighbourhood destroyed by September's Hurricane Helene. "I think we recommend that FEMA go away."

Trump accused FEMA of bungling emergency relief efforts there and said he preferred that states be given federal money to handle disasters themselves.

The president has also criticised California's response to the Los Angeles fires, which have caused widespread destruction, but he pledged to work with Governor Gavin Newsom and offered help to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass while visiting the state.

"We're looking to get something completed. And the way you get it completed is to work together to govern the state, and we're going to get it completed. They're going to need a lot of federal help," Trump told reporters after Newsom met him on the tarmac when Air Force One landed later in Los Angeles.

Three massive blazes still threaten the region.

Newsom, a Democrat who has had a tense relationship with the Republican leader, told Trump that California would need his support.

Trump has accused Newsom and Bass of "gross incompetence" and Republican colleagues in Congress have threatened to withhold disaster aid.

Trump previously threatened to withhold aid to California and repeated in North Carolina a false claim that Newsom and other officials refused to provide water from the northern part of the state to fight the fires.

Water shortages caused some hydrants to run dry in affluent Pacific Palisades, hindering the early response. When the fires broke out, one of the reservoirs that could have supplied more water to the area had been empty for a year. Officials have promised an investigation into why it was dry.

Meanwhile, experts doubt that Trump alone can shut down FEMA.

Rob Verchick, a former Obama administration official at the Environmental Protection Agency and now a professor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, said eliminating FEMA most likely requires Congressional action.

FEMA brings in emergency personnel, supplies and equipment to help areas begin to recover from natural disasters. Funding for the agency has soared in recent years as extreme weather events have increased the demand for its services.

The agency has 10 regional offices and employs more than 20,000 people across the US.

FEMA was a target of Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for Trump's second term prepared by his allies that the president distanced himself from during the election. The plan called for dismantling the Department of Homeland Security and relocating FEMA to the Department of Interior or the Department of Transportation.

In an X post, Democratic US Representative Deborah Ross of North Carolina said FEMA had been a crucial partner in the state's recovery from the hurricane.

"I appreciate President Trump's concern about Western NC, but eliminating FEMA would be a disaster for our state," she said.