How long does it take to get federal assistance after a disaster? There’s no set timeline.

Days after a severe winter storm left tens of thousands of people in Nashville without power in freezing temperatures, a rumor began to spread: If power had been out for more than 24 hours, people could apply for assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help cover the cost to relocate somewhere warm. 

It wasn’t true.

Posts popped up on social media expressing confusion about a message on FEMA’s website. 

“We didn’t find any federally declared disasters in your area, so you can’t apply for FEMA assistance,” screenshots read.

Dozens of comments followed. While Nashvillians were experiencing a disaster, no federal disaster declaration had been made, and no assistance for individuals had been approved. How long would it take for the federal government to decide what help it might provide?

The answer: That’s anyone’s guess.

The federal law behind FEMA does not set a timeline for approving federal aid after a disaster. 

In the aftermath, a state will take stock of the damage and the governor will request federal help if the state can’t handle the recovery cost on its own. Historically, top FEMA staff review the request and make a recommendation to the president, who ultimately controls whether or not a state receives aid. Not all disasters will receive federal assistance. 

No decision yet on FEMA assistance for individuals after Tennessee storm

But the decision-making process behind who gets help and who doesn’t is not public record.

“It can be a pretty confusing and complicated system. It’s not a particularly straightforward one, and not always particularly transparent either,” said Manann Donoghoe, a fellow specializing in disaster risk reduction at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

Staff reduction and ongoing efforts to restructure or reform FEMA have added to uncertainty.

For a handful of states that suffered damage from the winter storm, President Donald Trump approved disaster declarations relatively quickly. Tennessee and Mississippi got their major disaster declarations on Feb. 6, about two weeks after the storm began, opening up federal aid to bolster recovery in public spaces. Louisiana’s disaster declaration request was approved on Feb. 18. The administration has yet to issue a decision on Kentucky’s request.

Those declarations provide public assistance to help repair public roads, facilities and utilities. But as of Feb. 25, states’ requests for individual assistance programs — which could provide support services and financial aid for people who are uninsured or underinsured — remain under federal review.

FEMA did not respond to questions about disaster declaration timelines.

How long does it take to get from disaster to declaration?

The amount of time between a disaster and a major disaster declaration has steadily increased since 1985, according to Tennessee Lookout’s analysis of FEMA data.

Between 1985 and October 2025, an average of 40 days passed between a disaster and a declaration. 

Looking at the median — the data’s midpoint — shows that the waiting period has increased steadily over time.

From 1985 through 2025, the median wait is 32 days. But zooming in on just the last five years, the median is drastically higher: 67 days.

And timing is important.

“The quicker you get that presidential declaration, then the sooner you can begin assessing needs and distributing federal benefits to disaster survivors,” Donoghoe said.

FEMA’s disaster database tracks the date a disaster strikes and the date that the president issues a major disaster declaration, but does not include the date that a governor submits a request for assistance.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee requested an expedited major disaster declaration on Jan. 28, six days after the winter storm began. Trump announced he had approved aid for Tennessee on his Truth Social account nine days later. 

“That timeline is usually pretty quick in situations that are really major events. It’s pretty clear early on whether or not it’s going to be something that a state can manage financially,” Donoghoe said.

The timeline for a decision varies from disaster to disaster. Tennessee, for example, waited more than two months to receive a declaration after severe floods and tornadoes struck the state in April 2025. Arkansas’ initial request for help that spring was denied until the state filed an appeal and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as Trump’s White House press secretary during his first administration, made a personal plea to the president.

On-the-ground damage assessment delays or staff shortages can increase processing times, Donoghoe said.

Donoghoe also flagged a more recent trend: “It looks like … declarations are being issued in batches rather than on a case-by-case basis as they arrive,” he said, noting that severe flooding in Texas last year seemed to be an exception.

The National Governors Association reported “significant obstacles in accessing federal disaster relief in a timely manner” in an open letter to FEMA in May 2025, citing funding delays and complex applications. Even after a major disaster declaration is made, changes in staffing and procedure can slow down the delivery of federal support, the letter states.

Will FEMA help individuals after a disaster? Maybe.

Misconceptions about the types of aid FEMA provides also complicate disaster response and preparation, according to Sara Hamideh, an associate professor specializing in disaster recovery at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.

While FEMA does offer individual assistance after some disasters, it’s approved less often than public assistance, and it’s meant to help people who are uninsured or underinsured. 

A review of 2,166 major disaster declarations issued since 1985 shows that just over one in four declarations included some form of assistance for individuals, while 84% of declared disasters received public assistance.

FEMA’s Individuals and Households program can provide rental assistance or reimbursement for hotel costs for temporary housing. The program may also support repairs for homes that serve as a primary residence.

Uncertainty about federal disaster aid looms as storms roll in

But FEMA is clear: This type of assistance “is not a substitute for insurance and cannot compensate for all losses caused by a disaster.” FEMA funds also cannot be used for costs already covered by insurance.

“Unfortunately there is this misconception among individuals that … if you get a presidential declaration, FEMA assistance will make you whole, which was never meant to be the case,” Hamideh said.

Even if FEMA provides some assistance, “there were always challenges for more transient residents, renters, people who had inherited housing and they didn’t have the official deeds (and multigenerational families,” Hamideh said. “There were always issues for them establishing eligibility for getting FEMA assistance.”

Individual assistance programs are among targets for reform of the federal government’s disaster response. 

Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have pledged to cut waste and shift more disaster-recovery responsibilities to states, in addition to slimming FEMA’s ranks. Noem also instituted a rule requiring her personal sign-off on spending above $100,000 — a move that has been criticized for creating logjams for otherwise approved funding.

Both Hamideh and Donoghoe encouraged greater focus on providing for people who may otherwise slip through the cracks.

Donoghoe said disaster response might be better as a “sliding scale” instead of hinging on a declaration.

“Disaster is not the same for everybody,” he said. “If you’re a poor household, if you’re a renter, even a small event that may not be classified as a federal emergency may still have the same (level) of impact to you individually. … In other words, the system has done a poor job of thinking about social vulnerability.”

Donoghoe added that transparency in the decision-making process should also be one of FEMA’s goals.

“At the end of the day, survivors are relying on clear and consistent communication to inform their own recovery planning,” he said.

This story is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation.