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FACT SHEET: Trump Administration Cuts To Forecasting, Readiness, Recovery, And Research Are Putting Lives In Ohio At Risk

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Last Updated: 6/4/26

TRUMP’S CUTS TO EXTREME WEATHER DISASTER PREVENTION AND RECOVERY PROGRAMS HURT OHIOANS

• Trump’s cuts jeopardized 22 projects in Ohio selected for FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) funding, totaling $52 million.
  • The Mahoning Valley Sanitary District was set to receive a $38 million BRIC grant to strengthen and improve the Meander Reservoir Dam to withstand flooding, earthquakes, and other disasters. 
  • Boardman was set to receive a $35 million BRIC grant to help with flood reduction and to rebuild the entire stormwater system. 
  • In December 2025, a federal judge found FEMA’s actions were unlawful and ordered the reinstatement of BRIC. In March 2026, FEMA was forced to reopen program applications following an order requiring funding to be made available.

TRUMP’S GUTTING OF NOAA AND NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FUNDING IN OHIO THREATENS FORECAST ACCURACY AND TIMELINESS

• As of July 2025, several NWS offices in Ohio had vacancies for key leadership positions, including those in the Appalachian region, a flash-flood hotspot.
  • As of June 2025, NWS offices in Cleveland and Wilmington did not have a Science and Operations Officer or a Meteorologist in Charge in place, and the NWS Ohio River Forecast Center in Wilmington did not have a Meteorologist in Charge. 

TRUMP’S MOVE TO SLASH AND CONSOLIDATE THE U.S. FOREST SERVICE UNDERMINES WILDFIRE RESEARCH AND RESPONSE IN OHIO

• The Trump administration planned to close one of Ohio’s two USFS research facilities, the McArthur research station, and Trump’s FY 2027 budget proposal would eliminate the entire $309 million USFS research and development budget and cut all 1,215 of the agency’s scientific positions.
  • Closing research facilities will drive scientists away from the sites they manage, resulting in data loss for scientists studying wildfire risk, drought, pests, and threats from climate change.
• Under the Trump administration’s reorganization of the agency, all regional USFS offices were slated for closure, including the Eastern regional office in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which served Ohio and employed 200-300 people.
  • In Warren, Pennsylvania, the USFS will open a new “Mid‑Atlantic/New England State Office,” an office with just five to eight employees. The nearest “Operations Service Centers” will be in Athens, Georgia and Madison, Wisconsin.

RECENT EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS IN OHIO HAVE CAUSED DEATH AND DESTRUCTION, AND EXTREME WEATHER WILL BECOME MORE FREQUENT AND MORE DEADLY WITH CLIMATE CHANGE

• Between 2010 and 2026, Ohio saw 74 billion-dollar extreme disasters, totaling up to $50 billion in damages.
• Between January 2015 and October 2025, Ohio received a total of $145,426,378 in FEMA Public Assistance and Individual & Household Program disaster assistance funding, responding to 4 disaster events.
  • In the past decade, Ohio has received $795,883,258 in FEMA disaster assistance funding.
• In 2024, 74 tornadoes touched down in the state, the highest number on record, including a deadly EF-3 tornado that struck northwest Ohio. Researchers have linked climate change, increased intensity, and single-day tornado outbreaks.
• In August 2024, more than 250,000 customers lost power after severe storms and at least two tornadoes hit the northwestern portion of the state.

• In 2025, Ohio broke 21 daily high temperature records. By 2050, the average Ohio resident is expected to experience about 43 extremely hot days per year.
• Eight of Ohio’s ten wettest years on record have occurred since 1990, and climate change is expected to make heavy rainfall and flooding in the state more frequent.
• Ohio experiences an estimated $1 billion in annual flood loss, which is expected to increase by 4% by 2050 due to climate change.