TYLERTOWN, Miss. (AP) — As an ominous storm approached Buddy Anthony’s new home, he took shelter in his Ford F-250 pickup parked under a nearby carport.

Seconds later, a tornado tore apart the one-story brick house and damaged the truck while lifting it partly in the air.

Anthony emerged unhurt, but he had to replace his vehicle with a used truck that became his home while waiting for President Donald Trump to issue a major disaster declaration allowing federal money to flow to individuals reeling from loss. That took weeks.

“You wake up in the truck and look out the windshield and see nothing. That’s hard. That’s hard to swallow,” Anthony said.

Disaster survivors are having to wait longer to get aid from the federal government, according to a new Associated Press analysis of decades of data.

On average, it took less than two weeks for a governor’s request for a presidential disaster declaration to be granted in the 1990s and early 2000s.

That rose to about three weeks during the past decade under presidents from both major parties. It’s taking more than a month, on average, so far during Trump’s current term, the AP found.

The delays have grown over time, regardless of the party in power.

Former Democratic President Joe Biden, in his last year in office,
averaged 26 days to declare major
disasters — longer than any year under former Democratic President Barack Obama.

The delays mean individuals must wait to receive federal aid for daily living expenses, temporary lodging and home repairs.

Delays in disaster declarations also can hamper recovery efforts by local officials uncertain whether they will receive federal reimbursement for cleaning up debris and rebuilding infrastructure.

“The message that I get in the delay, particularly for the individual assistance, is that the federal government has turned its back on its own people,” said Bob Griffin, dean of the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity at the University at Albany. “It’s a fundamental shift in the position of this country.”

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said Trump is making sure federal tax dollars “are spent wisely to supplement state actions, not replace them,” during disasters.

“President Trump provides a more thorough review of disaster declaration requests than any Administration has before him,” Jackson said in a statement. “Gone are the days of rubber stamping FEMA recommendations — that’s not a bug, that’s a feature.”

Americans expect government help after disasters.

About three-fourths of people want the federal government to play a major role in providing aid to communities and helping them rebuild after natural disasters, according to a June poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency often consults immediately with communities to coordinate their initial disaster response.

Direct payments to individuals, nonprofits and local governments must wait for a major disaster declaration from the president, who first must receive a request from a state, territory or tribe.

Major disaster declarations are intended only for the most damaging events that are beyond the resources of states and local governments.

Trump has approved more than two dozen major disaster declarations since taking office in January, with an average wait of almost 34 days after a request.

That ranged from a one-day turnaround after July’s deadly flash flooding in Texas to a 67-day wait after a request for aid because of a Michigan ice storm.

The average wait is up from a 24-day delay during his first term and is nearly four times as long as the average for former Republican President George H.W. Bush, whose term from 1989-93 coincided with the implementation of a new federal law setting parameters for disaster determinations.

FEMA did not respond to the AP’s questions about what factors are contributing to the trend.

Others familiar with FEMA noted that its process for assessing and documenting natural disasters has become more complex over time.

Disasters have also become more frequent and intense because of climate change.

The wait for disaster declarations has increased as Trump’s administration undertakes a makeover of the federal government that has shed thousands of workers and re-examined the role of FEMA.

A recently published letter from current and former FEMA employees warned the cuts could become debilitating if faced with a large-enough disaster.

Shortly after taking office, Trump floated the idea of “getting rid” of FEMA, asserting: “It’s very bureaucratic, and it’s very slow.”