Cuts To Nation's Weather Service Put More Pressure On Property Managers

When Kevin Kochersperger was hired as the vice president of facilities for property management giant The Bainbridge Cos. in April, he was immediately confronted with a big challenge.

President Donald Trump had just overseen the firing of 800 employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the government agency that tracks and predicts weather patterns. Hurricane season was fast approaching, and Kochersperger was hired at one of the nation's biggest apartment managers to lead operational efficiency, sustainability and safety standards in the event of a severe storm.

Kochersperger, who had left his job as the head of facilities management for the city of Fort Lauderdale, got to work. Whereas before, only local property managers were tasked with storm preparedness, he widened Bainbridge's response team to include regional managers and executives and changed its policies to notify residents of a possible disaster earlier.

He expanded the company's access to generators, grew its list of vendors who it could tap in an emergency to remove debris, and signed contracts with the Red Cross and local hotels in case residents have to evacuate.

“I think I just brought it to a different level,” Kochersperger said. “My approach has always been if I'm wearing a belt, I'll still put on suspenders.”

As the Trump administration has slashed its weather forecasting team, property managers in hurricane-prone areas — who rely on NOAA and local weather services to predict and track severe weather events — are under more pressure to fend for themselves. Many told Bisnow they are stocking supplies earlier, precontracting emergency vendors and refining shutdown procedures for residents.

While it remains to be seen how the cuts to NOAA impact storm predictions, the most active months of hurricane season are fast approaching. Any delay in forecasting or messaging extreme weather events could have dire consequences.

“Five minutes changes everything,” said Sherwin Lewis, corporate director of engineering at property management company KW Property Management & Consulting. “Whether you could secure a door that could cause havoc or allow for flooding in a building within five minutes, one hour is a long time.”

The Trump administration has already fired roughly 800 scientists and researchers at NOAA and is proposing an additional 17% workforce cut for its 2026 budget. The agency announced in May that it will no longer track the cost of extreme weather due to evolving priorities, statutory mandates and staffing challenges.

NOAA’s National Hurricane Center is the go-to source for tracking storms, providing data on the track, intensity, average wind speeds, flood and storm surge projections, which meteorologists, weather forecasters and property managers can use to be prepared for what is to come. 

“We're hopeful that these cuts and changes don't affect the information that's being provided to us, because I think aside from The Weather Channel, they're probably the main source of information when it comes to preparing for a hurricane’s arrival,” said Jessica Ruiz, senior vice president of management for Florida-based condo and apartment property manager AKAM.

The NHC is responsible for projections up until landfall, said David Ryglicki, a geospatial data scientist for The Demex Group and a former researcher and meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center.

But once a storm goes more than 2 feet inland, Ryglicki said the NHC's warnings stop and property managers have to rely on local forecasters, who get most of their information from NOAA.

“The [National] Hurricane Center is not going to know all the little creeks and rivers that will flood,” Ryglicki said. “The forecast offices will know all that localized, specialized information, and that's where you're going to see some information passing suffer.”

Property managers have learned to prepare for the worst, especially as federal resources teeter.

“I do rely upon NOAA and I do have faith in them, but I also know that it can change,” Kochersperger said.

A robust alert system is critical, as the frequency and intensity of hurricanes has increased in recent years. Last year, Florida was hit with two major hurricanes within a matter of weeks. 

Hurricane Helene made landfall in September as a Category 4 and became the third-deadliest hurricane since 1980, with more than 200 deaths and property damages of nearly $80B, according to NOAA.

The hurricane brought life-threatening winds and rain to Florida, Georgia, and South and North Carolina. The storm surge in Florida washed away entire homes, leaving nothing but the slabs and stilts they once sat on. In Asheville, North Carolina, the French Broad River rose by more than 24 feet, causing landslides and destroying neighborhoods. The area still hasn't recovered.

Weeks later, Hurricane Milton hit Siesta Key, Florida, as a Category 3, bringing eight hours of relentless rainfall and high-speed winds. St. Petersburg received about 18 inches of rain and localized flooding. About 125 homes were destroyed, and more than 3 million Florida residents were left without power.

With water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico significantly higher than they were in 2024, NOAA is predicting a more intense hurricane season of up to 19 storms, three to five of which are expected to become Category 3 or stronger.

Cuts to NOAA have left local forecasters “flying blind,” meteorologist John Morales, a 30-year veteran South Florida weatherman for WTVJ, warned in June.

Charleston-based Greystar, which manages more than 200 apartment properties in Florida, had a severe weather call center that fielded more than 1,000 calls in 24 hours during Hurricane Milton, said Andrea Davis, Greystar’s director of property management communications.

The team at the call center, trying to pass information between the company and tenants, was overwhelmed, she said. The storm served as a wake-up call for the nation's largest multifamily property manager.

“We have to find a better way if this does happen again. It was all hands on deck,” Davis told Bisnow. “I’m just calling random people saying, ‘I need you to sign on and help me,’ which is just not efficient."

This year, the company is utilizing artificial intelligence to streamline the process, automatically turning calls into emails and importing the data into a sortable spreadsheet for regional managers to assess damage, Davis said.

Communication between residents, on-site staff and regional executives is key when a devastating storm can leave hundreds in a community without power or access to the outside world.

“The worst thing you want to be is a community somewhere that feels like an island alone, especially when you’re part of a big company,” Kochersperger said.

The Trump administration's campaign to slash government spending isn't just affecting storm preparedness. It has also raised alarms about recovery.

Trump has threatened to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which coordinates assistance before, during and after disasters.

FEMA has already lost about a quarter of its full-time staff, including one-fifth of the coordinating officers who manage responses to large-scale disasters, The New York Times reported.

The agency also fired hundreds of contractors at call centers at the beginning of July. The Times reported that decision led to hundreds of missed calls when the Guadalupe River rose more than 20 feet in less than two hours on July 4, killing more than 100 people. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, denies the terminations had an impact.

The FEMA cuts have motivated KWPMC, a Miami-based condo property management firm, to begin ordering supplies in bulk, even without a hurricane in the forecast, so residents aren’t left scrambling without support.

“If FEMA, whomever, is not able to respond accordingly, at least we have some form of sustainability at the minimum,” Lewis said.

The cuts have also led to changes in how FEMA and insurers process claims, Kochersperger said. Bainbridge now plans on relying more heavily on third-party emergency vendors, not just for cleanup but also to document damage for insurance purposes.

The push toward self-reliance in property management has grown out of necessity. Delays in federal responses over the last 30 years have made it clear that communities need to be prepared to act independently, Kochersperger said.

“The tragedies really happen when people think that FEMA is going to be their savior,” Kochersperger said. “You can never depend on a government agency to be there.”