Staff of the Federal Emergency Management Agency were left baffled on Monday after the head of the U.S. disaster agency said he had not been aware the country has a hurricane season, according to four sources familiar with the situation.

We are eliminating FEMA,” Noem said at a televised meeting of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet in March.But with hurricane season about to start, Noem has been quietly pushing behind the scenes to keep key employees in place and to approve reimbursements to states previously hit by disaster,

The acting FEMA department head said he did not know that the United States had a hurricane season, according to reports. The Department of Homeland Security, which FEMA falls under, later issued a statement saying that FEMA head David Richardson was joking when he made the comment during a briefing, The Hill and Reuters said.