An official from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, said he meant the comment as a joke.

David Richardson, the acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), told staff he didn’t know the United States had a hurricane season, according to four people familiar with the exchange.

FEMA head David Richardson told his staff during a briefing that he had not been aware US has a hurricane season, Reuters reported.