WASHINGTON — As Hurricane Dorian approaches, the Trump administration is operating without a permanent Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrator or confirmed Secretary of Homeland Security, as more than a million Americans have been ordered to evacuate from Florida to South Carolina.

Inside of FEMA’s response center, employees are working 12-hour shifts and officials say they are ready to take care of people impacted by the storm, with response teams and thousands of National Guard and active duty forces ready to assist in relief efforts.

“People need to realize even if the eye does not pass over them, the storm has grown in size and in terms of wind field,” said Carlos Castillo, FEMA Associate Administrator in the Office of Resilience.

Hurricane Dorian has downgraded in category, but FEMA officials warn the danger is far from over.

“It’s still expected to bring life-threatening storm surge, heavy wind, and rain to the area,” Castillo explained in an interview with Spectrum News.

The agency is still operating without a Senate-confirmed administrator and is short 2,000 temporary reserve employees. Castillo said the vacancies will not impact the recovery effort.

"We’ve got not just FEMA but other federal partners we are helping to coordinate and working with us. We’ve had no difficulty having enough people staged. We have people in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, expecting to see what the storm does and as necessary, we move them into position as the storm shifts,” Casillo said.

The agency’s former head, Brock Long, recently said FEMA faces unrealistic expectations from lawmakers and the public.

Casillo said there needs to be a larger focus on bolstering state and local responses to disasters.

“Our role isn’t to be the first responder, but we support the responders through training and guidance and other things like that,” he said.

The federal government, not necessarily FEMA has offered assistance to the Bahamas. As of Tuesday evening, officials said they are doing assessments to determine what the best response will be.