In a meeting with FEMA staff, David Richardson said he was unaware the United States had a hurricane season. Two staff members said it was unclear if he was serious, but the agency said he was joking.

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.