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.

Acting Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator David Richardson was joking when he said at a meeting Monday that he was not aware of the upcoming hurricane season, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.

Staff at the Federal Emergency Management Agency were caught off-guard and left bewildered when the disaster relief agency’s new acting head David Richardson told personnel that he was previously unaware that the United States has a hurricane season,