Letter to Administrator Long, FEMA - Add Cayuga County to New York State's Disaster Declaration

Letter

Dear Administrator Long:

On November 14, 2017, President Donald Trump issued a Major Disaster Declaration for the State Of New York as a result of damages caused by flooding along Lake Ontario from May 2, 2017, through August 6, 2017. The declaration ordered federal assistance to Jefferson, Niagara, Orleans, Oswego, St. Lawrence, and Wayne Counties. While we appreciate your support of New York State's major disaster declaration request to provide critical funding to help communities repair damage and recover, unfortunately, the declaration did not cover all communities adversely impacted by the floods. Therefore, I ask that you stand ready to review an expected forthcoming appeal from New York State to amend the disaster declaration to include Monroe and Cayuga Counties.

As you know, the Lake Ontario Coastline in New York experienced ongoing severe flooding with record-high lake levels caused by historic precipitation and spring melt-off. The president's November declaration releases FEMA public assistance and hazards mitigation funds to cover emergency work, repairs, and replacement of disaster-damaged facilities, as well as make long-term improvements to reduce the impact of future disasters. This aid is integral to repairing homes, reopening the business, restoring public infrastructure, and implementing shoreline erosion protection.

As you know FEMA officials joined local and state officials over the past few days to conduct field damage assessments on the ground to tabulate eligible damage costs in order to verify that costs have met or exceeded the county's per capita impact indicator, which in the case of Monroe County is $2.68 million. According to Monroe County, the field damage assessments revealed that the cost of damages in Monroe has exceeded the $2.68 million county threshold. In anticipation of a forthcoming appeal submission from New York State that includes this final joint assessment breakdown showing that Monroe's damages total more than $2.68 million and thus met the per capita impact indicator, we urge FEMA to swiftly act and amend the disaster declaration to include Monroe County.

Similarly, in anticipation of an additional forthcoming appeal submission from New York State, I ask that you also include Cayuga County in the disaster declaration. According to Cayuga County, while damage totals to local and county-owned property equaled about $85,000, which is below the county's per capita impact indicator, damages to state property of about $150,000 appear to bring Cayuga's total damage above the indicator. Therefore, we also urge you to stand ready to quickly review New York State's anticipated appeal and amend the disaster declaration to include Cayuga County.

While FEMA may take up to 90 days to review appeals like these, I request FEMA act on these appeals expeditiously as soon as the appeals are submitted given that both counties sustained significant negative impacts from the flooding event. Costs have continued to mount for the counties and timely FEMA federal assistance is vital in ensuring immediate repairs and long-term recovery for these communities.

We are grateful for your attention to this issue and longstanding support for New York State.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Schumer

United States Senator

Kirsten Gillibrand

United States Senator

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