Schumer To Hold First-Ever Meeting With Fema Administrator, Nassau And Suffolk Emergency Officials To End Long-Running Stalemate Over Promised Reimbursement And Disaster Supplies Removed From Long Island
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Schumer To Hold First-Ever Meeting With Fema Administrator, Nassau And Suffolk Emergency Officials To End Long-Running Stalemate Over Promised Reimbursement And Disaster Supplies Removed From Long Island
Schumer to Convene Meeting in Effort to Secure Much-Needed and Long Overdue Disaster Funding and Supplies for Long Island
FEMA Still Owes Suffolk County Emergency Funding for 2007 April Nor'easter Damage and Has Yet to Reposition Disaster Supplies Unexpectedly Pulled from Long Island Last Year
Schumer Demanded Meeting After FEMA Failed to Deliver on Promises to Ensure Long Island's Preparedness for 2008 Storm Season
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced that FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison has agreed to meet with Schumer and Nassau and Suffolk emergency officials to discuss the long-running stalemate over both promised emergency funding and disaster supplies removed from Long Island . Schumer demanded the first-ever meeting between Long Island and Administrator Paulison after FEMA failed to deliver on its promise to make Suffolk County whole after 2007's April Nor'easter, and also repositioned essential disaster supplies on Long Island before the 2008 hurricane season.
"FEMA must stop stalling and start delivering for the people of Long Island ," Schumer said. "FEMA promised funding, and it promised supplies, but it has yet to deliver on either. With hurricane season around the corner, Long Island residents are tired of unfairly shouldering the whole burden of disaster response and preparedness, while waiting for FEMA to do its job. Doing this meeting is a good first step, but FEMA needs to deliver on these much-needed tools to once again make Long Island whole and secure."
Schumer announced the March 12th meeting today after receiving confirmation from FEMA that Administrator Paulison would attend. The meeting will be held in Schumer's office, and will include Schumer, Administrator Paulison, and emergency officers from Suffolk and Nassau counties. Schumer called for the meeting after FEMA failed to speed the lagging funding - which Suffolk has been owed for nearly one year - and reposition disaster supplies, leaving Long Island vulnerable during the 2008 storm season.
Suffolk County is still waiting for over $4,500,000 in emergency funding from FEMA following severe flooding and damage from the April Nor'easter storm that tore through Long Island in 2007. Currently, the funding is disbursed slowly on a project-by-project basis, stalling essential repairs. FEMA has also arbitrarily rejected applications for funding, including a $3.6 million request for Cupsogue Beach in Westhampton that was denied two weeks ago without reason. Schumer will also push FEMA to allot additional funding for damage from December storm that caused $7 million of damage to Suffolk . While the damage did not meet the disaster declaration threshold, the damage would have been considerably less if FEMA has fixed the April damage expediently, since the bulk of the December damage occurred in vulnerable areas that remained damaged from the April storm.
Additionally, despite having moved a stockpile of emergency goods to Long Island in 2006, FEMA removed the cache of food, water, first aid supplies and shelter provisions unexpectedly in 2007 while devising a new regional plan to provide supplies in the event of a disaster. However, with the plans far from finalized and the 2008 hurricane season around the corner, Long Island remains without this supplement of supplies should a major storm hit. In a letter in December, Schumer urged FEMA to again pre-position the emergency supplies in time for the 2008 hurricane season so that Long Island would not be left vulnerable to severe after-effects from a storm. FEMA agreed to have a resolution prepared by February 1, but no resolution has yet been provided.
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