Long Island's resiliency from storms is now up to LI

A small but torrential August storm that yielded up to a punishing 10 inches of rain over parts of Suffolk County's North Shore was another clear sign of how changing climate patterns are dramatically affecting our region. Yet, the recent denial of FEMA aid for homeowners whose properties were ravaged from the flooding carries an equally significant warning. The federal government is no longer going to be a reliable financial backstop. 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has notified Gov. Kathy Hochul that it will cover $100 million of "significant" infrastructure damage in three towns including breaches of dams at Stump Pond in Blydenburgh County Park and Mill Pond in Stony Brook and severe flooding at the Smithtown Public Library.

But FEMA denied help under its individual assistance program, stating that those damage claims didn't reach the "severity and magnitude" required for reimbursements. The state submitted claims for 200 homes and five businesses in Suffolk totaling almost $2 million. The state even added claims with lesser amounts of damage in two upstate counties, Lewis and Oswego, from the same weather system but FEMA still said that wasn't enough to trigger any help.

Hochul plans to appeal the decision but that's a steep hill considering the current political winds. In its denial, FEMA noted New York has its own resources to provide help, which it must do, and that the Long Island communities didn't meet other metrics for communities that were economically and socially distressed. 

The denial comes as FEMA is trying to move away from backstopping comparatively smaller natural disasters to keep its money and resources for larger ones that need a major federal response. With more intense and damaging weather events predicted and a federal budget that is overstretched, it's hard to argue otherwise. So far this year, there have been 24 instances of catastrophic weather nationally with at least a $1 billion damage claim for each one.

This policy of the federal government having a smaller role in providing assistance after weather events was first broached by the Obama administration. And it's expected to accelerate in Donald Trump's second term. The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 guidebook for overhauling the federal government proposes to reduce the federal share of aid after such emergences from 75% to 25%, arguing that state and local government should pay more. That tracks the Obama policy rationale that if state and local governments had more skin in the game, they would be increasingly more likely to update their building and zoning codes and land-use plans to minimize future risks.

Such a national policy would compound Long Island's vulnerability to climate change and make recovering from storms more difficult. But we have been put on notice. Homeowners and local governments must take on the task of improving resiliency because the forecast is for less assistance from the federal government except in the most dire catastrophes.