FEMA denies individual aid request for Suffolk residents affected by summer storms

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has denied Gov. Kathy Hochul's request for disaster funds targeting flood-ravaged Suffolk residences still recovering from damaging August storms.

As much as 10 inches of rain fell across the North Shore of Suffolk County between Aug. 18 and 19, causing what officials have said could eventually result in damage exceeding $100 million in Brookhaven, Huntington and Smithtown.

FEMA previously approved a declaration for public assistance funds to assist Suffolk County, but in rejecting the governor's request for residential aid, the agency said that "impact to individuals and households in Suffolk County is not of the severity and magnitude to warrant the designation of Individual Assistance."

Floodwaters washed away roads, caused damage to Stony Brook University dormitories and other campus buildings, as well as the Smithtown Library, which keeps records from the 1600s. A dam in Stony Brook burst, setting loose floodwaters that tore away part of a home as residents inside awakened and narrowly escaped.

Other North Shore residents reported storm damage had forced them to seek temporary shelter.

Damage to dozens of homes, roads, bridges and waterways topped $40 million, county officials said afterward.

"I am incredibly disappointed in FEMA’s denial of assistance to those who were affected by these destructive floods," said Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine in a statement Sunday.

"I have already spoken with Governor Hochul and have urged her to immediately appeal this decision," Romaine said.

The governor, who applied for a major disaster declaration in September, has 30 days to appeal the denial, according to FEMA's letter announcing its decision.

"While the federal denial was disappointing, we plan to appeal and will continue fighting to ensure storm-impacted residents have access to recovery resources," said Gordon Tepper, a spokesperson for Hochul.

Last month, FEMA granted a declaration for public assistance funds for Suffolk County, as well as for Lewis and Oswego counties upstate.

Public assistance funds allow state, local and tribal governments to make repairs to infrastructure damaged in a disaster.

"The damage to the infrastructure was significant in the areas designated for Public Assistance," said the FEMA letter.

In a statement, FEMA said the agency bases its decision to deny residential assistance on factors such as "state fiscal capacity and resource availability, uninsured home and personal property losses, disaster impacted population profile," as well as disaster-related unemployment and casualties.

Ron Borgese and Hui Yan fled their house at the corner of Main Street and Harbor Road in Stony Brook in the early hours of Aug. 19 soon after the Stony Brook dam collapsed, Newsday previously reported. They returned in daylight to find that part of the house had simply gone missing.

"Everything was ripped away from us, all of our clothing, all our records are gone," Borgese told Newsday at the time. "We haven’t salvaged anything."

The house has now been condemned, but the couple’s insurance company denied their claim.

Borgese hadn’t heard yet of the denial from FEMA.

"It’s just one more negative drama," he said Sunday after being informed by Newsday of the federal agency's decision.

In Rocky Point, Karen Sinda said the lower level of her house was under 4 to 5 feet of water during the storm. She and her fiance filled four dumpsters with their damaged belongings, and still must replace their electrical and heating systems, insulation — "all of it. It’s tens of thousands of dollars to put it back together again."

Sinda said Sunday she had researched the rules related to FEMA disaster aid and understood the justification for the denial.

"I don’t think FEMA is saying no one was damaged enough," she said.

It’s more about the number of residences that sustained damage.

“ ‘Not enough people suffered enough,’ I think is what they’re saying," she said. "I can tell you the people on my block were damaged enough."

With John Asbury