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Federal Aid Authorized for Storm Victims in New York and New Jersey Distribution of Billions in Aid to Storm Victims Will Test FEMA
(about 4 hours later)
WASHINGTON — President Obama signed major disaster declarations for New York and New Jersey on Tuesday, authorizing the distribution of direct federal assistance to victims of Hurricane Sandy from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. WASHINGTON — With state and local governments handling the bulk of the immediate response to Hurricane Sandy, federal officials here were left with one critical role: bankrolling the effort.
The move by the president comes as FEMA is trying to assess how it can help state and local officials in the areas most affected by the storm, said the agency’s director, Craig Fugate. President Obama by Tuesday morning had declared parts of New York and New Jersey major disaster areas, which opens the door for billions of dollars in aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, both to state and local governments and to individual families hit by the storm.
“We are very much in a response situation,” Mr. Fugate said on CBS. “We are working very closely with the governors’ teams to get those resources in there as they have requested them.” The distribution of this aid will serve as a major test for FEMA, which has a troubled history of overseeing this program, particularly the assistance to individual families and households. Such aid has been subject to chronic fraud and abuse.
FEMA has search-and-rescue teams in the storm zones that are prepared to assist local authorities. It also has large supplies of water, food, cots and other emergency gear, if state or local authorities need them. A report issued last year by the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security estimated that at least $643 million had been wrongly distributed to victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 — given to 160,000 households — but still had not been recouped by the agency, even though it was aware of the apparent payment mistakes or fraud.
In New York, residents of Bronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Richmond, Suffolk and Queens Counties are eligible to apply for individual assistance. In New Jersey, the declaration covers Atlantic, Cape May, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean and Union Counties. The investigators found that FEMA was often too focused on simply giving out money and not on thoroughly checking to make sure the applicants had actually suffered as a result of the storm. As a result, checks have gone to owners of vacant lots, and rental assistance has been sent to families living in FEMA trailers.
Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs and low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses. In some cases, assistance is provided to business owners. “The FEMA attitude is to simply pay the people,” the report said, quoting one of FEMA’s employees. “FEMA begs people to call and apply, even if they are not sure they are eligible.”
Residents and business owners can begin applying by registering online at disasterassistance.gov or by calling (800) 621-3362. W. Craig Fugate, the FEMA director, said in a news conference on Tuesday that FEMA would be focused on trying to prevent fraud, sending out housing inspectors to check applications to ensure that reported damage actually occurred.
Separately, FEMA is taking requests from local and state governments to help them cover cleanup costs, like for debris removal, a senior federal official said. FEMA assessment teams will be sent into the flooded zones to assess damage so that the distribution of recovery money can be expedited. “We are trying to work on that as well without preventing our ability to help people,” Mr. Fugate said, adding that internal reviews showed that improper payments represented less than 1 percent of the money paid to individuals and households.
“You have people going out and doing surveys to determine what is needed,” the federal official said. “Those will start to come back today, and that will drive what we do and what the states do from here.” In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the emphasis has again been on a quick response, with Mr. Fugate boasting on Tuesday about how quickly Mr. Obama had approved the major disaster declaration for New York and New Jersey — even without formal written requests from the states, as is normally required.
As of Monday evening, about 6,700 National Guard forces were on state active duty or were in the process of activating to support governors in seven states hit by the storm. An additional 61,000 National Guard members were available to be called up. That immediate response — which so far has authorized aid to residents of Bronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Richmond, Suffolk and Queens Counties in New York and Atlantic, Cape May, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean and Union Counties in New Jersey — has won Mr. Obama and FEMA praise, even from prominent Republicans.
FEMA, as of Monday, had more than 400,000 liters of water and more than 390,000 meals and thousands of cots at the Lakehurst naval base in New Jersey, in the central part of the state, and more supplies en route, should local authorities need more. “At 2 a.m., I got a call from FEMA to answer a couple of final questions, and then he signed the declaration this morning,” Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said in an interview Tuesday on Fox News. “So I have to give the president great credit.”
The American Red Cross, as of Monday night, had 11,000 people in more than 250 shelters in 16 states, assisted by the 1,700 disaster workers it had sent to the region. It has served more than 25,000 meals and snacks so far. It also was concerned about a possible blood shortage, because about 300 blood drives that had been planned over the past three days were canceled. Mr. Fugate said that FEMA had about $3.6 billion in its disaster relief fund, but that he was prepared to request additional money from Congress if needed. Residents and business owners hit by the storm can begin applying by registering at disasterassistance.gov or by calling (800) 621-3362. FEMA will help with temporary housing and for certain damage that is not covered by homeowner’s insurance.
Anne Marie Borrego, a Red Cross spokeswoman, urged people outside areas affected by the storm to contact the Red Cross and donate blood. Among the assistance offered, FEMA will provide, to those left homeless by the storm, rental payments for up to three months for homeowners and for at least one month for renters, with extensions possible in certain circumstances.
Other states hit by Hurricane Sandy will almost certainly be added to the major disaster designation in the coming days, making residents there also eligible for emergency assistance.
Outside of its financial help, FEMA has received relatively few requests to assist with the immediate rescue efforts, officials said. It has provided emergency generators and distributed ready-to-eat meals and blankets.
The Army Corps of Engineers has also been asked to deploy its team of experts to New York, made up of two hydrologists and two mechanical engineers, who are specialists at draining flooded areas. They are being deployed outside New Orleans for the first time since the unit was created after Hurricane Katrina. FEMA will also be taking aerial images of the disaster zones to do an initial assessment of areas where homeowners with federal flood insurance are entitled to payouts.
Other federal agencies have helped out as well, providing some of the ambulances used to evacuate NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan after its backup power system failed on Monday night. And the National Guard had as of Monday evening about 6,700 forces on state active duty or in the process of activating to support governors in seven states hit by the storm.
But for the most part, Mr. Fugate said, the states have not turned to FEMA as urgently as officials in Louisiana and Mississippi did after Hurricane Katrina.
“We are working with governors of all the impacted states to determine what additional assistance they need,” Mr. Fugate said.