Category Archives: Hurricane Sandy

Funding the Response and Recovery from H. Sandy – two mechanisms

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Recent postings have focused on the pending Congressional actions for supplemental funding for relief and recovery from H. Sandy.  The prospect looms for a major debate/battle in the Congress.  Hopefully, some discussion of future threats, risks, vulnerabilities will occur and it will not just be another example of the political warfare that Congress has been displaying of late.

There is a second component of the funding that has not been getting much attention – the role and function of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). I am no expert on the details of that program, but a recent NY Times article caught my attention: Flood Insurance, Already Fragile, Faces New Stress, NY Times, Nov. 12, 2012.  One brief excerpt:

The federal government’s flood insurance program, which fell $18 billion into debt after Hurricane Katrina, is once again at risk of running out of money as the daunting reconstruction from Hurricane Sandy gets under way. de it clear to me just how important and how dysfunctional the program is currently.

Since the problems and issues are numerous and complex, please read the full article to understand how important this funding source is and could be.

Thanks to Tom Antush for calling this article to my attention.

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Congress: take time to think

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The western front of the United States Capitol...

A recent editorial in the Washington Post suggests that the nearly $50 B. bill regarding recovery from H. Sandy needs to be carefully thought through and debated.  See: Stopping the Sandy Steamroller, January 5.  The final paragraph states:

If lawmakers are truly concerned with disaster victims, the next thing they will do is act more comprehensively on some of Sandy’s lessons. The National Flood Insurance Program badly requires reform. And Congress will need a more coherent, long-term strategy for the nation’s infrastructure — one passed after due consideration, not under the pressure of time-sensitive disaster aid.

On Jan 7th, from HS Wire, here is more information about what the next Congressional action will be and the politics that accompanies it.

What to Do Next?

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Washington should prepare for disasters, not just react; Considering the frequency of multibillion-dollar natural disasters such as Superstorm Sandy, the government should devote more resources to preparing for them. LA Times, Jan. 4, 2013.

Congress took an important step to discourage development in risky areas last year when it rewrote the rules for the federal flood insurance program, ending counterproductive subsidies for new buildings in flood-prone areas and for existing buildings that had suffered repeated flooding. Now, it needs to promote the same kind of sensitivity to risk broadly, so that state and local governments take a firmer stance against development that ignores the risk of wildfires, hurricanes, floods and earthquakes.

One way to do so would be to insist that state and local governments match at least part of the federal disaster aid they receive, which would make them more leery of lax building codes and overly permissive zoning. Although federal law currently calls for Washington to pay only 75% of the tab for disaster assistance, Congress often reduces or even waives that requirement in the face of catastrophic losses. That’s a humane response, but it also creates a moral hazard.

Sandy’s victims need federal help today, but in the long run, lawmakers should look for other approaches to disaster preparedness besides writing big checks. A good example is the California Earthquake Authority’s proposal to use federal loan guarantees to reduce the cost of earthquake coverage, encouraging more people to obtain policies and, in the process, make their homes more quake-proof. Another idea is to provide tax incentives for local agencies to sell bonds to raise money for post-disaster repairs, as Congress has done for about a dozen states over the last decade. Rather than debating how much to spend in Sandy’s wake, policymakers at all levels should be looking for ways to reduce the cost of the catastrophes that are sure to follow.

Another Problem With Recovery After Sandy – Congress

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Not only the NY and NJ congressional delegations are furious with Congress, but so is the New York Times – see its editorial on Hurricane Sandy Aid, NY Times, January 2, 2013.  They desperately need federal assistance and in a timely manner to assist with recovery processes.

There is a lot of finger-pointing in Washington about who is responsible for the mess made of the so-called fiscal-cliff negotiations, but there is no doubt about who failed thousands of residents and businesses devastated by Hurricane Sandy and still waiting for help: Speaker John Boehner.

Boehner yielded to the political pressure and now has the bill scheduled for attention in January.

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Changing the Calculation for Utilities – pre and post disaster

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In order to achieve more resilience after future disasters, all aspects of the cost-benefit calculations that are made about taking pre-event mitigative steps vs. just paying for repair and restoration post-disaster will have to re reassessed. This example about utilities illustrations the fundamental issue.

Hurricane Sandy Alters Utilities’ Calculus on Upgrades; NYT. December 29. Some excerpts follow:

After Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc with power systems in the Northeast, many consumers and public officials complained that the electric utilities had done far too little to protect their equipment from violent storms, which forecasters have warned could strike with increasing frequency.

But from a utility’s perspective, the cold hard math is this: it is typically far cheaper for the company, and its customers, to skip the prevention measures and just clean up the mess afterward.

Utilities and policy makers can see that ocean surge poses a previously unexpected threat to the power grid. And there is growing recognition that the true cost of disruptions, in terms of gasoline lines, lost workdays and business sales, and shivering homeowners, is far higher than the simple dollars and cents spent to protect the power system. A recent report from the National Academy of Sciences about the vast 2003 blackout in the Eastern United States determined that the economic cost of that disruption was about 50 times higher than the price of the actual electricity lost, and that didn’t take into account deaths or other human consequences.

“We need to think now of not just restoring the grid, but how to make it more survivable,” said Philip B. Jones, president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, a trade association of state officials. “I think most commissioners are coming around to that.”

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Disaster Relief After H. Sandy Slowed by Fiscal Cliff Politics

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Fiscal cliff discussions get in way of post-Sandy relief measure; December 27, 2012; HSWire.

The post-Sandy rebuilding effort in the northeast has been stalled by the debate going on in Congress about a solution to the national debt. The post-Sandy rebuilding effort in the northeast has been stalled by the debate going on in Congress about a solution to the national debt..Hispanic Business reports that Lawmakers from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and several other states are still waiting for support for a measure which would allow   speeding up of clean-up efforts  construction,  but with the  focus on the fiscal cliff, the $60 billion White House Sandy relief request  has taken a back seat.

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NJ – development history and issues

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More of the “I Told You So” or “We Warned You” dept.: Jersey Shore Development Failures Exposed By Hurricane Sandy

When you are dealing with recovery issues in the northeast, most of the community development has occured over many decades and in some cases settlement patterns began centuries ago.  It is not a simple matter to make major changes or to
begin to pay attention to resilience and sustainable development.

On Dec. 13th, the HS Newswire featured this story on the aging instrastructure whose weakness were uncovered after the super storm: One more example of the weaknesses of our aging infrastructure and they the problems are uncovered by a disaster. Sandy exposes weaknesses of antiquated sewage systems in N.Y., N.J.
Published 13 December 2012

Hurricane Sandy destroyed homes, apartments, and entire communities, and it also exposed the outdated sewage systems in New York and New Jersey; since Hurricane Sandy, millions of gallons of raw sewage have infiltrated waterways in both states, and it could take several years and billions of dollars to fix the systems; New York governor Andrew Cuomo estimated that it will cost about $1.1 billion to repair treatment plants; officials in the field say that much more will have to be done. Raw sewage overflow flooded much of New York and New Jersey coastal areas //

Staten Island – the ultimate in recovery problems

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The Samuel I. Newhouse, one of two Barberi cla...

 

A compelling article from the HuffPost on Dec. 6th.: Staten Island’s Hurricane Sandy Damage Sheds Light on Complicated Political Battle.  For those who are not familiar with the many factors that affect recovery, be sure to read this article. It is 9 pages long, but a must read.

Staten Island after H.Sandy bears more resemblance to the 9th Ward of New Orleans after H. Katrina than you might have imagined.

Recovery – NY Style

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Here are some useful examples of what “snap back” and resilient recovery plans look like. It remains to be seen how the conflicts and tradeoffs between the two will be addressed.

Short-Term Recovery:

Winter looming, New York rushes to repair homes hit by superstorm Sandy: Hiring private contractors to repair homes quickly, New York responds to disaster relief in its own entrepreneurial way. Will the city be able to get people back in their homes before year’s end? [This article is based in part on the testimony that NY Congressman Nadler gave at a House Committee Hearing on Dec. 4th, part of which was the basis for my posting yesterday.]

This article covers the inherent conflicts in the recovery process: how to get rapid action on repairs and recovery for homeowners  — in this case in the winter time, in a location where the usual types of temporary housing are not an option. What remains to be determined are ways to mitigate the likely future storm damage.

Long-Term Recovery Plans:

Bravo to Mayor Bloomberg for his understanding of and commitment to a recovery process that results in a more resilient NYC in the future.  On Dec. 6th the Mayor spoke out about long-term recovery intentions:

Resilience After a Disaster – Rhetoric and Reality

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THE RHETORIC: Earlier this week, I posted some information about the lengthy study process and new book from the National Academy of Sciences re Resilience.  See earlier posting  here, including details about their Nov. 30th workshop.

From an intellectual standpoint, the study and the presentations at the NAS this past week are commendable and credible. But my concerns have been practical ones — how will local officials and others responsible for the front lines of emergency management actually adopt the philosophy and apply it in their communities?

Also, of concern is how the federal emergency management agencies (not just FEMA, but EPA, NOAA, HHS, USGS and others)  will champion the cause of resilience and include resilience actions and measures into their work. Note:  FEMA is one of the 9 federal agencies that support the work of the NAS on resilience.

THE REALITY: This week the  FEMA Administrator testified before the House Transportation and Infrastructure e Committee on Dec. 4th.  At the hearing, when pressed about some of the longer-term considerations for the eastern states recovery from H. Sandy, Fugate took the short/narrow view. Some excerpts:

… when legislators asked FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate about these kinds of infrastructure issues, such as developing a long-term strategy for safer housing on the shorelines, he insisted that such issues, while important, were beyond the scope of his agency.

“Again, this goes far beyond what FEMA does, it goes far beyond the Stafford Act,” said Fugate, referring to the law that created the federal disaster relief system that is in place today.

Speaking about long-term housing solutions in New York and New Jersey, Fugate said, “The Stafford Act is a key part of this initial fix … but it does not get to pre-existing conditions, (and) it doesn’t get to some of the regional challenges that we have in that dense population area.”

Fred Tombar, a senior adviser to the HUD secretary for disaster recovery, noted that his agency is developing plans to provide rebuilding assistance – to be made available to communities that qualify for the Community Development Block Grant Program. The rebuilding assistance would help communities “build back in a way that is smarter and safer than what has been done before,” he said.

The source for these quotes is the coverage of the questions and answers from the House Committee Hearing  in this article: House Committte Grills FEMA chief on Long-Term-Fixes in Wake of Sandy.