Long Island needs feds for disaster prep and response

Yet another hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean has put Long Island on notice — we will be hit again by a major weather disaster in the future.

The East Coast and Long Island will be spared from Hurricane Melissa's full force as shifting winds push it out to sea. For Caribbean nations, however, the damage is severe and the death toll already is in the dozens.

Melissa struck Jamaica Tuesday as one of the strongest storms ever recorded. It will take days if not weeks to fully evaluate the devastation and loss of life, and years and billions of dollars for the island to recover. Cuba, Haiti and more locales face similarly daunting futures coping with Melissa's impact. The State Department said it was sending disaster response teams to help.

For Long Island, the warning is clear — prepare now.

A report this week by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli declares the obvious — Long Island is the epicenter for weather dangers in the state. As Long Island marks the 13th anniversary of Superstorm Sandy this week, DiNapoli's report is a blunt reminder that the Federal Emergency Management Agency gave $25.5 billion for recovery in New York and New Jersey — not out of charity but necessity because of the breadth of destruction.

DiNapoli's report states that since 1998, federal assistance for declared disasters averaged just under $1 billion a year in New York. Suffolk County, according to the report, has had more severe weather events from 1996-2024 than any other county in the state. And Nassau and Suffolk counties combined received more than half of the federal disaster money for flood remediation that New York received total from 1978-2024.

New York must continue to fund storm resiliency projects, but the enormous resources of the federal government are needed. Preparation remains the best policy for helping communities, and that includes storm mitigation.

Dismantling FEMA by reducing funding, staff and research will likely have long-term negative effects. Certainly, FEMA's bloat can be trimmed while maintaining the integrity and efficiency of the agency. But states can't be expected to go it alone. The federal government exists to protect the union and its citizens from the gravest threats.

The federal government's cooperation — and money — is critical for states to maximize safety and reduce damage, and then rebuild after a storm. Weather disasters are increasing in frequency and intensity. Is Long Island's infrastructure, including its mostly older electric grid, able to withstand the next big storm? What more can be done to mitigate damage, especially flooding, before a storm hits? How can we improve alerts so more residents heed evacuations? The answers require money.

The Caribbean was just hammered by Melissa. Tomorrow, it could well be Long Island facing a severe weather disaster. Long Island's congressional delegation must remain committed to real action and money from the federal government to protect people and property from weather disasters.