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By Dujon Ricks
Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (c.) joins a group of
Superstorm Sandy survivors on the 5th anniversary of the storm to advocate for
victims of recent hurricanes.
To mark the fifth anniversary of Superstorm Sandy Sunday in
Broad Channel, state Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Rockaway Beach) and
a working group she convened presented a list of 12 legislative recommendations
to strengthen the National Flood Insurance Program, which is slated to be
reauthorized by Congress this month.
Amato Pheffer believes that Hurricanes Harvey, Irene and
Maria shifted the national conversation on the federal response and that the
working group’s five years of boots-on-the ground experience with Sandy and the
still uncompleted rebuilding in its aftermath could make a valuable
contribution to the process.
“Insurance shapes the whole landscape of resiliency and recovery. That’s why I convened this working group,” Pheffer Amato said. “The rest of the country is, unfortunately, about to experience some of the five-year horror show we went through -- red tape, bureaucracy, and blatant exploitation. But we did come out stronger with a paramount desire to protect others from the worst and least necessary shocks. There’s no one better than a Sandy survivor to bring a list of important ‘To Do’s’ to a nation now grappling with these issues every year. And there’s no more impactful place to weigh in than on NFIP reauthorization.”
The working group’s list of priorities include additional
funding to finish the FEMA maps, along with improved map accuracy, funding for
mitigation efforts, increased accountability of NFIP contractors and caps on
the mandatory required premium for flood insurance among others priorities.
Over half of all Americans live in a county adjacent to a
coastline, and climate scientists expect flooding issues to worsen worldwide
over the next several decades, making legislative steps taken in the near
future potentially decisive as to the success or failure of securing the flood
plain, according to Pheffer Amato.
The working group was comprised of stakeholders from
impacted communities across south Queens whose input is singularly valuable to
the national debate, and who were all too aware of the shortcomings of the
current NFIP during the five years of rebuilding.
“Many of our homeowners were failed by the current NFIP,”
Breezy Point Cooperative Assistant GM Denise Neibel said. “Relief was slow,
painfully bureaucratic and extremely inconsistent. Despite paying into a
program which was meant to protect and assist citizens, the program became the
disaster after the disaster. We hope that by working to reform the NFIP, future
victims of natural disasters will not encounter these same problems. Giving
participants the guidance, answers and assistance they deserve will better
enable them to reconstruct their lives.”
The future flood maps and federal response to flood-related
emergencies will determine the livability conditions for the residents of
southern Queens, according to state Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach).
“Our constituents know too well the minimal, erratic federal
assistance after Sandy and have experienced the severe frustration of having to
recover from its devastation,” Addabbo said. “This firsthand knowledge will be
helpful to our federal government and for future generations, when addressing
the issues related to flood damage and insurance premiums.”
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) vowed to fight to make
much-needed fixes to the flood insurance program and push for a more permanent
solution while U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica) is wary of the current
political climate on Capital Hill.
“My concern is that Republican members of Congress and the
Trump administration think differently and would rather eliminate the
government’s role in ensuring affordable access to flood insurance than reform
the NFIP into a sustainable program,” Meeks said. “We have to strategize and
advocate for a NFIP that works for New York, not one that simply works for
private industry. This working group would go a long way towards achieving that
goal.”
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