FEMA coordinated the activities among federal agencies and not-for-profit partners, which rolled out new programs developed post-Hurricane Katrina.
Hurricane Sandy came ashore along the coast of New Jersey and New York City on October 29, 2012, as a powerful storm spanning 1,100 miles. Early estimates of damage approximating $75 billion make it one of the most costly Atlantic hurricanes, second only to Hurricane Katrina. In any natural disaster of this magnitude, significant federal resources are mobilized. Given the early estimates of the disaster, let's examine the disaster life cycle—preparedness, response, and recovery, as well as the coordination among federal agencies.
Preparedness: October 22-28
Similar to the storm watch of Hurricane Katrina when the country followed the forecast of the National Hurricane Center (NHC) Director Max Mayfield, so, too, did we tune in to the national weather news as advisories were issued on Tropical Storm Sandy. The nation continued to watch as it became Hurricane Sandy, hitting Florida and traveling up the East Coast. Unlike other storms, Hurricane Sandy did not turn out toward the Atlantic Ocean. Instead, it turned inward toward the New Jersey shore.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS) began issuing public advisories on Monday, October 22, about a tropical wave in the Caribbean Sea, which was later upgraded to Tropical Storm Sandy with winds approaching 40 miles per hour. As early as October 23, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) predicted the storm would strike the East Coast. Other forecast models anticipated the storm would follow typical hurricane patterns and turn eastward and out to the Atlantic Ocean. The storm strengthened into a category 2 hurricane on October 24 with NOAA issuing watches for the east coast of Florida. The NHC began forecasting landfall in New Jersey.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was involved early, after the initial NOAA advisories, to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to a major civil emergency and to supervise a coordinated response by other federal agencies. FEMA began actively monitoring Hurricane Sandy on October 24. By October 26, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate provided President Obama with a status report of Hurricane Sandy, while Deputy Administrator Richard Serino conducted a conference call with the NWS and partner agencies to assess readiness.
Mobilizing Federal and State Partners
The next day FEMA begin mobilizing its federal partners with the activation of the National Response Coordination Center, a multi-agency center that coordinates federal responses. Health and Human Services Secretary Janet Napolitano and Fugate consulted East Coast governors regarding the storm advisories. FEMA's not-for-profit partner, the American Red Cross, began to mobilize for a response effort with its community partners to prepare shelters and ready-to-eat meals. FEMA's external affairs private-sector division conducted the first daily call with private-sector partners participating in the newly established National Business Emergency Operations Center (NBEOC).
Having been alerted to the potential for severe weather conditions, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency as Sandy hit the Caribbean and announced that the MTA would suspend all mass transit service—subway, bus, and commuter rail—by
7 p.m. October 28. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie also declared a state of emergency, took precautionary steps to mobilize state agencies, and urged residents to prepare for the storm.
As a preparatory measure, President Obama signed emergency declarations for potentially affected states, making federal support available. He joined FEMA on a call with governors and mayors in the path of Hurricane Sandy. At this stage, more than 1,032 FEMA personnel were positioned for deployment along the East Coast to support a disaster response operation.
Response and Recovery: October 30 and Continuing
The morning after Hurricane Sandy hit the Northeast Coast, the president issued a declaration of major disaster for New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, thus initiating a long-term recovery program. The declaration was followed by an initial notice by FEMA announcing the availability of federal disaster assistance to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area affected by Hurricane Sandy beginning on October 26, 2012, and continuing.
At that point FEMA announced the appointment of a federal coordinating officer for federal recovery operations in the affected states and informed residents and business owners who sustained losses in the designated counties that they could begin applying for federal assistance.
FEMA delivered food, water, blankets, generators, and others resources to distribution points to communities affected by Sandy, reporting that more than 1.6 million liters of water and more than 2.1 million meals were transferred to states in the initial distribution of supplies, which would be restocked in anticipation of additional requests for assistance from affected states.
Federal Assistance Across Agencies
FEMA, the Small Business Administration (SBA), and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are the principal partner agencies involved in providing federal disaster assistance. The following federal assistance supports disaster recovery:
Federal Emergency Management Agency
FEMA provides direct and financial assistance to individuals and families whose property has been damaged or destroyed as a result of a federally declared disaster when losses are not covered by insurance.
Individual assistance. Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other essential needs (replacement of loss clothing, damaged furniture and other necessary items; disaster related medical expenses).
Housing assistance. Individuals and families can receive reimbursement for
- short-term hotel expenses
- money to rent a home or apartment for up to 18 months while a home is being repaired
- money to repair damage to a home or to help with the purchase of a new home, if a home is destroyed.
Listing of available rental properties. FEMA established a housing portal, a database of listings of available properties that are not under lease or sales contract, and are ready for immediate occupancy by individuals in a disaster area.
Transitional sheltering assistance. Short-term lodging in hotels or motels is available for disaster victims who cannot return to their homes, until more suitable housing accommodations are available.
Public assistance. FEMA provides federal funding to state, county, and local governments, on a cost-sharing basis, for debris removal and repair and replacement of public facilities, and other emergency protective measures. Certain private not-for-profit organizations that perform governmental-like public services were also eligible funding recipients.
Hazard mitigation grant. Federal funding is also available for hazard mitigation measures to prevent damage from future natural disasters.
Small Business Administration
The larger share of federal disaster assistance is offered as loans administered by the SBA. The SBA issued a disaster declaration for counties affected by a federally declared natural disaster, making residents and businesses eligible for home and business loans.
Over the first six months of the Hurricane Sandy disaster recovery, the SBA provided physical damage disaster assistance in the form of physical disaster loans to homeowners, renters, and businesses. Homeowners could apply for up to $200,000 to replace or repair their primary residence to pre-disaster condition and up to $40,000 to replace personal property. Renters were eligible for loans for their personal property losses, including automobiles.
The SBA also offered the following business disaster loans:
Physical disaster loan of up to $2 million to repair or replace disaster-damaged property, including real estate, inventories, supplies, machinery and equipment.
Economic injury disaster loan is a low-interest working-capital loan intended to help businesses meet financial obligations and pay necessary operating expenses during the disaster recovery phase until normal business operations resume.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
During the early stages of the recovery operation, HUD placed a 90-day moratorium on foreclosure of Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages in a presidentially declared disaster area; made HUD foreclosed properties available for purchase or rental at a discount; and announced the availability of mortgage insurance programs available to disaster victims.
HUD provides community development block grant disaster recovery funding to counties affected by a federally declared disaster to meet unmet housing and economic revitalization needs. Figure 3 shows the HUD allocation of funds to counties affected by Hurricane Sandy, as appropriated by the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013.
Agencies and Partners Step Up
With the response to Hurricane Sandy, FEMA and its partners advanced several initiatives to manage the disaster recovery operation in line with the focus on innovation across government.
FEMA: Expansion of Volunteers Active in a Disaster
In addition to American Red Cross, the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (National VOAD) plays an active role to support a disaster throughout the preparation, response, and recovery phase. VOAD is a coalition of not-for-profit organizations founded in 1970 to create a more coordinated response to disasters based on the experience of volunteer organizations following Hurricane Camille in August 1969. In responding to Hurricane Sandy, FEMA expanded the cadre of volunteers involved to support the disaster recovery mission.
FEMA Corps
During March 2012 the White House announced a partnership between the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and FEMA to establish a service corps of up to 1,600 members devoted to disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation. FEMA Corps also is intended to prepare young adults for careers in emergency management with members serving a 10-month term with an option to extend for a second term. The first members began serving in August 2012, just three months prior to Hurricane Sandy landfall, providing FEMA with the additional volunteer capacity to respond to and support communities and residents impacted by Hurricane Sandy.
FEMA reported that CNCS deployed more than 100 FEMA Corps members to assist with shelter operations during the preparation phase: 30 assisted shelter operations and mass care under the authority of the New Jersey State Administration, while 70 supported American Red Cross shelters across five states. More than 290 FEMA Corps members supported FEMA emergency response operations in eight states. An additional 145 FEMA Corp members were placed on stand-by for possible deployment after Sandy's landfall.
Homeland Security Surge Capacity Force
The Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary to create the surge capacity force, an all-volunteer employee workforce from across DHS and other federal agencies. Former DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano activated it for the first time during Hurricane Sandy. This crew registered more than 400,000 people in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut for FEMA housing and individual assistance at an estimated $600 million.
National Business Emergency Operation Center
Days prior to landfall, FEMA activated the National Business Emergency Operations Center (NBEOC), a newly established public-private-sector clearinghouse, to provide its private-sector partners with daily briefings. The goal of the NBEOC is to engage private-sector and other stakeholders whose resources, capabilities, and expertise can contribute to the disaster response and recovery efforts to accelerate a community's return to normal operation. The NBEOC partners help supply resources necessary to FEMA's ability to mobilize a response and recovery operation: food and groceries, transportation, building supplies management.
In the early months of the Hurricane Sandy recovery operation, as residents began to apply for disaster assistance, FEMA began to announce the availability of hazard mitigation specialists on-site at home improvement stores to discuss rebuilding techniques. Home Depot quickly began to realize increased sales resulting from assisting in the recovery effort, noting that sales and revenue growth at the end of 2012 was attributed to customers purchasing products to repair and rebuild in the New Jersey and New York regions due to Hurricane Sandy. By late February, there were news announcements of a new Home Depot satellite design center opening in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. It appears that FEMA has demonstrated how NBEOC partners can benefit from an involvement in a disaster response and recovery operation.
Small Business Administration
In responding to Hurricane Sandy, the SBA advanced the use of an electronic loan application (ELA) for homeowners, renters, and businesses to apply for a disaster loan. The ELA was developed as an alternative to visiting a disaster recovery center or mailing in a paper application, making it convenient for applicants and creating a more efficient loan approval process.
The SBA reported that by November 6, some 207,752 disaster loan applications had been issued to residents and businesses in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. An accounting of physical disaster loans in New York (April 13) and New Jersey (May 1), revealed that the SBA had approved an estimated $2.3 billion in loans to more than 34,000 residents and businesses affected by Hurricane Sandy.
Housing and Urban Development
HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, who chairs President Obama's Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, established a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a county with 60 percent of its land area below sea level, which has implemented mitigation strategies to allow for controlled flooding. The two countries pledged to collaborate on exploring technical solutions to rising sea levels as an approach to mitigating the impact of future natural disasters.
To encourage mitigation measures as an approach to rebuilding more resilient communities, HUD released a model program for use of community development block grant (CDBG-DR) funds with guidance on developing a buyout program of residential and commercial properties in flood-impacted areas.
Gov. Cuomo proposed spending up to $400 million to purchase homes damaged by Sandy to "repurpose" portions of the coastline into natural barriers or public parklands to mitigate the vulnerability of storm surges. Homeowners whose homes suffered significant damage would be offered the pre-storm value of their homes to move elsewhere. Gov. Christie also made a commitment to offer buyouts to residents of Sayreville, an area that has experienced repeat flooding and where homes collapsed or were severely damaged during Hurricane Sandy. New Jersey also will use CDBG funds to purchase properties in flood-prone areas to demolish and create open space, park amenities, or flood storage and overflow areas as a mitigation technique.
NOAA—Weather-Ready Nation
NOAA's offices are collaborating to use analytics and technology to improve forecasts and enhance preparedness. Focus is being placed on early forecast in issuing public advisories to alert residents of an impending storm and working with communities to implement measures to avoid risks to life and property. For example, NOAA notes that 53 percent of the U.S. population now lives in a coastal zone. Given the force and path of Hurricane Sandy, 400 miles of coastline were evacuated based on the early warnings.
Operating the nation's largest transit system with a daily ridership of more than 5 million, the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) used NWS advisories to make an early decision to close the subway a day before Hurricane Sandy made landfall. Predicting the impact of Hurricane Sandy, NOAA also worked with the airlines to provide updated advisories that resulted in the cancellation of 18,000 airline flights.
The NWS launched Weather-Ready Nation, a pilot program to help emergency managers reduce the impact and risk of extreme weather events. NWS selected six communities to enhance preparedness, integrating regional and national environmental technologies into warning services.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—Automated Debris Accounting
The Army Corps of Engineers engaged more than 720 employees in the Hurricane Sandy response and recovery efforts in support of FEMA and state requirements. An immediate mission led by the Army Corps focused on removing water from six flooded mass transit sites, the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, and other major facilities.
The Army Corps also supported debris removal in New York and New Jersey. To improve efficiency in the management and accounting of debris in a large-scale operation, the corps advanced the use of an automated debris management system and added training for hauler and drivers on the use of the system.
Superstorm Sandy Put Innovation to the Test
Superstorm Sandy helped position FEMA and its partners to introduce and test innovations to better manage future disasters. In the aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina disaster recovery, several federal agencies were commended for their actions. Commendation will, no doubt, be issued to the federal agencies involved in the Hurricane Sandy recovery at a future date.
In particular, FEMA will likely be recognized for advancing plans to engage FEMA Corps to assist with the recovery operation, while providing valuable training for a future cohort of emergency managers. The DHS Surge Capacity Force, the all-volunteer employee workforce, is noted for providing the support need to maximize assistance to residents of communities affected by Hurricane Sandy.
HUD's MOU with the Netherlands will help create models for rebuilding more resilient communities.
NOAA's collaboration on the use of analytics and technology to improve forecasts and enhance preparedness will help communities implement measures to avoid risks to life and property.
