On Monday evening, extreme flooding hit parts of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The NYC Subway lines were heavily flooded, and roads had to be closed due to the heavy rain, causing major delays in all forms of transportation. Many cars and buses were stranded, flights delayed, and states of emergency were declared in many areas.

What will happen when Trump does away with FEMA completely? How will States be able to deal with these weather events on their own? Since intense weather events are happening more often, cities and states need to prepare now. When Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012, all of our coastal areas were caught off-guard. Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Long Island’s South Shore, and the Jersey Shore are all vulnerable to extreme flooding in future significant weather events. In 2020, construction began on the East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) project, which is a 2.4-mile system of flood walls and floodgates designed to protect the East Side of Manhattan, and a similar project is set to start on the West Side of lower Manhattan too.  This will be helpful to protect the areas that are within the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) flood hazard boundary. FEMA publishes flood maps to help people understand their risks and make decisions for home buying and flood insurance purposes. What will happen when these tools no longer exist?

Since Trump took office, more than 2,000 jobs have been eliminated from FEMA, and the administration has pledged to cut the agency completely.  Back in May, Trump fired FEMA’s Administrator, Cameron Hamilton, after he defended the agency during a House Appropriations Committee meeting where he was asked about Trump’s plans to eliminate the agency. The future of Emergency Management in this country is at great risk, especially if you are from a state that doesn’t always agree with Trump.

If you live in NYC, find out more about the flood risk where you live at floodhelpny.org

If you do not live in NYC, you can look at FEMA’s version here.