Picente: Cuomo should appeal “outrageous” FEMA flood aid decision

With more than 1,100 homes severely damaged, including one left hanging over an embankment in Deansboro, in last year's Halloween flood, Oneida County residents and businesses should qualify for federal assistance, said county Executive Anthony Picente Jr.

So Picente is asking Gov. Andrew Cuomo to appeal the Federal Emergency Management Agency decision, announced Thursday, not to grant individual assistance in Oneida or Herkimer counties, Picente said at a news conference on Friday morning in the county office building, standing alongside state Sen. Joseph Griffo, R-Rome, a representative from the office of Assemblywoman Marianne Buttenschon, D-Marcy, Whitesboro Mayor Robert Friedlander and Whitesboro Deputy Mayor Vincent Malagese.

"It's outrageous," Picente said. "It really is at a point of complete and utter frustration. ... Why do we have FEMA?"

On Halloween night, between four and six inches of rain fell in Oneida County, leading to numerous incidents of flash flooding, particularly along the Sauquoit Creek, and forcing numerous evacuations.

Picente pointed out that extreme weather is becoming more common and the county also faced severe flooding --and FEMA rejections for individual assistance -- in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017.

The county did quality for public assistance to help with infrastructure repairs, but the welfare of residents is a greater concern, Picente said. "Many people are still not in their homes in many areas," he said.

News of the FEMA denial devastated Whitesboro residents, leaving some sobbing, Friedlander said. "They woke up this morning and they have nothing," he said.

The flooding affected 155 homes in Whitesboro, 40 of which were unlivable and 18 of which were officially declared uninhabitable, Friedlander said. Many of the affected residents are seniors who can't raise the $20,000 or $30,000 they would need to get back into their homes, he said.

"They really thought FEMA was their lifeline," he said.

Malagese is among those living temporarily in an apartment, he said. He had FEMA flood insurance, but it doesn't cover the home's full value. A structural engineer, sent by FEMA, determined that fixing his house would cost more than it's worth, Malagese said.

But he and his wife can't rebuild without putting the house on stilts, which would also cost more than the home is worth, he said.

"We're one of the lucky ones, but it still wasn't enough to get back into our home," he said.

Some homeowners didn't qualify for flood insurance, some have policies that only kick in if the living quarters are sufficiently damaged and renters typically have no insurance to cover lost belongings, Picente said.

He criticized FEMA for not presenting clear criteria on how counties can qualify for assistance and for looking at the state as a whole instead of judging individual counties.

In a statement, a FEMA spokeswoman said the flood's impact on individuals and households was "not of such severity and magnitude as to warrant the designation of Individual Assistance."

There is no specific threshold for damage or the number of homes affected to trigger that designation, she said. But the agency takes a number of factors into consideration, she said, including:

• Amount and type of damage, including the number of homes destroyed or with major damage.

• Impact on infrastructure

• Imminent threats to public health and safety

• Impacts to essential government services and functions

• Dispersion or concentration of damage

• Level of insurance coverage for both homeowners and public facilities

• Available assistance from other sources

• State and local resource commitments from previous, undeclared events

• Frequency of disasters in a recent time period

• A need for something only the federal government can supply

State Sen. Joseph Griffo, R-Rome, the federal government should rethink its approach given how much more common severe weather is becoming. It needs a formula that includes empathy, he said.

"It's time for them to rethink and re-examine how they deliver that aid," Griffo said.

Picente echoed that call, saying, "It's time to do it differently. It's time that FEMA looks at these things differently."

Picente wrote a letter to President Donald Trump asking him to reconsider the FEMA decision.

Oneida County has put $500,000 into a fund, administered by The Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties, to help homeowners with immediate needs to make their homes livable, such as new furnaces and hot water heaters. The fund has been supplemented by private donations worth somewhere around $50,000 or $100,000, Picente said.

Each household may receive a maximum grant of $7,500, he said.

"In a few cases, it's enough," he said. "In many cases, it's not."

Contact reporter Amy Neff Roth at 315-792-5166 or follow her on Twitter (@OD_Roth).

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