PD Editorial: Federal disaster agencies need full funding

Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf Coast six weeks ago, causing widespread flooding, killing at least 82 people and leaving as much as?$190 billion of damage in its wake.

Damage is still being tallied for Hurricane Irma, which struck Florida less than two weeks later, killing 61, but estimates run as high as $100 billion.

Next came Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico in mid-September, followed by Nate, which blew through Alabama and Mississippi last week.

Now, wildfires are burning in Northern and Southern California, leveling entire neighborhoods, including many of ours, and leaving thousands of people newly homeless and/or jobless. The scale of each of these disasters is so vast that no single state can manage them alone.

Only the federal government can muster the resources - human and financial - required for the immediate response as well as the lengthy recovery that would follow any of these natural disasters, much less this fall’s succession of calamities.

FEMA, the primary federal emergency response agency, generally got good marks for a rapid response to Harvey and Irma, though not so much after Maria (unless you define success as aerial delivery of free paper towels). FEMA damage assessment teams already are in Sonoma County to expedite recovery efforts.

State and local resources play a vital role, too. First-responders from Sonoma County agencies have worked around the clock all week. Cal Fire, the CHP and other agencies throughout the state came right away, just as local agencies regularly do when other communities need assistance.

But the first phase of any disaster is a sprint to save lives, save homes and shelter the displaced. Recovery, as Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Coursey has emphasized, will be a marathon.

Private insurance will cover some losses, but not all of them. Roads, power lines and other infrastructure also must be repaired, and those costs will run into the billions, far outstripping local and state resources. An already tight housing market will grow tighter still.

On Thursday, the House voted to provide $36.5 billion in aid for communities hit by recent floods and wildfires. Supplemental appropriations aren’t uncommon after disaster strikes. Indeed, Congress already passed one this fall.

For any person who gets a grant to rebuild or any town that gets help fixing infrastructure, the relief money is a godsend. But the federal government also needs to think ahead - to prepare for the next disaster and to find ways to protect communities if, as appears to be happening, climate change produces more ferocious hurricanes and wildfires.

Yet President Donald Trump submitted a budget proposal that would cut funding for emergency assistance programs and require state and local governments to put up larger amounts of matching money to qualify for assistance.

Trump’s budget also envisions cutbacks for programs at NASA, NOAA and the National Weather Service dedicated to preparing the impacts of climate change, such as more accurately mapping flood-prone areas and developing better forecasting models.

The United States is experiencing larger and more frequent disasters. When they occur, Americans will rise to the occasion, helping one another as we’ve seen this week in Northern California. But they need more help, not less from Washington, something that can be overlooked or even denied until there is a fire, a flood or some other disaster.