Officials from both states have warned that the monumental storm — which led the National Weather Service to declare a flash flood emergency for New York City for the first time in its history — is not an outlier, but the sign of extreme weather to come.
“The world is changing,” Mr. Murphy said last week at a news conference held after he toured Mullica Hill in South Jersey, where homes were destroyed by a tornado. “These storms are coming in more frequently. They’re coming in with more intensity. As it relates to our infrastructure, our resiliency, our whole mind-set, the playbook that we use — we have got to leap forward and get out ahead of this.”
Over the weekend, Ms. Hochul announced that she also directed $378 million to securing the state’s infrastructure against future climate disasters, using funds from money FEMA previously awarded to the state to mitigate the hazards of extreme weather.
Both governors are scheduled to join Mr. Biden during his visit on Tuesday.
The visit to New York will be the president’s second tour of the storm’s wake. Last week, Mr. Biden visited Louisiana, where hundreds of thousands are still without power, facing water shortages, closed schools and damaged homes. The state is still struggling to assess how many millions of dollars in damage it has sustained.
In New York, many have only just begun to clean up the wreckage.
Michael Ferraro, 28, who lives in Flushing, Queens, with his 27-year-old brother, said their homeowner’s insurance policy only covers water damage incurred from hurricanes and sewer lines, not flooding. They’ve received a total of $2,200, Mr. Ferraro said, and do not expect to get any more.
“This is really good news,” Mr. Ferraro said of Monday’s announcement. “It’s promising, it’s hopeful. The check we got through insurance, it was a slap in the face.”
Mr. Ferraro said they also received about $5,000 through a GoFundMe campaign — money he’s grateful to have, but will still not fully offset the bills for repairs needed after water poured through the first-floor window of their two-story home on 153rd Street, destroying their newly renovated kitchen, and soaking through the bathroom and bedrooms.
“There are many, many people on this block that are hurting for something — big time,” Mr. Ferraro said. “This shouldn’t be something that just goes to the back of people’s heads, or is forgotten about.”
Chelsia Rose Marcius contributed reporting.
