FEMA Denies Individual Assistance For 2nd Time To Orange County

ORANGE COUNTY, NY — Help for dozens of Orange County residents whose homes suffered significant damage because of July’s flooding will not be coming from the federal government.

Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus said the Federal Emergency Management Agency has for the second time denied Individual Assistance for residents in the Highland Falls, West Point, Cornwall and Central Valley areas of the county.

“I’m disappointed in the federal government’s refusal to assist our residents who are still recovering from the effects of the storms in July 2023,” Neuhaus said.

Orange County stepped up and provided whatever was needed, he said, including funding, air conditioning, portable toilets, emergency services and public works assistance.

The county collaborated with local organizations and individuals, as well as the Red Cross, Samaritan’s Purse and Team Rubicon to help residents begin the process of getting back on their feet.

“Almost nine months later, the county continues to help, providing additional funding to the school district for its food assistance program, as there are many more students and families in need this year than in the past,” Neuhaus said.

Pete Cirigliano, commissioner of emergency services, said the Orange County Emergency Operations Center was opened and staffed on July 9 and remained open until July 31.

He said his team helped coordinate the preliminary damage assessments for FEMA individual assistance reimbursement, as well as the appeal after the first request was denied.

“This decision to refuse financial assistance to several hundred families, who have already lost so much, strikes to the core,” Cirigliano said.

Neuhaus said that FEMA’s decision confirms what he often says to his county department heads: Assume no one is coming to help and we are on our own.

“I just wish in this case that I weren’t right,” he said.

Neuhaus said he is now calling on the United States Small Business Administration to provide low-interest SBA federal disaster loans to all victims of the disaster, adding that it may be the last chancd to help the residents and small businesses that are still trying to rebuild.