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Task Force Hopes Lessons Learned From Sandy Will Mitigate Impact Of Future Disasters

John Minchillo
/
AP

A Suffolk County task force has released 125 recommendations to improve disaster response and preparedness as part of a two-year study of Superstorm Sandy’s impact. 

The Superstorm Sandy Review Task Force report coincides with the seventh anniversary of the storm. The 31-member panel analyzed Suffolk County’s recovery, infrastructure and prestorm preparedness. 

The recommendations include a new “Recovery Advocates” program to help guide property owners through reconstruction, and enhanced partnerships to share resources before, during and after a disaster. 

Suffolk County Legislature Presiding Office DuWayne Gregory commissioned the report.

“It is my hope that we will be able to partner with Nassau County as it relates to the bi-county recommendations, and we will work with our local, state and federal officials to address recommendations appropriate for them.” 

Gregory says he does not want the Task Force’s recommendations to sit on a shelf. 

Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York says that Long Islanders whose homes were destroyed in the storm are being forced to pay back federal grant money they received through a home reconstruction program.

New Yorkers who were approved for funds from the NY Rising Community Reconstrution Program and who received the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s grant for disaster relief are now being told that they were not eligible for grant funding and must pay it back.

Gillibrand issued a new bill that would waive a rule prohibiting disaster survivors from receiving duplication of benefits, or grant funding from different federal programs.

Her bill would also allow Sandy survivors who took out Small Business Administration loans to keep their grant money. 

nw_Gillibrandbill_191029.mp3

Desiree reports on the lives of military service members, veterans, and their families for WSHU as part of the American Homefront project. Born and raised in Connecticut, she now calls Long Island home.
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