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New York slams Trump for FEMA cuts as state recovers from flash flooding
By
Catalina Gonella
Published Jul 17, 2025
Modified Jul 17, 2025
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Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)
By
Catalina Gonella
Published Jul 17, 2025
Modified Jul 17, 2025
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New York officials say in a lawsuit that the Trump administration’s plans to gut key FEMA funding will leave the boroughs and the state overall vulnerable to deadly natural disasters, including floodwaters that jeopardize New Yorkers’ lives.
“New Yorkers depend on quality roads, floodwalls and other vital infrastructure to keep them safe when disaster strikes,” Attorney General Letitia James said in a press release Wednesday announcing a new multistate lawsuit seeking to stop the federal government from shutting down the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, which pays as much as 75% of the cost for resilience projects. “This administration has no authority to cut this program that has helped save countless lives.”
The lawsuit, which New Jersey’s attorney general also joined, comes the same week as the Northeast was pummeled by a stunning downpour. Tuesday’s storm dropped 2.7 inches of rain on the city in an hour, a record bested only by the 3.15 inches that fell in an hour during Hurricane Ida in 2021.
Waters rushed into subway stations, making for hellish commutes, and the flash floods killed two people in New Jersey and caused a house to explode in New Jersey. Climate experts expect flooding to worsen and threaten already-struggling infrastructure throughout the region.
Projects in New York City have been counting on more than $351 million of funding from the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, according to James’ office.
Those include funds for the Seaport Coastal Resilience Project to reduce floods in the South Street Seaport historic district and the East Elmhurst Cloudburst Flood Mitigation to address severe rainfall by improving stormwater infrastructure.
The Trump cuts also jeopardize a project meant to protect about 45,000 people from flash flooding of the Harlem River, James’ office said.
When the cuts were announced earlier this year, Queens councilmember Sandra Ung, whose district was set to receive $46 million for a flood-mitigation project in Kissena Park, described it as a “life-or-death” issue.
“An entire family lost their lives during Hurricane Ida when their basement apartment near Kissena Corridor Park was inundated in catastrophic flooding,” she said. “The Kissena Corridor project was designed to prevent exactly this kind of catastrophe. It is not feasible to expect city and state governments to find a way to fill these budget gaps in their already-strained budgets.”
Other projects at risk include the NYCHA Polo Grounds Houses Coastal Storm Surge Barrier, which would construct floodwalls on the northeast side of the development in Upper Manhattan to protect it from storm surge, and the Breukelen Houses Stormwater Protection, a phased flood mitigation project for the public housing complex to mitigate flood risk.
According to City Hall, the city will continue working to receive the funds it has been granted.
Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday the city submitted a legal declaration in support of James’ legal challenge.
“As we saw just earlier this week, flooding and extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, and it will take investments from all levels of government, including our federal partners, to keep New Yorkers safe and prepared against these types of emergencies,” Adams said.
A City Hall spokesperson said if the funding remains unavailable, the city would have take stock of projects — evaluating their need, what other funding might be available and how to proceed on a case-by-case basis.
According to the lawsuit, the move to defund the FEMA program in April was illegal because it went against Congress' power of the purse. It says former FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton, who authorized the cuts, and his successor, David Richardson, were not legally appointed by the Trump administration and therefore lack the authority to shut down the program. The suit seeks a court order to reverse the program’s shutdown.
“The impact of the shutdown has been devastating,” the lawsuit reads. “Projects that have been in development for years, and in which communities have invested millions of dollars for planning, permitting and environmental review, are now threatened.”
This story has been updated to reflect a statement from a City Hall spokesperson.
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Catalina Gonella
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