Obama, FEMA hustle federal disaster relief to Sandy's aftermath
Source: Reuters
The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency also noted on Tuesday that President Barack Obama fast-tracked funds to areas hardest hit as the agency seeks to prove it can smoothly work with the states to give basic relief, just a week before Election Day.
FEMA director Craig Fugate said on a media call on Tuesday that it was a rare move for Obama to declare New York and New Jersey areas of "major disaster" even as the catastrophe was still unfolding.
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Fugate, a former paramedic and firefighter who was previously Florida's top emergency management official, said that FEMA has the necessary funds to respond to Sandy.
Fugate gave no indication on Tuesday about how long the cleanup of Sandy damage would take. FEMA is still working on projects from last year's Hurricane Irene, and Sandy appears to have caused billions of dollars in damages -- twice or even three times the losses of Irene, according to catastrophe forecasting companies.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/31/us-storm-sandy-fema-idUSBRE89U04J20121031?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=71&google_editors_picks=true
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