Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces $3 Million in Recovery Funds Available to Orange County Homeowners

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced up to $3 million in funding will be made available to eligible homeowners in Orange County impacted by flooding from recent historic rainfall. These State funds will provide emergency repair grants of up to $50,000 for critical home repairs to homeowners who suffered damage to their primary residence during last week's 1,000-year flooding event.

What a difference a week makes. It looks a lot better. I was here last Monday, just hours after this community was just hammered so hard by the unrelenting rains, nine inches in over five hours. And I know this is a great place of pride and history, but I don't know if you ever wanted to go down in the history books as being the place of the 1,000-year storm event. But that is now something that Orange County and Highland Falls can lay claim to.

I want to thank the people who've been on the ground working so hard. Let me give a special shout out to Kevin Coffey, the Regional CEO of the East New York Red Cross. Kevin, let's give him a round applause for the 60 volunteers that you brought together in this small community, assessing damage in over 1,000 homes and just providing immediate relief as the Red Cross always does. Thank you for living up to the legacy of the Red Cross of being there for our people. So, thank you again to everyone as well.

I also want to give a shout out to Jackie Bray, my Commissioner of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, who has done an amazing job traveling the State, just being so hands-on. She lives in this region, not far from here. She suffers from the same ice storms and power outages and everything. So, she tells me what's going on in her own house, and that's pretty much a snapshot of what's happening in your communities as well. So, let's give a round applause to Commissioner Bray as well.

And we are very fortunate to have the Commissioner of Housing and Community Renewal, RuthAnne Visnauskas. The emphasis today is going to be on community renewal and we're talking about a program that she brought to our attention, as one that can give relief to our homeowners here, we'll be talking about in a couple minutes.

But also, Faith Moore, the Executive Director of the Rural Development Advisory Corporation, who's going to play an important role. Thank you, Faith. Thank you for taking on the mantle of responsibility. But let's talk about our local elected officials. They have been battle-tested and I want to thank, first of all our State partners.

Chris Eachus is here today, our Assemblymember, who came through here with Speaker Carl Heastie, literally just a couple days after the storm. Then the Speaker contacted me and said, "We need to be able to give some relief to these homeowners." And so, thank you for your leadership. Senator Skoufis was involved with us, hands-on last week when this was unfolding and he's not able to be joining us here today, but he is very much involved in getting the State resources to this effort as well.

Also, our County Executive Steve Neuhaus. Thank you. Thank you for being the person who stepped up, was there, the voice of calm during a crisis. It was a pleasure to work with you. I know our team really was appreciative of the engagement of all of the local communities who pulled together during this time. So, let's give our County Executive a round of applause as well.

So, as I just mentioned at the outset, this was just a one week in from when Mother Nature opened up her fury and the heavens opened up, and I was able to see what happened on the main streets and walking into Andy's diner and hearing the stories of people who were having breakfast there because their power was out in their house and we got the power back on. But it's almost what I would call the storm hangover. The streets may start looking good, but you go down the basement and you get a really bad headache. When you start seeing the cleanup that's required. And so, it may look sometimes like we've returned to a state of normal, but it's not really the case.

If you're one of the thousand families who had damage to your home and your most prized possessions, I mean, that's your life story that may have washed away in a box of photos. That happened to me when my kids were little - they keep saying, "Mom, you have no pictures of us when we were little. Didn't you take any pictures?" I took thousands of pictures and a flood washed away along with some of my pictures from my wedding. So I know the pain that's involved when that part of your story is gone forever. That was before we had the cloud. Luckily the cloud is hopefully keeping everybody's photos today.

So, I know what it's like, but also the loss of life. Pamela Nugent, one of our residents here, you know, her story was just coming to light as I was here and how devastating for her family. She's out there trying to help with her dog, and unbelievable sadness associated with the loss of life. And we talk about where we are today. And I'm not going to go into the whole climate change story - you only need to turn on television. You know, the temperatures are rising, you know, records throughout this planet, you know, in our own country, people suffering when there's going to be loss of life because of the extreme heats. Sea levels are rising, rain is falling, and the storms are really getting much, much stronger.

So, when I see what's happening out there, we're doing what we can with our own State policies, but we need everybody from the federal government to other countries to people in their own homes and their communities to feel that they're part of a climate action brigade. So, we're doing this, not that we can stop next week's storm - it's too late. But we are the last generation that can do something to spare our children and their children from what we're starting to see unfold here. And that is the responsibility I feel we all owe to each other.

Also, you know, thank you to the first responders, the paramedics, the EMTs, the firefighters, the police officers, my State Police was real involved, and others who are now in the repair mode of fixing the roads, the bridges, we had to reopen so much. As you know, we've assessed that we had over $50 million in damages, and as I presented last weekend, our letter that went out for a major presidential disaster declaration, I feel very confident.

We've been in constant communication with the White House explaining to them the extent of the damage, $50 million statewide across many, many of our counties. And it was stunning to see the number of the scale of this storm and how many counties were affected. But that is for municipalities. That is to fix the roads and the bridges, the infrastructures, the schools, the town halls, the village halls.

And what about the homeowners? Who's taking care of them? And I doubt that most people have enough money in their bank account to cover unanticipated damage - you know, your appliances are now forever ruined. You have to put on new boards on your porch. You have to do new drywall and carpeting in the basement. I mean, I went through this. I know. In fact, my own home is still damaged from the blizzard in Buffalo, Christmastime. My condo building is still down to studs and concrete floors, and they're still working on insurance issues. So, I know what it's like to even live in the constant reminder that your home is not back to being your home again.

And the problem is for most of us, myself included, especially when you're living on the fourth floor of a condo building, you don't think you need flood insurance. Nor do people living in our streets, in communities like Highland Falls. Why would you need flood insurance? And you know, it seems like you're not just going to be left high and dry, which sounds better. You're going to be left low and wet. That's really the status we're finding ourselves in now. So, we've been working tirelessly since I first walked these streets, and our Assemblymen walk these streets with the Speaker, trying to say, "Is there any money?" Because this is normally the responsibility of the federal government but is there any money that's available at all to help these homeowners here in Orange County. Especially those who are lower-income, moderate-income, middle-class families who don't have this money sitting there.

So, I'm really proud today we've identified a funding source. We'll be announcing and putting forth $3 million available for these homeowners here in Orange County, and this is a lifeline. This will be a lifeline and providing critical emergency repair grants to homeowners who meet the income threshold. And if there's money remaining, we'll be raising those thresholds.

So, the New York Homes and Community Renewal, RuthAnne Visnauskas and her team will be overseeing the program again. Thank you again, Commissioner. Administered by Rural Development Advisory Corporation, a very well-respected local nonprofit. Grants of up to $50,000 will be awarded again to cover emergency repairs that threaten safe living. And I'm talking about electrical and your plumbing and your heating and appliances and flooring and more. So, we stand united in our commitment to not just be there the day after when all the attention is on a community and to walk away and leave you with that hangover. We're here to help and we are reuniting our commitment to rebuild communities, rebuild homes and rebuild people's dreams and their faith again.

So, that's the collaboration of our dedicated partners. We're going to bring the communities and the people who suffered so much bring them back. And the road's going to be tough. Like I said, still dealing with repairs from Christmas. We're told a few more months, but it's at these moments, and especially in a community that's as tightly knit as Highland Falls, it's of our surrounding areas. This is our chance to rise up and show the caliber, the people, the depth of our character. The strength of — this is when you measure the strength of a community, not by the magnitude of the challenges that we're facing, but by the courage and the resiliency we demonstrate in the recovery.

So, let's embark on our journey of rebuilding, revitalizing, and restoring. And I'm excited part of this because I know a lot of times people lose faith in government and they think that, you know, there's not a lot they can do to help you in your everyday lives. We're here to help my friends. We are here. We're not giving up on this community. We're going to help lift you up. And to all the local officials, many of whom I met the other day, I thank you because you're the face of hope for so many people. And that's exactly the role we want to play here with this $3 million assistance program here today.

Again, I want to introduce someone who's been fighting for this community. He's your voice in Albany in our State Capitol. And he is working so hard to make sure the homeowners get the relief and all the support they need. Let me introduce Assemblymember, Chris Eachus.