In a letter sent to members of the New York State Congressional Delegation today, Mayor Michael Bloomberg asked for $9.8 billion in Federal aid to help the city rebuild after Superstorm Sandy.
That number was calculated from the estimated $19 billion cost of private and public losses to the city, minus a $5.4 billion FEMA reimbursement and $3.8 billion in private insurance.
“This funding will be needed to address the significant local expenses that have been and will be incurred, including costs that are ineligible under FEMA such as hazard mitigation, long-term housing solutions, and shoreline restoration and protection,” Bloomberg said in the letter, which was publically released on Monday, November 26.
The letter also included an outline of the estimated losses the city suffered because of Sandy (numbers are in billions):
1. Numbers in table may not sum due to rounding.
2. Calculated as New York City’s share of high-end overall U.S. insured loss estimates from multiple insurance and risk management companies (Eqecat, AIR Worldwide, Dowling & Partners, Hiscox, Endurance, Willis, QBE, and RMS). New York City’s share was estimated with AIR Worldwide county-level data for NYC boroughs, as a share of AIR’s total estimated U.S. losses.
3. Estimated 125% for uninsured losses (as a share of insured losses); derived from estimates of past storm data from Swiss Re’s report: “Sigma: Natural Catastrophes and Man-Made Disasters in 2011.”
4. Estimates from the New York City Office of Management and Budget and the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.
5. Asset Losses and Emergency Spending. Includes costs of clean-up by City agencies; a more detailed breakdown was not available from individual agencies as of November 21, 2012.
6. Additional Cleanup Costs; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
7. Estimate from Moody’s Analytics.
8. Based on the standard projected FEMA share of 75% of eligible costs for major disasters. Subject to caps on the amount of assistance per individual household. Cleanup costs are estimated at a higher 90% rate based on communications with the New York City Office of Management and Budget.
9. Assumed 50/50 split of Private Uninsured Losses between residential and commercial. All disaster-related assistance to businesses is in the form of loans, so the commercial portion is excluded from the estimated 75% FEMA reimbursement share.
