The Committee Plans to hold this congress. After examining the history of the Scientific Consensus on Climate Change and the Public Health effects of Climate Change in our first two hearings, today the subcommittee turns to the impact of Climate Change on Natural Disasters. This subcommittee has three goals today. First, were going to illustrate how Natural Disasters are made both more intense and more frequent due to Climate Change. Climate change is real. We are con substantiate constan of that fact. Greenland lost 2 billion tons of ice in one day alone. 2 billion tons of ice lost in a day and weve got people still telling us not to worry that Climate Change isnt a problem. The American People know better and they know because they are already suffering from the effects. Michael man is here today to explain how and why we are seeing more intense hurricanes, more frequent wildfires and more devastating flooding because of Climate Change. Our second goal today is to examine how the federal government could have responded better to the 20172018 spate of Natural Disasters, steps the federal government has taken to address these challenges as well as explore ongoing recovery challenges, not to point fingers and cast blame, but rather because the best way to improve performance in the future is to implement the lessons from past mistakes. Third, we are going to assess how well fema and other federal agencies as well as local governments are prepared for the hurricane and wildfire seasons and also for the longterm given that Climate Change is causing more intense and frequent Natural Disasters. Every single one of nus this room wants fema to succeed. This subcommittee planned to have the acting deputy administrator of fema dr. Daniel knausky testify here today. Fema informed us they were uncomfortable with the structure of the Witness Panel and thus would not be able to make it to the hearing. When staff contacted fema monday morning, we were then informed that the doctor was unable to testify due to medical reasons. We extend our sympathies to the doctor and wish him a speedy recovery. The subCommittee Plans on having him before the subcommittee as soon as he is able. We do not need to look very far to see the personal costs associated with Natural Disasters in the wake of Climate Change. Representative cay tee hill wka forced to evacuate her home as the stone far raged. The past two seasons, 2017 and 2018 were the two deadliest wildfire seasons in u. S. History with major wildfires across at least nine states. Its also worth noting that these devastating fires also aggravate the impact of Climate Change through the release of large quantities of Carbon Dioxide and other greenhouse gasses into our atmosphere. Hurricanes harvey, her irma and maria hit within just a month of each other in 2017. The consequences were devastating. You know we often hear our colleagues tell us we act like the sky is falling. In this case the sky is literally falling. Hurricane harvey was the wettest storm on record, dumping 33 trillion gallons of water on the greater houston area. It was also the second costliest hurricane in history, second only to katrina. Irma cost more than 65 billion and knocked out power for as many as 16 Million People. Maria was the deadliest storm in puerto rico since 1928 killing over 2900 americans and leaving the island without power. Puerto ricans faced massive Food Shortages and suicide hotlines in puerto rico reported a 286 increase in suicide attempts from november of 2017 through january of 2018 compared with the same time frame the previous year. Emails from the department of defense discussed mass areas hit by mudslides. The only hospital on the island has been destroyed by maria and still has not been rebuilt. I know that every Single Person in this rooms heartbreaks at these stories. Many of us remember feeling the same way in august of 2005 watching the shocking footage of the city of new orleans after Hurricane Katrina. That was 14 years ago. These record breaking storms and wildfires keep coming ever more often, ever more powerful. Responding to Natural Disasters is a much different beast than it was when fema was founded back in 1979. One of the reasons why response and recovery has gotten so much more challenging since then is obviously Climate Change. In march 2018 fema removed all references of Climate Change from its fouryear Strategic Plan. This decision is simply baffling. If we all know Climate Change is happening, surely it should factor into longterm Strategic Planning at our nations largest and most powerful Disaster Response agency. The trump administrations own Fourth NationalClimate Assessment expects that the intensity of hurricanes, wildfires and floods will increase as Global Warming continues. We need to adjust to this new reality and meet the needs of our fellow americans. We have here with us today top Emergency Management officials from puerto rico, the u. S. Virgin islands, houston, texas, and california. Were going to let them tell us what they have seen and learned firsthand. Almost two years after the hurricanes and the wildfires, what do their communities look like, how are people faring, what more needs to be done, how can we in Congress Help them get the money they need to recover and how can federal agencies help them not only respond to immediate needs in the aftermath of these disasters but rebuild their communities to be more resilient. It is not a question of if, it is a repeated question of when, when and when. John don famously wrote that no man is on an island apart of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent. When one person in america suffers, we all do. When people lose their homes, their loved ones and their sense of stability and community, we all feel it. And so i want us to come out of this hearing today with a plan to diminish this suffering. We are dealing with massive stakes here. It is literally a matter of life and death. And at its core thats exactly what this series on the effects of Climate Change is all about, life versus death. The choice is clear and were determined to make the right one. Thank you very much and i now invite my colleague mr. Comer. Thank you for holding this hearing today. This committee has a long history of bipartisan oversight. This includes work dating back to the examination of the response to Hurricane Katrina and more recent efforts just last year looking at reformed designed to enhance femas ability to quickly and efficiently respond when disaster strikes. In 2017, hurricanes harvey, irma and maria hit the United States. Combined with wildfires in california these Natural Disasters created Unprecedented Demand for federal Disaster Response and recovery resources. Geographical areas most directly impacted by each event presented distinct challenges and required unique responses by local, state and federal responders. Since 2017 Hurricane Season, officials from all levels of government along with countless businesses and nonprofits have worked to repair roads, remove debris, restore power and rebuild communities. I want to thank mr. Curry from g. A. O. For appearing today. I look forward to hearing about changes and progress that fema has made in its effort to prepare for extreme weather events and help localities deal with their aftermaths since katrina and the 2017 Hurricane Season. Of course im interested also in new steps that federal agencies and we here in congress can take to better prepare for and respond to Natural Disasters of all types. What policy changes will reduce future vulnerability, empower communities and allow for quicker and more seamless recovery. I also want to thank dr. Curry and dr. Man for providing testimony to the committee today. I think its important to note it seems every major weather event in recent years is followed almost immediately by claims on cable news channels and social media that its occurrence is directly linked to Climate Change. This overheated rhetoric can serve as a distraction from focusing on the proper role of the federal response to these disasters, which is why this hearing is convened. Its clear from recent Natural Disasters that many parts of the country are very vulnerable to weather extremes. Its my hope that efforts to spur continued improvements in weather forecasting will lead to an ability for communities to better prepare. Still Natural Disasters have been and will continue to be a reality of the world that we live in. Inevitably the United States will face another devastating storm or Natural Disaster. Thats why advanced planning informed by he Lessons Learned m previous disasters is critically important. With that i yield back. Thank you. Now i want to welcome our witnesses. James lee wit, former director fema, christopher p. Curry director Emergency ManagementDisaster Recovery. Dr. Michael e. Man, distinguished professor of meteorology. And dr. Judith curry, president climate forecast applications network. Please stand and raise your right hands. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony youre about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god . Please be seated. Let the record show that the witnesses answers in the affirmative. The microphones are sensitive so please speak directly into them. Without objection your written statement will be made a part of the record. Mr. Whit, youre recognized to give an oral presentation of your testimony for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman and ranking mr. Comer thank you and the members of the committee. Its my privilege to appear before the committee today to talk about issues very important to our citizens and communities. These issues involve how we Work Together to mitigate, prepare, respond to recover from disasters. I have dedicated my career to working with communities on these issues. I had testimohe privilege of se as director of fema from 19932001. President clinton recognized that it was important that our citizens could count on the government to be there and help them when they needed it most. I came to fema during a time when this philosophy was not often followed. I was tasked to rebuild an agency that several members of Congress Called for abolishing after mismanagement, poor responses. With strong support from congress and the administration we proceeded to reform and rebuild fema. We were immediately tested with the devastating midwest floods of 1993. This flooding impacted nine states. We streamlined our operations, we responded well, but we wanted to engage individuals in a program that would prevent the economic and social dislocation caused by the flooding from ever happening again. With support of congress we engaged local citizens in a voluntary program to buyout their homes in the floodplain. In missouri alone we bought out over 4,000 homes in one holwhol town. This town had flooded 41 times in its history. There was 18 businesses and 42 residents and they all agreed to relocate on the hill. The only one that did not relocate was the mayor. Throughout my time at fema mitigation became the high priority. The idea was to prevent people and communities from becoming the victims of disasters. We yi the program provided seed money to communities if they would take four simple steps, infodeny their hazards, priority a plan to address each hazard. We started out with seven communities and by 2000 we had 250 communities in this program. Congress gave me 25 million for this program. We had communities wanting to join this community. They didnt want seed money. They wanted us to help them build a Public Private partnership to eliminate the risk. The last summit we had in washington for this program was in 2000. There was 2500 local officials and volunteers and partners that attended this summit. We had over a thousand corporate and Business Partners participating. It was a very successful program. One of the key supporters of this program was the private sector and the Financial Support of mitigation projects was a major success. Let me just say this in closing. When i was director of fema working with all the state directors and we had 340 president ial disaster declarations the eight years i was there, 93 floods, 94 earthquake, 95 bombing of oklahoma city, plus numerous hurricanes and tornados in between. One of the keys that helped states move much faster in hole communities was i put in a policy of working with each of the state directors of Emergency Management where they would do their damage estimates and get them to us as quick as they possibly could with the request for a president ial disaster declaration. We would advance them 50 of that estimate up front so they could get the debris removed, get contracts in place because theyre going to be audited anyway. Then we would go back in and work with them on damage assessments to see if it totalled to the amount they gave us. It made a big difference in the Recovery Efforts. They could recover much faster and much easier. One of the things that i think you consider looking at because fema has a shortterm Housing Program, hud has the cbdg for the longer turn. Look how you could combine them. I think that might help. One of the things i would highly recommend in closing is that fema be brought out of Homeland Security as an independent agency again. Theres too much red tape, too much bureaucracy and it does slow down the process. Thank you. Id now like to recognize mr. Curry for five minutes oral testimony. Thank you. Its an honor to be here today. Since katrina we have done work in almost every area of femas operations. We have found major progress in a number of areas but there continue to be some challenges too. 2017 was a historic year. Thats been said many times in terms of costs and impact. I think it would be a mistake to look at that as a onetime event. 500 year floods seem to be happening every year, wildfire seasons are getting longer. Frankly our infrastructure is more expensive to repair. All of these things are leading to additional disaster costs. Also as state and local capabilities are overwhelmed by these events, the expectation for federal assistance is only going up. Since 2005 we found that the federal government has spent almost 450 billion on Disaster Response and recovery. Thats just not a sustainable path moving forward in the future given our budget situation. Id like to dive into some areas specifically on response. Our work on the 2017 disasters was a mixed story. In texas, florida and california, what we saw is that years of reforms after katrina, a lot of preparedness efforts helped to handle with big challenges. We were able to evacuate numerous victims out of wildfire zones, flood victims in Hurricane Harvey and restore power to 6 Million People in florida relatively quickly. Thats the good news. The bad news is in the territories, in puerto rico and the Virgin Islands we struggled. Fema struggled and the territories struggled too. Fema has provided more dollars in puerto rico and the Virgin Islands together than all those other states i mentioned gi eed combined. That just shows the size and challenge of the problem that existed there. The other issue is the federal workforce femas had. Longstanding challenges weve been pointing out for years on the inability to train the workforce and retain the number of people we need to handle a situation. A number of our recommendations in that area continue to be open and are just as valid today as when we made them over five years ago. Id also like to talk about recovery which is where we are right now with the 2017 disasters. Anybody on this committee thats had a federal disaster in their jurisdiction understands that these federal recovery programs can be very complicated, time consuming and frankly very frustrating. We hear it all the time in our travels around disaster l