Bipartisan Misery: New Tool Shows 91% of Congressional Districts Hit by Climate-Related Disasters
As extreme weather continues to hit the United States from coast to coast, Rebuild by Design is launching the Atlas of Accountability, a new mapping tool designed to help communities and policymakers understand their localized exposure to extreme weather disasters and the benefits of investments in resilient infrastructure that can make communities safer.
The analysis finds that from 2011-2023:
- 91% of congressional districts have been hit by at least one federally-declared climate disaster.
- 72% of states have had more than 10 disaster declarations.
- Every county in 24 states has had a disaster declaration.
- Of the 23 congressional districts that have experienced 10 or more disasters, over two-thirds are represented by Republicans while nearly one-third are represented by Democrats.
Such experience across the political spectrum and American geography emphasizes the urgency of bipartisan cooperation and the need to unite across the urban-rural divide.
“Our research clearly shows that extreme weather is not a partisan issue,” said Amy Chester, Director of Rebuild by Design at New York University. “Constituents all over the U.S. are suffering through these events, with lasting consequences. Now is the time to shift those post-disaster dollars to programs that help communities prepare for climate events so they do not need to suffer first.”
Rebuild by Design’s Atlas of Accountability is an interactive map that allows users to identify past federal disaster declarations and recovery funding for climate-driven events county-by-county, and congressional representatives district-by-district. In the wake of a disaster, recovery funding is essential for helping communities get critical infrastructure running again and preparing for future events. The National Association of Building Sciences found that $1 invested pre-disaster can save up to $11 of taxpayer money after a storm.
The Atlas of Accountability looks at where two major pools of funding, totaling $106.4 billion, have been allocated after extreme events:
- To address immediate public sector and infrastructure recovery, over $62.6 billion has moved to local governments through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Public Assistance and Hazard Mitigation programs.
- $43.8 billion of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant-DR funding went to supporting post-disaster investments.
Other data resources in the analysis include: allocations of FEMA funding (Public Assistance and Hazard Mitigation) by county; total amounts of funding to states after disasters (FEMA and HUD); and a link to detailed and downloadable 2021 state data that shows each state’s social vulnerability and energy reliability, as well as wastewater discharge and superfunds sites.
Weather related disasters that have led to Federal Emergency declarations include fires, floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Though much of the U.S. has already experienced extreme heat events this summer, and despite being the number one weather-related cause of death in the U.S., heatwaves have never been the cause of a federal disaster declaration.
While these numbers seem bleak, the report recommends a number of actions the U.S. can take to protect communities’ lives and livelihoods, including investing in preparedness and stronger, resilient infrastructure by:
- Shifting post-disaster federal dollars to pre-disaster funding so communities can invest in infrastructure before they suffer.
- Creating new sources of dedicated funding, through state voter referendums, surcharges on certain types of insurance coverage, and state-level superfund laws.
- Mandating that U.S. insurance companies take into account mitigation measures when pricing insurance policies, which would incentivize policyholders to take actions such as wet-proofing ground floors, raising mechanical systems, and taking other steps to mitigate disaster risks that will save all taxpayers money–just as FEMA does with the National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System.
- Creating better infrastructure that is built to withstand climate events for its lifespan and is designed to address both physical and social vulnerabilities.
- Amending the Stafford Act to ensure that heat waves are treated the same as other federal disasters and deploying resources to communities that have been suffering, and will suffer more as the planet gets hotter.
The Atlas of Accountability builds on Rebuild by Design’s 2022 report, “Atlas of Disaster,” which takes a look at county-level disaster declarations, post disaster federal assistance, social vulnerability, and energy reliability for the years 2011-2021. The report provides an overview of the challenges embedded in current U.S. federal disaster policy and provides a roadmap for states to develop sustainable, state-level resilient infrastructure projects in collaboration with the most physically and socially vulnerable communities
