INSIGHTi
Climate Change, Slow-Onset Disasters, and
the Federal Emergency Management Agency
Updated November 12, 2021
FEMA and Climate Change
The United States is already experiencing certain effects of climate change, including high temperature
extremes and heavy precipitation events. The U.S. Global Change Research Program, among many other
bodies, expects these trends to continue and intensify, likely resulting in more severe and frequent “slow-
onset” events (e.g., drought; sea level rise), compound disasters (e.g., extreme rainfal combined with
coastal flooding), and cascading events (e.g., landslides following wildfires). Such events may not have
clearly defined start or end dates, and cumulative damage may not be immediately apparent.
Congress may consider how these events affect the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA),
which administers federal disaster relief authorized under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and
Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act, P.L. 93-288, as amended). Although FEMA does not have an
explicit mission to address climate change, the agency is increasing its activities related to nationwide
adaptation to some of its effects, including extreme weather events. This Insight highlights issues FEMA
may face when activating the Stafford Act for slow-onset events endemic to a changing climate. Slow-
onset disasters are not mentioned or defined in the Stafford Act, FEMA’s regulations, or guidance, nor are
they included in existing emergency or major disaster definitions.
Stafford Act Declarations
The Stafford Act authorizes the President to declare an incident an emergency or a major disaster. A
Stafford Act declaration serves as a means to provide federal assistance to states, territories, and tribes for
incident response, recovery, and mitigation. FEMA may authorize several forms of assistance pursuant to
a Stafford Act declaration, including Individual Assistance (IA), Public Assistance (PA), and Hazard
Mitigation Assistance (HMA).
Under the Stafford Act, governors or tribal chief executives may request an emergency or major disaster
declaration when an incident is “of such severity and magnitude” that state, local, tribal, or territorial
governments (SLTTs) are unable to effectively respond without federal assistance.
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
IN11696
CRS INSIGHT
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The Stafford Act defines a major disaster by listing incidents or situations that exemplify major disasters:

Stafford Act declarations general y respond to rapid-onset events that cause a measurable amount of
damage in a particular geographic area over a defined period of time. FEMA refers to the time interval
during which the event occurs as the incident period. Per FEMA regulations, Stafford Act assistance shal
only al eviate “the damage or hardship ... which took place during the incident period or was in
anticipation of that incident.”
The Stafford Act and Slow-Onset Events
Current authorities may limit FEMA’s ability to provide assistance for slow-onset events like on-going
inland high water levels, “sunny-day” flooding, sea level rise, erosion, and drought. Damages accrued
during slow-onset events may not be easily attributed to a discrete incident or limited to a specific
incident period. Further, an individual smal event in a series (e.g., a single flood as part of recurring
flooding), may not individual y appear to overwhelm a state or locality, or meet damage thresholds to
receive certain forms of Stafford Act assistance. However, some may argue that these incidents—taken
together—warrant federal assistance that the Stafford Act is not currently designed to provide.
FEMA’s process for assessing losses may limit the availability of assistance for slow-onset events. The
factors FEMA uses to evaluate whether to recommend the President authorize PA and/or IA for a major
disaster (Figure 1) only consider the effects of the disaster-causing incident during the incident period.
Further, some of these factors (e.g., insurance coverage or severe local impacts) may defy measurement
for ongoing incidents.
Regulations also require declaration requests be submitted according to deadlines (e.g., major disaster
declarations should be requested within 30 days of the incident). A governor or tribal chief executive may
struggle to identify the appropriate time to request a Stafford Act declaration for a slow -onset incident.
Final y, the Stafford Act general y authorizes response and recovery assistance to redress losses attributed
to a single event (e.g., repairs following a tornado). This approach may not comport with slow-onset,
compound, or cascading incidents, where damages may not be easily attributable to a single event (e.g.,
when an area prone to regular sunny-day flooding is hit by a hurricane). Slow-onset events may also
reduce SLTT capacity to withstand rapid-onset events; FEMA does not currently specify how such strain
may be measured or remedied.
Considerations for Congress
Catastrophic events pose a financial threat both to society as a whole and to the federal government, as it
al ocates increasing resources to disaster relief. The Congressional Budget Office projects hazard-related
losses, including those attributed to slow-onset events, wil likely increase in the United States, especial y
as hazard-prone areas undergo rapid development and observe rising property values. Experts anticipate
that resulting damages wil mount, straining federal, state, and local governments, as wel as businesses
and individuals, particularly the social y vulnerable.

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Given these issues, Congress could consider amending the Stafford Act to support disaster response,
recovery, and mitigation associated with slow-onset, compound, or cascading disasters, such as:
 specifying FEMA’s roles and authorities in the federal response to climate change;
 amending the major disaster declaration definition to include slow-onset or other
comparable terms;
 establishing a new type of declaration and corresponding disaster assistance authorities
for slow-onset and ongoing incidents;
 requiring FEMA to develop a means to assign damage that is not limited to a discrete
incident or incident period, or requiring FEMA to modify or extend the incident period
under certain conditions;
 increasing funding for pre-disaster mitigation and introducing new approaches to
mitigation funding to reduce risk before disasters occur;
 providing enhanced assistance for vulnerable communities already observing the effects
of climate change; for example, reducing nonfederal cost shares, expediting and
simplifying delivery of assistance, and providing technical assistance to bolster local
capacity; and
 adding to FEMA’s authority to restrict rebuilding assistance in disaster-prone
communities, provide pre-disaster mitigation assistance to reduce future losses to extreme
weather events (including those projected under future conditions), and/or shift spending
from response and recovery to mitigation.

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Figure 1.Major Disaster Assistance Evaluation and Approval

Source: CRS interpretation of 44 C.F.R. §206.48 and FEMA, Tribal Declarations Pilot Guidance, January 2017.

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Author Information

Diane P. Horn
Elizabeth M. Webster
Analyst in Flood Insurance and Emergency Management Analyst in Emergency Management and Disaster

Recovery

Erica A. Lee

Analyst in Emergency Management and Disaster
Recovery




Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff
to congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of
Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of
information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role.
CRS Reports, as a work of the United States Government, are not subject to copyright protection in the United
States. Any CRS Report may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety without permission from CRS. However,
as a CRS Report may include copyrighted images or material from a third party, you may need to obtain the
permission of the copyright holder if you wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.

IN11696 · VERSION 2 · UPDATED

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