Climate Change, Slow-Onset Disasters, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency

Climate Change, Slow-Onset Disasters, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency

INSIGHTi

Climate Change, Slow-Onset Disasters, and
the Federal Emergency Management Agency
Updated May 28, 2024
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 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 rainfall combined with
coastal flooding), and cascading events (e.g., mudslides caused by flooding after wildfires). Such events
may not have clearly defined start or end dates, and cumulative damage may not be immediately apparent.
Congress may consider the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) role in addressing these
incidents. FEMA 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.
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The Stafford Act defines a major disaster by listing incidents or situations that exemplify major disasters:

Stafford Act declarations generally 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 shall
only alleviate “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 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 event in a series (e.g., a single flood as part of recurring flooding), may not,
on its own, 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, and 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).
Regulations also require declaration requests be submitted according to deadlines, but a governor or tribal
chief executive may struggle to identify the appropriate time to request a Stafford Act declaration for a
slow-onset incident.
The President generally declares an emergency or major disaster for a discrete event. However, there are
examples of multiple, related hazards being included in a single declaration (e.g., a single declaration for
noncontiguous wildfires and flooding and mudslides). As the President has discretion to make such a
declaration, and as damages caused by slow-onset, compound, or cascading incidents may not be easily
attributable to a single event, incidents involving one or multiple, related hazards may receive inconsistent
treatment.
Considerations for Congress
Catastrophic events pose a financial threat to society as a whole and to the federal government, as it
allocates increasing resources to disaster relief. The Congressional Budget Office projects hazard-related
losses, including those attributed to slow-onset events, will likely increase in the U.S., especially as
hazard-prone areas undergo rapid development and observe rising property values. Experts anticipate that

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resulting damages will mount, straining federal, state, and local governments, as well as businesses and
individuals—particularly the socially vulnerable.
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 disasters;
• establishing a new type of declaration and corresponding disaster assistance authorities
for slow-onset and ongoing incidents;
• requiring FEMA to develop a means to assess damage that is not limited to a discrete
incident or incident period;
• requiring FEMA to modify or extend the incident period under certain conditions;
• continuing to increase funding for pre-disaster mitigation to reduce risk before disasters
occur;
• providing enhanced assistance for vulnerable communities already experiencing the
effects of climate change; for example, reducing nonfederal cost shares, altering benefit-
cost methodology, 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 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

Sources: 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 5 · UPDATED