On Wednesday Mick Mulvaney, the director of White House Office of Management and Budget, sent a letter to Congress calling for changes to the taxpayer-subsidized National Flood Insurance Program.

It wouldnt take Irmas killer gusts or Houstons torrential 50 inches of rain to create a wall of water swamping 500 miles of New York City coastline.

With Texas still reeling from Hurricane Harvey and another storm barreling toward Florida, FEMA is expected to run out of money by Friday.

Contributing to Harvey's high losses is the fact that Texas has one of the most relaxed approaches to building codes, inspections and other protections.

President Donald Trumps emergency management director said hes pushing for an overhaul of disaster relief so that states, cities and homeowners bear more of the costs.

Tuesdays order revokes a previous one that Obama signed in January 2015, requiring federal agencies to account for future flood risk when spending money on infrastructure projects.

Democrats and Republicans have found common ground on plans to give private insurers greater access to the $5 billion flood insurance program.

Few parts of the U.S. are as exposed to the threats from climate change as Ocean County, New Jersey.