The Federal Emergency Management Agency is cutting more than $325 million in funding intended for “critical” infrastructure and resilience projects in New York state, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Tuesday. 

Much of the funding — which the state would have received through FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Program — was allocated for flood mitigation efforts, Hochul said in a release. 

FEMA last week said it was ending the program, which has been used by communities across the country to pay for projects designed to help them prepare for natural disasters like flooding and fires.

“In the last few years, New Yorkers have faced hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, wildfires and even an earthquake — and FEMA assistance has been critical to help us rebuild,” the governor said in a statement.

“Without support for resilience projects now, our communities will be far more vulnerable when disaster strikes next,” she added. “As I’ve said all along: no state in the nation can backfill the massive cuts being proposed in Washington, and it’s critical New Yorkers stand united to call out the damage this will cause.” 

In New York City, Hochul said the cuts would impact flood mitigation efforts in Central Harlem and East Elmhurst; a coastal resilience project focused on the South Street Seaport; storm protection efforts at several NYCHA complexes; and a food security-focused initiative in Hunts Point, among other projects. 

Projects in Westchester County, Buffalo and the Albany area are also set to lose funding, the governor said. 

FEMA’s move to eliminate the program comes as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to slash federal funding. 

In a statement, the agency called the program “yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program,” adding that it “was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters.”

The program was started under the first Trump administration and then expanded under the Biden administration.

Communities across the country have used program funds to help their cities and towns mitigate disasters, such as raising roads to keep them out of floodwaters or building underground storage units to prepare for droughts.

FEMA’s announcement last week didn’t detail what exactly the agency found to be “wasteful,” but the Trump administration has targeted programs or funding across the federal government that goes to address climate change or that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion goals.

Under the Biden administration, the BRIC program was a key part of the government’s efforts to address climate change, and while grants were awarded to a wide range of communities across the country, there was a special emphasis on helping historically underserved communities.

The cuts come as the future of FEMA itself is in question. President Donald Trump has questioned whether to disband it entirely and give money directly to states to handle disasters. Trump has created a council to study what to do with FEMA and whether to get rid of it.

In addition to ending the program going forward, FEMA said it was also cancelling all applications to the program from 2020 to 2023 and that money that was awarded as part of grants but not already distributed would be immediately returned to the federal government.