1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Strengthening The Resiliency of Our Nation on the Ground Act or the STRONG Act . 2. Findings and purpose (a) Findings Congress makes the following findings: (1) Extreme weather has serious economic costs for Americans, American businesses, and State and local governments. Hurricanes, droughts, floods, tornadoes, extreme heat, and extreme cold cause death, result in loss of property and well-being, especially among the most vulnerable populations, and negatively impact business activity and economic growth. (2) Superstorm Sandy, which devastated the Eastern United States in late October 2012, resulted in more than 100 deaths, the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, power outages affecting more than 8,500,000 homes, massive flooding, gasoline shortages, and a crippled regional energy and transportation infrastructure. As a result of this storm, Congress passed the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 2013, which appropriated $50,500,000,000 for post-Sandy recovery efforts. (3) In the past 30 years, there have been more than 130 weather-related disasters in the United States that each generated at least $1,000,000,000 in damages or more than $880,000,000,000 in total standardized loss. In addition, there have been many other extreme weather events that generated less than $1,000,000,000 in damages, but still caused immeasurable harm to the Nation’s citizens, infrastructure, and economy. (4) Hurricane Katrina led to more than 1,800 deaths, property damage exceeding $80,000,000,000, more than $120,000,000,000 in Federal spending, and long-term impacts on the economy and livelihoods of those living in the Gulf Coast region. (5) In 2011, one of the most severe and costly years for weather and climate on record, extreme weather hit every region in the United States, resulting in— (A) prolonged droughts in the South and the West; (B) deadly floods in the Southeast and Midwest; (C) hundreds of devastating tornadoes across the United States