Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a Major Disaster Declaration request on Sunday so New York can get federal help with recovering from Ida.

Neena Kurup's home in New Hyde Park had its basement flooded Wednesday night. The water dried up this weekend, but she says the damage totals are starting to add up.

"We had so much stuff in here, we never thought that this would happen," she says.

Kerup and her neighbors around the intersection of Oxford and Norman streets have never been flooded before and don't have flood insurance.

Ida was a different kind of storm, dumping so much water on the area that it overwhelmed local resources and poured into homes and flooded cars.

Hochul signed a Major Disaster Declaration request that, if signed by the president, could unlock millions of dollars in FEMA funds that could help homeowners directly with repairs.

Hochul also announced that $375 million of previously awarded federal money will go to immediate infrastructure repairs to prevent climate change related storms and flooding. 

"We will take our teams, our engineer teams, our damage surveillance teams, and figure out a game plan to use this money as soon as humanly possible to start fixing the infrastructure," Hochul says.

Kerup says the governor's announcement was welcome news, but adds whatever relief can be sent her way needs to get to her sooner rather than later.

"Hopefully we'll be able to get something that we'll be able to use it to get back to normal life," she says.

Hochul has set up a special website for homeowners directly impacted by Ida.