New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has asked the president to declare a disaster before the storm makes landfall to open up the state’s access to FEMA funds. He was later joined in the request by Rep. Nan Hayworth (R-N.Y.), who sent the president a letter late Friday in which she wrote that “due to the anticipated magnitude of Hurricane Sandy, state and local governments in the Hudson Valley may be unable to fully respond without federal assistance.”

This paragraph is an excerpt from a piece written by Burgess Everett with contributions from Maggie Haberman and Bob King. The original story can be found here.