Politics & Government

Schumer Calls on FEMA to Expedite Flood Insurance Payments

The senator visits a Lindenhurst family waiting for funds and struggling to recover from Sandy.

More than three months after floodwaters from Hurricane Sandy ravaged southern portions of Lindenhurst, Donald Werle’s home remains unlivable.

His house on Granada Parkway, across from Harding Avenue Elementary School, has no interior walls as studs and wires are visible.

Werle, naturally, would like to repair his home and return from his rental in East Meadow. But long delays in the processing of insurance claims through the National Flood Insurance Program are preventing Werle and his family from resuming a normal life.

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“We are lost right now,” Werle said from his home Monday, as he stood with his wife, Maryanne Collins, daughter, Samantha, and Senator Charles Schumer. “We have laid out as much money as we can out of our pockets.”

Schumer, who visited the area several times after Sandy, returned to Lindenhurst on Monday to offer support to the Werles and promised to pressure the Federal Emergency Management Agency to remedy the situation.

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“New Yorkers have been paying their flood insurance premiums for years and years and they deserve far better service than they’re getting from the companies that are so well compensated to implement our flood insurance program,” Schumer said.

In a letter to FEMA, Schumer called on agency officials to expedite the processing of claims through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for those homeowners impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

According to Schumer, in the more than 100 days since the superstorm hit Long Island, only 52 percent of New Yorkers have had their flood claims processed.

“Families who saw their homes flooded and their possessions washed away need these payouts to rebuild,” he said. “In many cases they also need to have their claims to be processed so they can access other types of federal aid.”

“We paid for a promise from NFIP and were sold a promise that they would help us pick up our pieces when disaster struck,” Werle said. “When?”

 

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