FEMA agrees to reopen all Superstorm Sandy homeowner claims
MARCH 11, 2015, 9:21 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015, 9:34 PM
BY ABBOTT KOLOFF
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
In the face of allegations of fraudulent practices by some private insurance companies, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will reopen every claim made by homeowners who suffered damage during Superstorm Sandy and has let go one of its top administrators, New Jersey’s U.S. senators announced Wednesday.
Senators Robert Menendez and Cory Booker said during a press conference in Washington that FEMA has agreed to review all 144,000 claims filed by Sandy victims, and not just the 2,200 claimants currently involved in a lawsuit over allegations that some claims were denied because of fraudulent engineering reports made by insurance subcontractors.
All Sandy victims across the region who believe that they didn’t receive enough insurance money for flood damages are eligible to resubmit their claims, including those who live in North Jersey’s hardest hit areas in Little Ferry and Moonachie. The mayors of those municipalities did not immediately respond to messages seeking a response to the announcement.
Menendez and Booker also said that the FEMA executive who has been overseeing the National Flood Insurance Program, David Miller, has tendered his resignation. The agency’s top administrator, Craig Fugate, plans to have a process in place within “several weeks” for Sandy victims to seek a review of their claims, they said.
