Army Corps and FEMA actions still leave unanswered questions MELISSA L. GAFFNEY, Staff Writer,The Courier, June 5 Posted:06/06/08
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While some elected officials continue their claim that neither the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) nor the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) have answered questions regarding the updated Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs), both agencies have opened their doors to questions with the hope they can provide answers.
Raymond Cann, a Keansburg resident of 38 years and former member of the Keansburg Environmental Committee, said he attended the forum hosted by Assemblywoman Amy Handlin, R-Monmouth/Middlesex, several weeks ago.
He recalled the issues then and, in light of recent press, brought to attention the Army Corps and potentially unfinished business in the Keansburg and East Keansburg area.
Cann said he received a public notice from the Army Corps in January 2001 inviting a formal public response to a proposed Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook Bay beach erosion control study.
He said this project would have also replenished the beaches.
Daniel Falt, a project manager for the USACE New York District, said recently that the Army Corps has not had federal funding to build up and replenish the Keansburg beaches for many years.
The 2001 public notice stated that USACE invited "formal public involvement" in the proposed Raritan Bay, Sandy Hook Bay, Beach Erosion Control and Hurricane Protection Study; Keansburg, East Keansburg, and Laurence Harbor, New Jersey, Section 934 Renourishment Study; also referred to as the Raritan 934 Renourishment Project.
The notice stated that the 934-project area encompassed approximately 2.7 miles of shoreline in the borough of Keansburg and in East Keansburg, located in Middletown Township.
Cann said while he was not positive, he recalled public notice of some kind of beach replenishment funding a few years after the 2001 notice.
The public notice also cited USACE construction dated 1973 in the Keansburg area, including groins, a beach berm and levees, as well as a pumping station, floodwall and storm closure gate.
It says that, "as a result of recent hurricanes and severe storm events and the lack of subsequent storm protection measures in these areas, the shore protection and flood control abilities of the Keansburg, East Keansburg and Laurence Harbor beaches has been significantly reduced."
The public was invited, through the 2001 notice, to pose comments and/or questions about the proposed Raritan 934 Renourishment Project.
Falt did not return a phone call before press time regarding the 934 Renourishment Project. Flooded with information
Cann said had posed a question during Handlin's forum that seemingly no one from FEMA could answer.
He asked that, if a hurricane or flood does come through, if an insurance company pays out, could it drop a customer wholesale the next year?
Mary Colvin, the branch chief of FEMA Region II Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment, said that is not the case.
Colvin said any insurance agent or broker in New Jersey who is licensed to sell property and casual insurance could sell flood insurance.
She noted that there is a list of insurance companies who, in an agreement with FEMA, write in flood insurance.
Colvin also said there are "write-your-own" companies, or WYOs, that sell around 90 percent of the nation's flood insurance.
She said independent agents, who are allowed to write their own policies, could sell direct policies. "But the policies are all the same in terms of what they say and what they cover," Colvin explained.
Colvin said WYO companies collect premiums and pay claims through them. She said that, if a company is unsure, FEMA gives the agent additional money, and vice versa. "At the end of [an insurance company's] reporting year, it's my understanding that, in essence, if [the company has] collected $5 million and only paid $1 million, [it] sends the rest to FEMA," she said.
Cann said he was under the impression that, even though an individual has flood insurance, it is up to that resident to check with his or her insurance company and make sure it is a part of the FEMA program. "There are companies who will give you flood insurance," he said. "However, when the storm hits and [it pays] out, [the company] has a certain amount of money. When they run out, that's it."
Colvin said there is no cap other than limits on insurance policies. "If someone has purchased insurance to cover $150,000, [he or she] will only get a maximum of $150,000," she said.
Colvin said the maximum limit on residential homes is $250,000 on the building and $100,000 on items. "Anything above [those numbers], FEMA will not insure," she said. National Flood Insurance Program
Cann said a FEMA representative had explained the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) during the forum in Middletown.
He said the representative said it was up to the individual resident to check on its insurance companies flood insurance and how much it covers. "When part of the FEMA program, FEMA picks up the rest of the claim," Cann said. "[The FEMA representative] didn’t say it picks up all of [the claims]."
Colvin said the NFIP included a list of 546 participating communities. She noted that about four of them are sanctioned, or suspended, communities because they issued a mandate not to adopt the FIRMs.
After any and all appeals, and after there have been two additional pubic notices of the updated FIRMs, Colvin said a community has six months to adopt the maps.
Colvin said that, if a community chooses not to, it will be suspended from the program and flood insurance will not be available. However, she said the community could be reinstalled and that the process does not take very long.
Cann said flood insurance was a "double whammy" for residents. "Now [residents] are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for insurance," he concluded. "[And they] now have to track down [their insurance] company and make sure that company is in the insurance program."
Representatives from both the USACE and FEMA, as well as Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said they would be attending the FEMA Open House at the Keansburg Senior Center on Friday, June 13, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
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