RSS 2.0 FeedOctober 6, 2011, Freeport-Baldwin Leader
FEMA canvasses for relief efforts
Find out how they can help you.
Diane Christiansen and family, who live on Bay Street south of Atlantic Avenue in Freeport, went to Islip after orders came to evacuate from the pending steel grip of Hurricane Irene.
But when they came back to their house on Sunday, “the water had mostly receded by then,” she told this newspaper. The odor was dank, the first floor completely soppy, she remembers, because much of the first floor of her home had been deluged by seawater. Waist-deep water had engulfed the entire neighborhood, in fact, where no homeowner was left unscathed.
But within days “the floors began to come up.” As a house without a basement, a crawl space beneath the floor had swelled with water. Now wood was popping out of the floors, buckling, and her home became a dangerous place to live, she continued. And mold was forming and crawling up the walls.
“We knew we couldn’t stay,” she reflected. She called her insurance company and they sent adjusters as quickly as they could, but it wouldn’t alleviate the damage before they found themselves looking for refuge with friends.
“Homeless” is what neighbor Debra Cozzetto across the street called the Christiansen family.
Stories like these were not uncommon as Federal Emergency Management Agency workers went door-to-door last week canvassing south Freeport to educate and urge residents to register for federal disaster assistance, after the government declared Nassau County a disaster area because of Hurricane Irene.
They are also canvassing areas of Bellmore, Merrick, Wantagh, Seaford and Baldwin, communities all declared disaster areas.
What FEMA pays for
“People don’t know how they can apply to FEMA, or what they can apply for,” remarked Tom Violette, a FEMA worker from Annapolis, Maryland, working his second natural disaster this year for FEMA. His first was the tornadoes that ripped across parts of Alabama.
FEMA can help pay for a funeral if a loved one is lost, he said. It can pay for moving and storage, help with medications that may be lost when evacuating, provide for unemployment assistance if a person loses employment, and help renters get reimbursed for personal property lost to the storm.
It can also help the Christiansens get an apartment until their home is completely restored by FEMA funds.
Mr. Violette said that homeowners can also get low-interest loans through FEMA to rebuild their homes, which are paid for by the Small Business Administration.
While the Cozzettos had damage to their first floor, and had purchased a POD steel container to put much of their belongings into – which could be paid for by FEMA, John Selser, living at the corner of Cedar Street and Roosevelt Avenue, lost his boiler, hot water furnace and a collection of power tools, from not only Hurricane Irene, but from the previous week’s torrential rains, putting in a claim of $44,000.
“Just about everything in the garage was damaged,” Mr. Selser said, and even his beloved Harley-Davidson motorcycle took a hit – albeit a small one.
Mr. Violette gave him a New York state phone number to call to learn how to get a rebate for his lost appliances. The state currently offers rebates for appliances lost to the storm.
Jawann Grant, who rents a small bungalow on the Christiansens’ property, could get a rebate on his computer – which was on the floor when the floods came, Mr. Violette told him. He could also get money for his clothes, which were ruined by the flooding.
And Mrs. Christiansen could get reimbursed from any rent lost to the floods.
“I was not aware of this,” Mrs. Christiansen said, and thanked FEMA workers for seeking her out. “I had applied to FEMA, but didn’t know I could get these types of reimbursements.”
FEMA resolves other issues
The FEMA disaster aid phone number, 1-800-621-3362, could also be used to resolve issues such as raising hot water heaters off basement floors, realigning electrical sockets away from vulnerable areas and repositioning appliances into safer places, Mr. Violette said.
Maria Jordan was driving down Roosevelt Avenue when she saw FEMA workers going door-to-door. “I live on Nassau Street,” she told the workers.
“This has been such a stressful month,” she continued.” She filed a claim with her insurance agent, she said, and the first adjustor quit the job after inspecting her house, she said.
“Then a second insurance inspector came to the house and he quit too,” she said. “I have been looking to speak to someone from FEMA for a long time.”
“I’m glad to see FEMA,” added Miguel Rodriquez, who has lived for 40 years on Roosevelt Avenue.
Saying the water was waist-deep on the street, he and his family stayed up in the second floor of his house during the storm.
His flooding problems, which included damage to sheet rock and the hot water heater, really began when the Village of Freeport raised the street 18 inches 10 years ago. “Before that, my property was raised while the street was lower,” he said.
After the street was raised, his property was lower, and water ran off the street and onto his property, such as the driveway, where the village put in residential sewers. “But when the tide is high, and the wind comes out of the south, the sewer floods,” he said.
He has a sump pump, he said, but where could he pump the water from the basement when it was waste deep in the street? he asked.
He was glad to see FEMA workers on his street. “I’m glad to see FEMA. I’ve wanted to speak to them for some time,” he told this newspaper.
Residents south of Merrick Road who have suffered damage from Hurricane Irene are urged to call FEMA at 1-800-621-3362 by October 31, as assistance from the agency will end on that date.
Or you can visit www.disasterassistance.gov.
FEMA workers will continue to go door-to-door even though the Disaster Recovery Center in Uniondale has closed.
