Two weeks remain for National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) insurance policyholders to submit their Hurricane Sandy Claims for review by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The last day to submit claims is Oct. 15, 2015.
NFIP-certified insurance adjusters are currently reviewing more than 15,000 Sandy flood claims, looking for any instance of underpayment. Where warranted by the review, additional payments are being made to policyholders who suffered losses from the storm.
“If you believe your Sandy flood claim was underpaid for any reason, we are ready, willing and able to take another look. But we can’t review your claim unless you ask us to,” said Roy Wright, FEMA’s Associate Administrator for Insurance and Mitigation.
Getting started is as simple as making a telephone call. Policyholders can contact the NFIP’s Hurricane Sandy claims center at 866-337-4262 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), Monday through Friday, to request a review.
To be eligible for the review, policyholders must have experienced flood damage between Oct. 27, 2012 and Nov. 6, 2012 as a result of Hurricane Sandy and must have had an active NFIP flood policy at the time of the loss.
When policyholders call, it is helpful if they have available as much information as possible, including the name on the policy, the address of the damaged property and the ten-digit NFIP policy number that was in effect at the time of the loss. Policyholders will be asked a series of questions to determine whether they qualify for the review. If qualified, they will be called by an adjuster to begin the review. The timing of this call may be affected by the volume of requests. Most reviews can be concluded within 90 days.
Policyholders also can go online to www.fema.gov/hurricane-sandy-nfip-claimsto download a form requesting a review. The downloaded form can be filled out and emailed to FEMA-sandyclaimsreview@fema.dhs.gov or faxed to 202-646-7970 to begin the review process. For individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and use 711 or VRS, please call 866-337-4262. For individuals using a TTY, please call 800-462-7585 to begin the review process.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently announced that flood insurance proceeds up to $20,000 resulting from the Sandy Claims Review process will not be treated as duplicative, and will not be recouped by HUD or its grantees. To date, approximately three out of four NFIP claimants in the review process have received less than $20,000 in additional compensation from FEMA and will not face any possible repayment of HUD-funded grants.
The Sandy claims review is intended to be simple for the policyholder and does not require paid legal assistance. Several nonprofit service providers are ready to offer free advice and answer questions policyholders may have. A list of these advocacy groups can be found on the claims review website at www.fema.gov/sandyclaims.
If you have any questions, please contact FEMA’s Intergovernmental Affairs Division at (202) 646-3444 or at FEMA-IGA@fema.dhs.gov.
Follow FEMA online at www.fema.gov/blog, www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/fema and www.youtube.com/fema. Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate’s activities at www.twitter.com/craigatfema. The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.
FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.
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