Schumer demands FEMA change flood insurance policies

A dozen residents of Aster Street in Massapequa Park are puzzled at why they were singled out to be placed on FEMA's new flood maps.

Their modest homes are far from Great South Bay, just south of the Southern State Parkway, and the only water nearby is a shallow creek running through the adjacent Massapequa Preserve, recently dredged by the county to improve its flow. Banks usually require homeowners with mortgages in a flood zone to buy flood insurance, which can be expensive.

So a dozen Aster Street residents last year filed individual challenges with Federal Emergency Management Agency to be removed from the map. All were rejected.

Now village officials are talking to engineering firms about conducting a study so they can request a revision of the maps for the area from FEMA. And they have reached out to Congressmen and senators.

One of them, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), came to the block Wednesday to talk about the residents' problem and demand that FEMA change its flood insurance policies.

FEMA may be able to provide some answers for the Aster Street residents because it has agreed to send representatives to a Sept. 2 meeting at village hall at 6 p.m.

'Preferred' rates

Schumer said FEMA should make available lower-cost "preferred" flood insurance rates immediately, rather than wait until January for a two-year reduction of rates. FEMA last week announced the reduction after an outcry over the cost. Schumer also wants FEMA to allow homeowners not notified of cheaper "preferred" insurance plans before the maps were changed to be able to purchase coverage now at the lower rate.

The agency declined to comment Wednesday on why Aster Street was added to the flood zone maps. But the map shows the street is approximately 1 foot lower than the streets to the north and south.

Responding to Schumer, agency spokeswoman Rachel Racusen said FEMA's top priority was the safety of communities it served and the agency was working with local officials "to ensure homeowners in the area are aware of the natural hazards and risks they face."

"We continue to do everything we can within the laws passed by Congress to provide affordable flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program while being good stewards of taxpayer dollars," she said.

Aster Street resident Margery Weinroth said "I have been living here since 1964 and don't remember any flooding on the block."

The neighborhood's concerns began last fall when one resident's mortgage bank told him his house was now in a high-risk flood zone and he needed flood insurance with a premium of $2,500, she said. "My initial reaction was 'That's a mistake.'"

Map amendment

After other residents got similar notices, they had a meeting with the mayor and with help from the village they hired a surveyor to make elevation studies and then each resident filed separate "letter of map amendment" with FEMA. They were rejected because the lowest parts of their houses were several inches below the flood line.

Massapequa Park Mayor James Altadonna Jr. said "the only other people in the floodzone in the village are way down south by Great South Bay."

"The new maps are often faulty," Schumer said. "We need FEMA to back off and make the appeals quick and inexpensive and effective, which means if you don't need flood insurance, you don't have to get it. People shouldn't have to spend thousands of dollars to appeal."