New York seeks disaster relief for March 30 storm

While President Barack Obama has signed off on disaster relief for Nassau and Suffolk counties stemming from a March nor'easter, New York State and Sen. Charles Schumer are still trying to get federal assistance to help with damage caused by heavy rains on March 30.

On Friday, Gov. David A. Paterson announced that he had requested a physical disaster declaration from the federal Small Business Administration to provide low-interest loans to homeowners, renters and businesses in Suffolk County who sustained damages in several storms that occurred between March 12 and 30.

According to Paterson, federal officials and the New York State Emergency Management Office conducted an assessment of damages to homes and businesses in Suffolk County and found that 429 homes and 38 businesses surveyed have suffered uninsured losses of 40 percent or more of their estimated pre-disaster fair market value.

However, Suffolk County didn't meet FEMA's criteria for disaster assistance for aid independent of the SBA loan application, Paterson said.

In a statement, Sen. Charles Schumer said Saturday that "as soon as all the estimates are in for flood damages to individual homeowners, I will put a full-court press on FEMA to expedite aid to Long Island residents who have been battered by storm after storm."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced on Friday that Obama had declared Nassau, Suffolk and four other counties "major disaster areas" from the mid-March nor'easter that dumped record rain and featured 50 mph winds. The March 30 storms cause flooding and a record water table level.

The Friday announcement makes available unspecified amounts of recovery money, to be distributed mostly to state and local governments and certain nonprofit organizations, under the direction of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Individual disaster assistance was not part of New York State's application for the mid-March storm and wasn't granted, FEMA spokeswoman Jennie Rabb Barnes said Saturday.