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Fog/Mist FEMA officials tour Long Beach
Agency to determine how much the city should be reimbursed for Irene
Nearly five months after Tropical Storm Irene struck the city and caused millions of dollars worth of damage to homes, businesses and city property, representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency toured Long Beach with city officials last week, part of an effort to determine how much Long Beach should be reimbursed for the costs associated with the storm.
FEMA officials toured various parts of the city on Jan. 13 with City Manager Jack Schnirman, City Council President Fran Adelson and Public Works Commissioner Kevin Mulligan.
Among the areas FEMA officials visited were the Magnolia Blvd. playground and Lifeguard Headquarters, which was lifted off its foundation and slammed into the boardwalk when a storm surge broke through a 15-foot high sand-berm at National Boulevard.
Nearly 4,000 residents were without power in Long Beach after the storm hit in August, and city workers were out in force repairing the damage caused by massive flooding and 33 downed trees that pulled down power lines, tore up sidewalks and damaged property.
According to Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg, water from the ocean merged with overflow from Reynolds Channel.
A storm surge of 3- to- 6-feet caused hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage in New York City and Long Island. The tropical-storm-force winds, along with heavy rains, resulted in power outages for up to 3 million residents that lasted about a week, mainly on Long Island, the according to the National Hurricane Center.
In the U.S., the Insurances Services Office reported that Irene caused an estimated $3.5 billion in losses. Doubling this figure in an attempt to account for uninsured losses results in an estimated U. S. damage total of $7 billion.
Overtime and other costs associated with Irene were cited as the primary reason that the city could not meet its payroll obligations in November. Former City Manager Charles Theofan said that the city was expecting a reimbursement of $1.5 million or more from FEMA this year to cover the costs of the storm, though City Manager Jack Shchnirman said it was too early to determine how much the agency would reimburse the city.
