Valley Stream homeowners blast FEMA

At the urging of hundreds of Valley Stream residents, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will do a ground study of the community to determine whether its new flood maps are accurate.

The announcement was made by FEMA Engineer Paul Weberg during a contentious meeting at Village Hall on Aug. 31. More than 200 people packed the courtroom and several hundred more, who were on line outside, could not get in because the room was filled to capacity. The meeting was organized by Hempstead Town Councilman Jim Darcy, who, after receiving numerous complaints at his office about the new flood maps, asked FEMA representatives to come to Valley Stream and answer the community’s questions.

About two dozen people came to the microphone to ask about the changes and, in many cases, to lambaste FEMA officials for sticking them with insurance premiums of $2,000 a year or more. “You have decided that we are the northern version of New Orleans,” said Gibson resident Joe Margolin, who asked if the new flood maps were implemented simply to help pay off the damage from Hurricane Katrina.

Richard Einhorn, an insurance expert with FEMA, acknowledged that the agency was about $19 billion in debt, but insisted that the flood map changes were not made for that reason. Other FEMA officials said that Congress commissioned the study in 2003 to update — using modern technology — flood risk maps that were decades out of date.

Mat Mampara, a contractor with Dewberry, the company that was commissioned to do the flood plain study, said that the maps were verified by three independent agencies. He also said that historical data was used to validate the maps.

That was disputed by several residents, who said that Valley Stream has never experienced any sort of coastal flooding. “I think history speaks for itself,” said Gibson homeowner Jack Wagner.

Several residents have filed for a Letter of Map Amendment, which allows them to hire a surveyor to have their property elevation determined. Some have been removed from the flood zone since the survey. Others, such as 55-year Gibson resident Alan Schaecter, have not. Schaecter said he has never experienced a flood, not even when Hurricane Gloria hit Long Island in 1985.

He also said that the flood map changes discriminate against the less well off. Those who have mortgages are required to purchase insurance if they live in a high-risk zone. Those who are able to pay off their home, Schaecter said, don’t have to. “I had to borrow the money quickly, pay FEMA and go further into debt,” he said, noting that his payment was required upfront.

Sarah Ice, a Dewberry representative who handles the Letter of Map Amendment applications, disputed claims that more than half of the homeowners who have been challenging their inclusion in the flood zone have been winning. She said that while some homes are being removed, the numbers are consistent with the expected margin of error.

“Your margin of error is costing people thousands and thousands of dollars,” Wagner fired back. “I think it’s a travesty, a real travesty.”
FEMA representatives announced that residents in the high-risk flood zone would be able to get the preferred risk plan — meaning three-figure premiums instead of four figures — for two years beginning Jan. 1. Many residents said they had been duped by FEMA, expecting that if they bought their insurance before the new maps went into effect last September, they would be grandfathered in at the lower rates.

But a lot of homeowners who did so, and bought insurance for $388 last year, are getting renewals with premiums of $1,400, $1,800 or, for resident Judith Horowitz Antoville, $2,144. Several residents called the renewal increases a “bait and switch.”

Einhorn said that residents were never told they would be grandfathered in at the old rates, but rather their old zone. Nonetheless, when the new maps took effect, those in the flood risk zone lost their preferred risk status, he said, which meant an increase in rates. Several residents asked FEMA officials if they understood what “grandfathered in” even meant.

Gerard Petrella, a representative of U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, said that there were glaring errors with the new flood maps. “We know that people are protesting these and winning,” he said. “We need FEMA to go back to the drawing board and work with you, not at the expense of village residents.”

After speaking with Petrella, Weberg announced about halfway through the meeting that Schumer would be writing a letter to the director of FEMA, requesting a ground study of elevations in Valley Stream. Within a few weeks, Weberg said, contractors would be out in the community. “They’ll be looking at the areas in question,” he said, “going house to house.”

In an interview the next day with the Herald, Petrella also admitted that the new lower rates available to homeowners beginning Jan. 1 won’t help a lot of people. Many policy renewals are coming up now, because the residents bought their insurance either just before or just after the maps went into effect last September. “It makes absolutely no sense why this can’t start now,” Petrella said. Schumer and U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy have co-signed a letter to FEMA requesting that the gap be closed.

The final speaker at the meeting, Johanna Lovalvo, reminded FEMA representatives that Valley Stream residents are prepared to fight these changes to the end. Lovalvo said that FEMA thought it had found a good target in Valley Stream to make itself money, but it didn’t. “You tried to treat us like fools,” she said. “We’re not fools. This is not over.”

Another meeting

For the several hundred people who weren’t allowed into last week’s meeting, FEMA representatives will return for another town hall-style meeting. Hempstead Town Councilman Jim Darcy said he spoke with the large group of residents who weren’t allowed to enter Village Hall once the courtroom reached capacity, and assured them they would have an opportunity to address the agency.

“I don’t think anybody anticipated getting between 500 and 600 people out there,” he said.

Darcy added that FEMA representatives will likely be back the first week of October, and he will try to secure a larger facility in Valley Stream for the meeting.