By Doug Miller
"We were on call Friday night and got a lot of reports of flooded basements, but nothing serious," said acting Assistant Fire Chief Scott Kemins. "We turned off the electric in a few homes, but that's it."
At Kennedy Airport, almost a foot of rain was measured between Monday, Oct. 10, and last Saturday morning, including a record-smashing four-plus inches last Friday alone. The deluge made this October the wettest since records were first kept in 1949, and caused home flooding and electrical problems around the region.
It was certainly the busiest week for insurance companies in a while. Denis E. Miller, an insurance broker in Long Beach who bills himself as "The Flood Man," said he had personally filed 140 claims to flood insurers on behalf of customers this week, keeping his phone ringing almost constantly. By comparison, Miller said, there are autumns when he doesn't receive any calls.
"I write policies from Staten Island to Fire Island," he said. "This is the worst season since Hurricane Gloria in 1985." That year, Miller said, he filed more than 500 claims.
"We haven't gotten a lot of sleep in this office," he said.
And Long Beach City Manager Charles Theofan asked residents with documentable damage to their homes to keep strict records of that damage. He said it may be possible for the city to file for state assistance if the total damage exceeds a certain threshold. He asked that residents call the city's public relations office at 431-1000 ext. 224 and give an estimate of the monetary value of the damage your home has sustained.
According to Adrienne Leptich, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, a combination of a high-pressure front over Nova Scotia and a subtropical low off the coast of North Carolina were the primary causes of last week's storms, which affected much of the Northeast.
"We had a front come through ... last Friday, Saturday, and we got that first douse of rain," Leptich said. "What happened is that the front stalled out just south and east of Long Island." It remained there for a week, and a small low-pressure spot developed on Friday, causing that day's downpours. A total of 11.18 inches had fallen at JFK by the time the storms cleared.
The result was a city of flooded basements and frustrated homeowners trying to pump water into already overloaded sewers, which only served to back everything up. As recently as Tuesday, several homes in the West End still had hoses sticking out of basement windows, pumping water out onto the street.
For all the talk this election year about protecting the city from Katrina-type hurricanes, the city took one on the chin from an otherwise unremarkable storm. Miller said this means that the only thing residents can count on is unpredictable weather.
Flood insurance isn't always the answer, he said, and in many parts of Long Beach it's not even required. But the combination of insurance and the right equipment can give a homeowner the best opportunity to face minimal damage. "Bill Clinton put into law a number of years ago a rule that if you are in an AE flood plain you need insurance," Miller said. "That's why so many people in Long Beach have it. ... The AE zones are all the state streets and the entire north side of Park [Avenue]. The barrier island is shaped like a smile, with Point Lookout and Atlantic Beach being the high points, so they took the least damage."
But essentially, anyone with a basement in Long Beach took on water, and in most cases, basements - especially basement apartments - are not covered by flood insurance. Floods are generally excluded in most rental insurance for basement apartments.
"What can people do? Buy pumps and put them in so they are permanent, so they go on whether you are home or not," Miller said. "Give them a battery backup in case the power goes out. That's the biggest one. It gives you a first avenue of protection."
Marley Seaman contributed to this story. Comments about it? DMiller@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
