By Scott Brinton
Kramer remembers little of the catastrophe. To this day, however, his older sister distinctly recalls seeing benches from the Long Beach boardwalk floating in nearby streets.
In 1945, yet another massive hurricane, known as the Southeast Florida Storm, ravaged the East Coast from the Florida Keys to Long Island and beyond. "This one wiped out houses on the West End" of Long Beach, Kramer remembers.
In 1962, a mammoth nor'easter, called the Ash Wednesday Storm, overran Fire Island and Long Beach. "That one wiped out beaches all over," Kramer says. "Water came into Long Beach substantially. People believe water has never come past Broadway." It has.
A lifelong resident of the Long Beach barrier island with a keen memory, Kramer can tick off most of the great storms that have pounded Long Island over the past seven decades. And, he says, they've never been pretty.
Kramer, a retired New York City teacher turned environmental and civic activist, notes that it has been a while -- at least 15 years -- since a hurricane or major nor'easter has pummeled the Island. That worries him.
Kramer says he believes the Island is due for a big storm, but too many people have forgotten, or have never known, the awesomely destructive power of a hurricane, particularly a big one -- that is, a Category 2 storm or stronger. That is why he has been speaking out at public meetings wherever and whenever he can over the past year, hoping to educate the public about the potential havoc that a major storm could wreak on the Island� and the measures people can take to protect themselves.
Subhead: Insuring against disaster
Kramer, a one-time Nassau Herald columnist who wrote on civic affairs, says people must -- must -- consider purchasing flood insurance for their homes or apartments. He says that any residents living south of Sunrise Highway are potentially in danger of having their homes flooded in a Category 3 hurricane -- an assertion largely supported by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which administers the National Flood Insurance Program.
Floods are not covered by homeowner's insurance. You must take out flood insurance separately.
FEMA recently rewrote its Flood Insurance Rate Maps, or FIRMs, and included a far larger number of communities in high-risk zones, called Special Flood Hazard Areas. Thousands of homes are affected. The agency also expanded the boundaries of current low-risk zones, like Merrick and Bellmore. And it included a number of neighborhoods not traditionally thought of as flood zones, like parts of Valley Stream, though they were designated lower-risk.
FEMA calls the effort "map modernization." Patricia Griggs, the agency's senior natural hazards program specialist, says it now has better tools to determine precisely where flooding would occur in a major storm, so it decided to reconfigure its aging paper maps while also digitizing them to make them accessible to the public via the Internet.
At the same time, the federal government is beginning to prepare for potentially higher sea levels in the coming decades as Antarctic and Greenland ice melts at an ever-increasing rate in a warmer world brought on by climate change. Scientists call it the greenhouse effect. Gases such as carbon dioxide and methane are released into the atmosphere when fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas are burned. The gases trap infrared heat from the sun, heating the planet and melting ancient glacial ice into the oceans. New York state is so concerned about the potential for rising oceans that in 2007 it impaneled the Task Force on Sea Level Rise, a division of the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that sea levels worldwide could rise from 18 inches to three feet or beyond by 2100. That would spell disaster for coastal communities in a major hurricane.
At the same time that FEMA is including more homes in high-risk zones -- meaning more homeowners will have to pay substantially higher rates -- the agency is also raising rates by 10 percent on all flood insurance policies� high-risk or not, according to Griggs.
Subhed: How flood insurance works
If your house is outside a high-risk flood zone, you are not required to purchase flood insurance, though FEMA recommends it for all homeowners because a flood can occur anywhere, anytime. If you are in a high-risk zone, you must have insurance to qualify for a federally insured mortgage.
Denis Miller, a flood insurance specialist with an office in Long Beach, says now is the time to buy flood insurance, despite the ailing economy. If you do so before July 31, you will be ensured of receiving the "grandfathered" flood insurance rate from FEMA, meaning that for the first year of your policy, you will be charged the current low-risk rate rather than the substantially higher rate that will take effect in September. After one year, if you live in a high-risk zone, new or old, you will be charged half of what you would have paid if you had waited until August or later to take out a policy.
Miller, who proudly calls himself "the Floodman," knows what he's talking about. FEMA named him the 2008 Flood Insurance Agent of the Year for his ongoing efforts to educate the public about the need for flood insurance.
Agents like Miller, it should be noted, serve as intermediaries between homeowners and FEMA. They do not underwrite flood policies, nor do they set flood insurance rates. They receive expense allowances from FEMA for helping to administer the National Flood Insurance Program. (Miller doesn't only do flood insurance. He writes any sort of policy, with help from his associate Robin Sutnick, a condominium specialist.)
Miller says that many South Shore residents will discover that their homes are being moved from low-risk to high-risk flood zones thanks to map modernization, and many are unaware that their zones are being changed. Failing to take out a flood policy by August could cost many dearly. Any homeowners now living in low-risk zones that are upgraded to high-risk will see their rates soar from $388 to $1,084 a year for a $250,000 building with a $100,000 contents-coverage policy -- if they're grandfathered.
If they procrastinate and do not get the grandfathered rate, their rates will jump from $388 to $2,080 a year for that same policy. Over the life of a home, waiting could cost a homeowner tens of thousands of dollars. And, Miller notes, it's not as if homeowners who live in high-risk zones have a choice. Remember, the federal government requires flood insurance for federally backed mortgages in high-risk zones.
The good news, Miller says, is that flood insurance is fully transferable from homeowner to homeowner when a house is sold, meaning that any new resident buying a home with a grandfathered rate will continue to save on that policy. Potentially, he says, that could be an important selling point for a homeowner who lives in an area where few neighbors have the grandfathered rate.
No matter what zone a homeowner lives in, low- or high-risk� Miller says it is simply sound fiscal policy to take out flood insurance, even if you live nowhere near water. He mentioned Woodmere, where numerous basements were flooded after five straight days of torrential rain in the fall of 2005, and residents suffered tens of thousands of dollars in damage. Miller says he worked closely with each of his clients to ensure that they received their full compensation from FEMA. Those without flood insurance had to pay for repairs themselves.
"There's only a little bit of time left before Map Modernization goes into effect," Miller said. Taking out a flood policy now� he added, "is the smartest money-saving tip anyone has ever given you."
To learn which flood zone your home falls in, go to www.nassaunyfloodmap.com. Navigating the site can be tricky, but. Miller says anyone can call him and he will be happy to help. And, he says, it only takes a few minutes to take out a flood insurance policy.
More information can be found at www.fema.gov or www.floodsmart.gov. You can also call FEMA's Region 2 office at (212) 680-3600.Comments about this story? SBrinton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 203.
