Hundreds of Storm-damaged Homes in Long Beach Need Rebuilding

About 865 homes in Long Beach may have to be elevated or completely rebuilt due to damages sustained in Hurricane Sandy last October.

The cost to elevate a home is a minimum of $75,000, and homeowners who opt not to raise or demolish their houses could ultimately pay a much as $9,500 a year in flood insurance. Scott Kemins, the City of Long Beach building commissioner, urges residents who plan to raise their homes apply for the state’s Recreate NY Smart Home Program, which offers grants to home and business owners with unmet recovery needs, according to the Long Beach Herald.

A team of inspectors from the Federal Emergency Management Agency assisted the city’s building department with Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC) inspections, examining nearly 3,000 homes citywide, a process that commenced in late January and was completed in late March. Kemins, who noted that many homeowners await reimbursement from their flood insurance companies and approval for funding from various government programs before they can start to rebuild, said:
“We’re seeing a lot of progress. It appears that money must be freeing up, because we’re getting a lot of permit applications for not only the repairs of homes, but for the demolition of homes and building new FEMA-compliant homes. I’ve seen things open up; more permits are coming in and we’re dealing with more architects. I think for the next 12 to 18 months, we’re going to be extremely busy dealing with this. For some, it could be ongoing for several years.”
Since updating flood plain maps for Nassau County in 2009, FEMA requires that all new homes built in a flood zone, of which Long Beach is one, meet specific height requirements set by the National Flood Insurance Program, for the purposes of minimizing flood damages and loses. Following Sandy, the city approved measures to increase the height limit of homes to 23 feet to comply with FEMA and New York State building code requirements.

Homes that sustained substantial damage, estimated at more than 50 percent, may be eligible for ICC coverage of a maximum of $30,000 to pay for all or part of the costs to raise their homes, and homes with lesser damage are appealing their assessments in order to obtain funding through the ICC program.

Patch last week posted a photo of one the first homes to undergo elevation reconstruction according to new FEMA requirements. The home is located on Tennessee Avenue in the West End.