FEMA Sandy payments take longer than promised

Only 27 checks have been issued as a result of FEMA's pledge to review thousands of superstorm Sandy flood insurance claims and to quickly pay homeowners if they were shorted the first time around.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency acknowledged Friday that some of the initial applicants in the Sandy Claims Review have been waiting longer than the 90-day turnaround that the agency had originally promised.

FEMA spokesman Rafael Lemaitre told the Asbury Park Press that policyholders "have been through enough already" and that the FEMA team is "working through these reviews as quickly as possible."

"Over the past couple of weeks we’ve doubled the number of adjusters handling reviews and they’re now working 7 days a week," he said. "We won’t stop until each policyholder in our review process gets every dollar they are owed under their policy."

A sluggish review process threatens to undermine FEMA's attempts to ensure policyholders that this isn't the same agency that many feel abandoned them and torpedoed their ability to rebuild their homes.

In March, FEMA agreed to dust off as many as 142,000 National Flood Insurance Program claims, including 74,000 in New Jersey, and reexamine them with the potential to order additional payments to homeowners.

The review opened on May 18. Within 10 days, 530 flood insurance claims had been approved for a second look and FEMA officials were continuing to pledge a quick resolution for those in the review process.

"We believe we can conclude most reviews within 90 days of the policyholder requesting the review," said Brad Kieserman, who was FEMA's point man on the review's development, during a U.S. House of Representatives hearing on June 2.

But for people like John Chambers, who lives with his family in the Belford section of Middletown, that 90-day window has come and gone with no word from the agency.

Initially, Chambers said, he was excited about possibly recouping some or all of the $25,000 he believes his insurance owes him for structural damage.

"Ever since I opened the claim with FEMA on June 5, I have had no contact with (them)," Chambers told the Press on Friday. "I've called multiple times, no return calls."

Figures released by FEMA show that the average payment so far has been about $16,000, but that only represents what has been approved. Only 27 checks have been cut so far and just 825 out of 14,201 reviews have reached the payment stage.

The claims review has struggled to engage homeowners — although many were staying on the sidelines because of the potential of aid clawbacks by another federal agency — and was almost closed before it was given a second life on Tuesday night.

Just a few hours before the enrollment window was set to close, FEMA opted to give Sandy victims 30 more days to sign up for Sandy Claims Review. The new deadline is October 15.

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., referenced the long waits when he asked FEMA head Craig Fugate for an extension last month, writing that “hundreds of homeowners have now waited over 110 days and still do not have their results, let alone a check in hand.”

Russ Zimmer: 732-557-5748, razimmer@app.com