FEMA sets deadline for second look at Sandy claims

Sept. 15 — that's the last day the Federal Emergency Management Agency will accept requests to review potentially underpaid flood insurance claims from superstorm Sandy.

FEMA's deadline announcement on Thursday means that policyholders have 82 days remaining to opt-in to the Sandy claims review process either by calling 1-866-337-4262 or visiting www.fema.gov/hurricane-sandy-nfip-claims.

In March, FEMA agreed to take another look at — and potentially adjust upward the payouts of — as many as 142,000 National Flood Insurance Program claims, including 74,000 in New Jersey.

Policyholders had to request a review through a newly designed process and letters started going out on May 18 to inform homeowners of the review steps.

As of June 10, 5,222 applications to reopen flood claims had been submitted, according to U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.

About two out of every three were found eligible and a total of 90 reviews have been completed, he said during a June 15 forum meant to encourage homeowners to ask for their claims to be re-examined.

The review process has been met with skepticism by some policyholders who are hesitant to engage again with FEMA, the organization that oversaw how their claims were handled in the first place.

There also was a report from the U.S. Senate Banking Committee that might explain the relatively low enrollment in the review process. That report argues that there was no "systematic underpayment" of flood insurance claims in the wake of Sandy, which would run counter to the experiences and beliefs of many Shore homeowners.

The allegations of fraud that sparked the creation of the Sandy claims review process were not part of the Senate committee's report.