The high winds knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people, as well as businesses. Water damage in the area around Albany, including Schenectady, Troy and Latham, was severe and extensive.
What resources do Capital District homeowners and businesses have available to repair the damage to their property done by the hurricane?
Flood Damage and Insurance
The place to start, as a homeowner, is with your homeowners' insurance policy. Such policies generally include coverage for wind damage. For example, if high winds blew a tree onto your house, that may be covered by your policy.
Flood damage is another matter. Damage caused by rising water is often not covered by homeowners' insurance. That type of water damage is typically excluded by many policies, unless you have specifically purchased flood insurance. In some cases, federal rules require purchasing such insurance as a condition of the mortgage, if the Federal Emergency Management Agency considers the property to be a flood risk.
Statistics from the National Flood Insurance Program indicate that very few homeowners in the Albany area have flood insurance. In fact, throughout the Northeast, the percentage of those who have flood insurance is only about five percent.
This does not necessarily mean, however, that you have no possible recourse in the aftermath of Irene. For example, if some other factor was a key cause of the damage, it may be possible to proceed against an insurance company that is refusing to pay for Irene-related damage. If a sump pump or drainage system failed, you may well have a claim. Or you may have had a specific endorsement in your policy to cover sewer system backups.
Keep in mind that the statue of limitations and all other appropriate procedures for bringing claims against the insurance company must still be followed. An experienced attorney can help you comply with these requirements and prepare for possible insurance litigation.
Other Flood Relief Resources
It's also good to keep in mind that there are other flood relief resources available. On the federal level, in counties that are declared to be disaster areas, FEMA has the ability to make a certain amount of funding available in grants and low-interest loans. Twenty-four New York counties have already received this designation.
There are important state and local resources available as well. One such resource is the flood victim initiative undertaken by New York State Trial Lawyers Care, a charitable arm of the New York State Bar Association. Lawyers are sharing their expertise to help people understand the legal issues involved in picking up the pieces after such a devastating storm.
