The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is reminding National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policyholders who filed a claim as a result of Hurricane Sandy that there are four weeks remaining to request a review if they believe their claims were underpaid for any reason.
FEMA set a Sept. 15 deadline for policyholders to request a review. FEMA sent letters to approximately 142,000 NFIP policyholders who filed claims resulting from Hurricane Sandy, offering them an opportunity to have their files reviewed. To date, more than 10,000 policyholders have entered the process. Additional payments will be made to policyholders when warranted.
To be eligible for the review, policyholders must have experienced flood damage between Oct. 27, 2012 and Nov. 6, 2012 as a result of Hurricane Sandy. Policyholders can call the NFIP’s Hurricane Sandy claims center at 866-337-4262 to request a review.
Alternately, policyholders can go online to www.fema.gov/hurricane-sandynfip- claims to download a form requesting a review. The downloaded form may be filled out and emailed to FEMA-sandyclaimsreview@ fema.dhs.gov<mailto:femasandyclaimsreview@ fema. dhs.gov> to start the review process.
For individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and use 711 or VRS, please call 866-337- 4262 to facilitate the filing of their claim review. For individuals using a TTY, please call 800-462-7585 to begin the review process.
Before contacting the claims center, policyholders are asked to have the policyholder’s name, their flood insurance carrier name, policy number that was in effect at the time of the loss, and the address of the damaged property. For security purposes, you will be asked to provide some information to verify your identity. Policyholders will be asked a series of questions to determine whether they qualify for review. Once qualified, they will be called by an adjuster to begin the review. The timing of this call may be affected by the volume of requests for review. Most reviews can be concluded within 90 days.
Files will be assigned to an NFIP-certified adjuster who will review the claim file. Adjusters will contact policyholders to guide them through the review process. Policyholders who have already requested their review can call 866-337-4262 if they have questions or need more information.
Establishing this review is just one step in the plan to ensure that the NFIP is customer-focused and helps policyholders recover from flooding in a fair, transparent and expeditious way. The Sandy claims review process is intended to be simple for the policyholder and does not require paid legal assistance. Additionally, there are several nonprofit service providers ready to offer free advice and answer questions policyholders may have. A list of these advocacy groups can be found on the claims review website at www.fema.gov/advocacy- groups-and-services-referral-list.
FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.
