FEMA Continues to Make Additional Payments to Eligible Policyholders

Over 11,000 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policyholders who filed claims for damage are in the Hurricane Sandy Claims Review process, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced today. FEMA has already validated and begun providing additional funds to policyholders taking part in the Hurricane Sandy Claims Review.

“If you believe your flood claim was underpaid for any reason, we encourage you to do what so many of your neighbors are doing and ask FEMA to take another look,” said Roy Wright, Deputy Associate Administrator for FEMA’s Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration, which runs the NFIP.

FEMA reminds policyholders that September 15, 2015 is the last day to request a review of their Hurricane Sandy claims.

To be eligible, policyholders must have experienced flood damage between Oct. 27, 2012 and Nov. 6, 2012. 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-sandy-nfip-claims to download a form requesting a review. The completed form may be emailed to FEMA-sandyclaimsreview@fema.dhs.gov to start the process.

For individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and use 711 or VRS, please call 866-337-4262. For individuals using a TTY, please call 800-462-7585 to begin the review process.

When policyholders call, they should have available the name on the policy, address of the damaged property, the name of the insurance company and the policy number that was in effect at the time of the loss. Policyholders will be asked a series of questions to determine whether they qualify for review. Once qualified, policyholders will be called by an adjuster, acting as a case worker, to begin the review. The timing of the adjuster’s initial 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.

After a policyholder receives the results of their claims review in writing from FEMA, they may seek reconsideration by a neutral third party reviewer if they are dissatisfied with the result. The review is an optional process established by FEMA to give policyholders an opportunity to seek further reexamination of their claim file by a neutral third party reviewer. FEMA will give substantial weight to the recommendation made by the officials in making its final determination on the file.

Policyholders who have already requested a Hurricane Sandy claims review do not need to take any additional action and can expect to be contacted by their adjuster.

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.

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