Official: Tougher Building Codes Necessary For Sandy-Damaged Homes On Long Island
FREEPORT, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Some 3,000 Long Island homes deemed substantially damaged by superstorm Sandy must comply with new building codes or face financial penalties and huge insurance rate increases.
The tougher codes are necessary, said Joe Madigan, Freeport's building superintendent.
"It'll make your home sellable," Madigan told WCBS Long Island Bureau Chief Mike Xirinachs. "No one's going to want to come in here to live and buy a house where you can be paying five, six thousand dollars, maybe even more, depending on its location, for flood insurance.
"If you do not comply, the penalties are going to be drastic as far as your flood insurance."
Under the new codes, substantially damaged homes would have to be raised two feet above flood elevation.
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