Suffolk County executive confident federal government will help with storm damage costs. What homeowners should do to assess their losses
EAST SETAUKET, N.Y. – Cleanup continued Wednesday in Suffolk County, three days after what authorities are calling a 1-in-1,000-year flood devastated homes and businesses.
County Executive Ed Romaine is confident the federal government will come through with financial assistance, but officials have advice on what homeowners should do in the meantime.
Will Suffolk County homeowners get federal assistance to help with flood damage?
For anyone impacted, Suffolk County urges, help us help you.
Fill out the Storm Damage Assessment survey through the Office of Emergency Management website. The information helps stake the claim that Suffolk meets the minimum $37 million damage assessment for Federal Disaster Declaration.
"There's not a guarantee right now," said Rudy Sunderman, acting commissioner of Suffolk County Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services.
Sunderman says that's why staff are out knocking on doors asking people to fill out the survey.
"At the same time, you need to take pictures of all the damage within your home," he said.
Homeowners should estimate the value of each item lost.
"Save your receipts because federal money comes after the fact," Romaine said.
If a federal disaster is declared, Romaine says, "FEMA will come in and actually cover some of your costs related to the damage."
The federal government has 30 days to respond to a request for a disaster declaration.
East Setauket homeowner says insurance will only cover $5,000 in damage
East Setauket resident Edmund Murphy recently spent nearly $300,000 carefully crafting his basement home. His daughter Kellie Coppi came down to check on him as water started to seep into the basement Monday morning. Minutes later, the egress window blew in and both found themselves trapped.
"It wasn't that long, then boom, the water just really gushed in," Murphy said.
Murphy said just as much water rushed in through the front door; they couldn't open it to escape, and his son-in-law had to break it down.
"Everything was floating," Murphy said.
They made it out safely, but so much was lost, including heirlooms that belonged to his wife who passed unexpectedly last year and Coppi's daughter's earliest mementos. Inside the apartment, everything upended by seven feet of water sits covered in muck, and little is salvageable.
"I could not believe how much the force of water, and the whole yard was like 4 feet deep," Murphy said. "We would've drowned. I would have drowned."
"It's a lot of hard work and money that my mother and father put into it, and it's just gone ... Everything of my dad's is gone, it's all soaked, but at least, at least we're alive," Coppi said.
Murphy just learned that insurance will only reimburse him $5,000 for everything he lost.
"Appliances alone are $5,000, not to mention the water mitigation," Coppi said.
To help him get back on his feet and start rebuilding his home, his daughter set up a GoFundMe, as have many on the island who were impacted by Monday's flash flooding.