On the corner of 183rd Street and 90th Street in Hollis, Queens, there is a yellow diamond-shaped road sign with black lettering: ROAD MAY FLOOD.
The facility was installed after the remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped nearly 9 inches of rain on New York City on September 1, 2021, setting an hourly rainfall record and causing massive flooding. More than a dozen people died that night in the city, most of them in basement apartments, including the block where George Lee, 72, had lived most of his life.
“My house and the house across the street were all flooded,” Lee said. “It was like a nightmare.”
Lee’s parents bought the house in the mid-1960s. Because the block is at the bottom of a hill, it has been subject to flooding for a long time, but in the past “it hasn’t been that bad,” he said. The basement is probably ankle-deep in water and that’s it. But forget about Hurricane Ida. ”
It rained heavily that night, and Lee’s basement was flooded to the first floor. He said the water flow was so fast that it overturned and carried away large, heavy planters full of dirt and flowers in his front yard. The same goes for heavy construction equipment on the road. Everything in his basement was destroyed, including thousands of dollars worth of computer equipment and irreplaceable memorabilia.
“There was something very valuable in the basement,” Lee said. “I had a whole collection of comics, but it’s gone. I had a whole record collection, but it’s gone.”
According to New York City, heavy rains caused by Hurricane Ida damaged more than 33,000 buildings in New York City, most of them residential. Weeks after the storm, many flood-affected residents learned their insurance wouldn’t cover them.
“People didn’t know where to turn,” said Theodora Maklis, senior program manager at the nonprofit New York City Neighborhood Center. “Was it a federal disaster declaration? Is there any federal funding? Where do I apply?”
Makris said people have been able to apply for federal funds, such as grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and loans from the Small Business Administration, but the process is confusing and stressful for many. It is said that
“And ultimately, even though they got the money, even though they got the money, it didn’t really cover what they expected it to cover,” Makris said. he said.
As often happens after a disaster, it took a long time to arrive.
“It will undoubtedly take weeks and even months to get insurance payments, FEMA reviews, and access to credit,” said Carolyn Kowsky, vice president of economics and policy at the Environmental Defense Fund. ” he said.
This is particularly difficult for low- to moderate-income people, who are disproportionately affected by climate disasters and tend to have a harder time recovering. Watching that play out over and over again led Kowsky to wonder, “How can we quickly and flexibly get funding to these households in need after a major flood?” .
The New York City Neighborhood Center is piloting the idea of a type of community-based flood insurance as a possible answer to that question. The New York City Neighborhood Center is working with the city and several other nonprofits and private companies to offer what is called parametric flood insurance on behalf of low- to moderate-income city residents living in high-flood-risk areas. I bought it.
Parametric insurance differs from traditional home and flood insurance in that it pays out in the event of a qualifying storm that meets certain preset parameters.
“So if you think the wind speed exceeds a certain threshold within miles of your home, you automatically get paid a certain amount,” Kowsky said.
Or, in this case, if a certain area of New York receives a certain amount of rain, the New York City Neighborhood Center receives a lump sum insurance payment that it uses to provide emergency grants of $5,000 to $15,000 to a limited area. You can give money. Number of people affected by floods.
“The good thing about parametrics is that they are very fast,” says Kowsky. “Because there is no loss adjustment.”
You don’t have to wait for an insurance company representative to come and investigate the damage and determine the amount of compensation. If the storm is severe, payments will be made automatically.
This is the second year of the Flood Recovery Fund pilot in New York. In 2023, the New York City Neighborhood Center was able to pay its premiums with a grant from the National Science Foundation. This year, the company won a grant from technology insurance startup Raincoat.
Jonathan Gonzalez, co-founder and CEO of Raincoat, calls the program “fantastic from a creativity standpoint” and its focus on rainfall flooding, public-private partnerships, and community-based models. He said it was “very innovative.”
“I think this model is the best way forward,” he said. “That’s why I was so excited to support this program, because I think this is the future of real solutions.”
Parametric insurance is still relatively rare in the United States. It’s more common in other parts of the world. No one knows exactly how or how well the Flood Recovery Fund will work in practice, as New York has not had a single qualifying storm since the pilot program began. .
However, Makris said the recipients of these subsidies can use them without any restrictions on what they need after the floods, such as replacing food and clothing, cleaning their apartments, temporarily staying in a hotel, or renting a car. He said it was designed to be used.
“I think what’s really important in this regard is that no one knows the needs of families and the needs of individuals better than you,” she said. “Especially right after a disaster, things are really crazy and chaotic and you need a little more flexibility.”
Shortly after Hurricane Ida flooded his Queens home, George Lee needed help getting water out of his basement and cleaning it up.
“We had to hire three people to put everything into the garbage truck,” he said, adding that it still took several days to clean everything up. “I had a lot of stuff.”
And after cleaning up, there was a lot to fix or replace: windows, boilers, computers. Three years later, some of the walls in the basement are still cracked due to water seepage, Lee said.
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