Few South-N.J. Victims Had Flood Insurance

By Mark E. Ruquet

NU Online News Service, 3:54 p.m. EDT?Few ofthe homeowners stricken by flooding in Southern New Jersey hadflood insurance policies because many of the homes were in areasoutside flood plains, according to agents and federalofficials.[@@]

Between Monday night and Tuesday unusually heavy rains hitCamden and Burlington counties causing 15 earthen dams to break andflood a number of towns near the Delaware River across fromPhiladelphia. Hundreds of people were evacuated as water invadedcommunities that had never known flooding.

No deaths or injuries were reported.

Ellen Mellody, a spokeswoman for Gov. Jim McGreevey, said it istoo soon to get any preliminary figures on the damages from theflooding, but it appears that it could exceed the $9 millionthreshold required for a federal government disasterdeclaration.

Yesterday, Gov. McGreevey declared the two counties disasterareas mobilizing civilian emergency management and State Policeunits to help local officials.

More than 500 homes were evacuated yesterday, said Ms. Mellody,and 250 more homes in Burlington County were evacuated today afterthe Timberlake Dam threatened to break.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency joined state officialstoday to assess the damage. A FEMA representative said it would bedays before any figures would be available.

While New Jersey is ranked fifth in the nation for the number ofNational Flood Insurance Program policies, there appear to be fewpolicy holders in the affected areas.

In three of the worst hit areas?Medford, Medford Lakes andLumberton?there were only 231 policies issued, said Mary Colvin,branch chief of community relations program FEMA Region II.However, only 105 of those policies were issued in non-hazardzones.

John Latimer, president of both J.S. Braddock Agency in Medford,N.J., and Barclay Group in Riverton, N.J., said that very fewhomeowners in the affected areas purchased flood insurance or wererequired to do so because their homes were designated in a1,000-year flood zone.

The vice president of the Professional Insurance Agents of NewJersey, Mr. Latimer noted that his office in Medford, which wasspared from the floods, received 50 calls from homeowners abouttheir policies. Only two had flood insurance. Mr. Latimer addedthat most of his commercial clients were lucky because theirbusinesses were located on high ground. The one commercial claim hedid receive concerned a vehicle that was caught in theflooding.

Sharon Cooper, a spokeswoman for Selective Insurance Co., basedin Branchville, N.J., a major administrator of the flood insuranceprogram, said the company has received 30 claims in the wake of theflooding, about what it expected.