Few South-N.J. Victims Had Flood Insurance

By Mark E. Ruquet

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

Between Monday night and Tuesday unusually heavy rains hit Camden and Burlington counties causing 15 earthen dams to break and flood a number of towns near the Delaware River across from Philadelphia. Hundreds of people were evacuated as water invaded communities that had never known flooding.

No deaths or injuries were reported.

Ellen Mellody, a spokeswoman for Gov. Jim McGreevey, said it is too soon to get any preliminary figures on the damages from the flooding, but it appears that it could exceed the $9 million threshold required for a federal government disaster declaration.

Yesterday, Gov. McGreevey declared the two counties disaster areas mobilizing civilian emergency management and State Police units to help local officials.

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

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

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

In three of the worst hit areas?Medford, Medford Lakes and Lumberton?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-hazard zones.

John Latimer, president of both J.S. Braddock Agency in Medford, N.J., and Barclay Group in Riverton, N.J., said that very few homeowners in the affected areas purchased flood insurance or were required to do so because their homes were designated in a 1,000-year flood zone.

The vice president of the Professional Insurance Agents of New Jersey, Mr. Latimer noted that his office in Medford, which was spared from the floods, received 50 calls from homeowners about their policies. Only two had flood insurance. Mr. Latimer added that most of his commercial clients were lucky because their businesses were located on high ground. The one commercial claim he did receive concerned a vehicle that was caught in the flooding.

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

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