Somers Point resident Bob Lawless heard a knock on the door at his Bay Avenue home on Oct. 29, 2012.
“It was the police,” Lawless recalled. “They said, ‘We can’t let you stay. It’s going to be unsafe. You’ve got to get your things and get out of here.’ So we left.”
That’s how Lawless remembers Hurricane Sandy, which unleashed some flooding along Somers Point’s bayfront but spared the town from the widespread destruction it caused in other South Jersey communities.
On the fourth anniversary of the hurricane, Lawless and about 20 other local residents attended a community forum Saturday at City Hall to discuss flood-protection insurance and ways they can lower their premiums.
Somers Point wants to join a communitywide program administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, that gives homeowners discounts on their flood insurance ranging from 5 percent to 25 percent.
Known as the Community Rating System, the program requires municipalities to implement a series of flood-mitigation measures to qualify.
Jim Rutala, a Somers Point planner, said the city is working on meeting the requirements for the CRS program. They include collaborating with Stockton University on a watershed-management plan.
In another step, Somers Point’s engineer is developing a floodplain-management plan to help the town comply with the CRS rules, Rutala explained.
Somers Point is hopeful that local homeowners will qualify for at least a 15 percent discount on their flood insurance premiums through the CRS. The neighboring town of Linwood has qualified for the CRS program at the 15 percent discount level, Rutala noted.
“Our goal is to match that,” he said, referring to Linwood’s discount rate.
Somers Point City Council President Dennis Tapp believes the community forum will educate residents about the complexities of flood insurance and, ultimately, help them save money.
“It’s such a complex process to get them the help they need. Dealing with FEMA is such a headache,” said Tapp, who was joined at the forum by fellow Councilman Carl D’Adamo.
Altogether, there are 1,000 flood insurance policyholders in Somers Point paying a total of $800,000 in premiums, Rutala said.
Lawless, the Bay Avenue resident who had to leave his home on police orders when Sandy’s flood waters threatened his neighborhood, is one of those policyholders.
Lawless declined to say how much he pays for flood insurance, but said he has “excellent” coverage. He hopes the city can work with homeowners to get them insurance discounts.
“Together, we can get a better deal than doing it solo,” he said.
Getting the right level of flood coverage — at the best price — can be tricky, said Tyler Ardron, a certified floodplain manager and agent for the Risk Reduction Group, which specializes in flood insurance.
Ardron, who spoke at Saturday’s community forum, said some insurance companies make mistakes, costing policyholders more money than they should pay.
He sat down with residents after the forum to review their flood insurance coverage.
Somers Point residents Gary Yentsch and Gregg Barr attended the forum hoping to find ways to reduce their flood insurance premiums. They have to carry flood insurance for their homes on Ambler Avenue, even though they are not near the bay.
Yentsch and Barr noted that their homes are technically within a floodplain, which triggers the flood insurance requirement.
“It’s a kick in the stomach. It’s frustrating,” said Barr, who pays $2,135 annually for flood insurance.
Barr said his flood insurance premiums began to steadily rise after Sandy.
Yentsch said he pays about $1,400 annually for flood insurance, down from $2,000. He said the rate dropped when his insurance company began basing his premium on the assessed value of his home instead of the higher market value.
When Yentsch moved into his house in 2001, he was paying about $700 annually for flood insurance, he said.
Now, Yentsch is worried that Hurricane Matthew’s destruction this month in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas could lead to the insurance industry raising flood insurance rates in the Northeast, including New Jersey.
“There was massive flooding down South, so we know it’s going to happen. We’re going to pay more,” he said.
