He stated that claims to the federal program were being paid far too slowly to NJ residents.
Governor Chris Christie has spoken out against the federal flood insurance program’s handling of the claims made by New Jersey residents following the Superstorm Sandy’s devastation of many of its areas at the end of October 2012.
He said that the claims that were made to the federal program were not being paid in a reasonable time.
Though the governor had previously criticized the rate at which the flood insurance payments were being received, he has recently increased the expression of his discontent. At an “Ask the Governor” program that was held on Townsquare Media, he spoke out against the way that the federal program was handling the Sandy claims from New Jersey.
Moreover, he also said that he spoke with the President about the flood insurance program he called “awful”.
Republican Governor Christie said that in his conversation with President Barack Obama, he expressed that “the performance of the national flood insurance program is unacceptable, that it’s awful.” He also gave a number of examples to help to make his point more firmly.
For instance, he stated that private flood insurance companies have been considerably more responsive in paying out the claims that were made following Sandy. Christie said that over 90 percent of the claims that were made to private insurers have already been settled.
Furthermore, he pointed out that much of the debris that the October disaster had left behind on the land of the Jersey Shore has been removed. Though he did not feel that the elimination of the debris was a negative thing, he did criticize the way in which it occurred. A Florida debris removal firm received the $100 million contract for the task, without having to bid on it with other competing companies.
Last month, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) did receive a considerable boost when President Obama signed a bill that would replenish it by $9.7 billion. This was to help the program to continue to manage the remainder of the 100,000 claims that were submitted following Sandy.
