Union County Gains Federal Disaster Relief Eligibility

A week after Hurricane Irene ravaged parts of Central and Northern New Jersey, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has included the Union County among those counties eligible for federal disaster relief. 

"This will be an important step to help our residents get their lives back to order," Cranford Mayor Aschenbach told the Cranford Patch on Sunday afternoon.

Also Sunday afternoon Freeholder Chairman Deborah Scanlon announced that Union County residents and small businesses in all county municipalities are now eligible to apply for different types of federal assistance, including temporary housing, repair, replacement or other needs such as Disaster Unemployment Assistance, and Small Business Administration disaster loans. 

Public assistance eligibility allows eligible local governments, and certain nonprofit organizations to apply for federal funding on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by Hurricane Irene.

According to Scanlon, Union County has submitted damage assessments to the state totaling over $200 million. On Friday, representatives from FEMA and NJ OEM completed both the Public Assessment (PA) and Individual Assessment (IA) of damages throughout the County as a result of Hurricane Irene. 

Although many Union County towns were hard hit - Cranford in particular - the county had not been included in the original declaration, presumably because the time required to fully assess damages. Inclusion in the FEMA declaration requires a visual inspection. 

On August 30, Representative Leonard Lance toured the flood water-ravaged township with United States Senator Frank Lautenberg, Senator Tom Kean Jr. and Cranford Mayor Dan Aschenbach to assess the damage. 

In the days afterward, county officials were wrapping up their visual inspections and assessments, which seemed like an eternity to some.

“The senators and the mayor came to take pictures at the Kilkenny House the other day and no one came over. How does that feel?” asked massage therapist Cheryl Mulligan, whose office building, on South Avenue East, was washed out with four foot high waters. It feels terrible to be ignored.”

No that the situation has changed, the news is welcome news to mulligan’s business neighbor, real estate agent Vita Zoltak. 

Zoltak said she was told by her insurance company that they won’t cover her business for loss of power or sewer backup, which occurred, and that “because it was a flood, they walked away.

“So I said, OK is there’s is a little help with FEMA, I can get started,” Zoltak said.

Earlier on Sunday, President toured Paterson and other parts of the state that suffered severe damage from Hurricane Irene.

"The main message that I have for all the residents -- not only of New Jersey but all those communities that have been affected by flooding, by the destruction that occurred as a consequence of Hurricane Irene -- is that the entire country is behind you and we are going to make sure that we provide all the resources that are necessary in order to help these communities rebuild," Obama was quoted as saying.

That, however, was cold comfort to some Cranford residents who have the opinion that they have been neglected.

“My insurance company is pissing me off,” said Casino Street resident Sigita Zibas. “Their response has been horrible. “FEMA, yes,  I want got get myself on the list a being a part of the disaster for relief.” Zibas and her partner Kenny Simone, a firefighter who works in Jersey City, have been displaced from their home which saw nearly 10 foot waters and are staying with friend and local resident Maureen Brown.

Riverside Drive resident Michael Rodgers said that he expects to be out of luck with regards to replacing the contents of his home, much of which now stands curbside in front of his home.

“It’s too expensive to buy contents coverage so we just have coverage on the building,” Rodgers said. "I don’t know all that we have to replace. I’ve started finding mold.”

Last Saturday, Cranford was the first municipality in Union County to call for a mandatory evacuation when Aschenbach said a, was brought to his attention.

That awareness came just as the Army Corps of Engineers was preparing a final report on the condition of the township's flood prevention system for the end of September or the beginning of October. The preliminary report showed several areas where the dikes have unstable soil that could fail in the event of a high water and heavy rain event.

Many residents who live in the Riverside Drive area, which was one of the hardest hit in Cranford, said that they suspected that the waters that caused so much damage to their homes was extra high because the dike had burst.

To apply for assistance through FEMA, residents and business owners can go to http://www.disasterassistance.gov/