Sandy, Sandy Sandy

[KiwiBirkin]

Opps I also meant to say, 2 years on and were still waiting for insurance companies to come to the party for earth quake related claims, my faith in them stopped and I don't trust the buggers any more as they will find any loop hole they can to stop payouts, I hope you guys fair better than we did with them.

Edited November 4, 2012 by KiwiBirkin

[S1Steve]

Back home with everything working. Sandy blew down some fence around the pool. Both homes on both sides have big trees in their back yards, so we got off easy.

 

Hope things get better for the rest of you guys...

[yellowss7]

I really hate sand!!!:rant: Just spent another day Shoveling.

Upstairs Neighbor showed up with His son and several friends and a Power shovel and a front end loader.:hurray: They took down the fence around the yard and bulldozed the sand into the street. Hard to believe that all that sand is just about gone. Hard stuff to get at is the stuff packed in all the remaining bushes. That is going be someone (younger) elses job.

 

Drywall will get cut out tomorrow hopefully, it's starting to smell a bit. Elevator works but needs new inside sliding doors.

 

The city has been clearing the sand from the streets. The streets reminded me of the scenes from the Movie HurtLocker with all the sand.:ack: They also started screening/cleaning all that sand and are now dumping it back onto the beach, sort of rebuilding dunes or at least putting a little barrier up temporarily. Believe it or not, some people are already complaining that it's now blocking their veiw. :boxing: Me, I'll feel beter when they put alot more sand out there.

 

Like I said, could have been alot worse. Amazing thing is that other than hauling the sand in the streets away, the cleanup is being done by the homeowners or contractors that they brought in. There were alot of people from the local churchs, offering to help, Providing hot soup, coffee or water to those of us working. The clean up is progresing alot faster than I would have thought possible. Obviously we weren't hit as hard as LBI and some other towns were. I'll post a few recent photos, that will show the progress. Here is one more shot pre cleanup that shows the amount of sand around the houses. The one basically in the center top of the frame is ours. You can see how close the surf is now. Too close for comfort IMO.

Tom

Edited November 4, 2012 by yellowss7

[Mondo]

Glad things are improving faster than you thought.

Well those with total loss of a home could try this design when they reconstruct.. I've seen where the bottom floor is a garage and they just have their cars and minor stuff there. Might take away from the traditional ambiance though.

 

http://www.topsider.com/hurricane-proof-homes.asp

[yellowss7]

Interesting design. Weird thing is that in Ocean City NJ., they have pretty restricitve height limits on new construction. Some of the older homes are built on pilings with just parking spaces underneath, but I haven't seen any new stuff built like that.

[blubarisax]

We just got power back at home and the office. It was a long nine days.

[MichaelD]

Good luck with the NorEaster that is hitting you guys now. I hope the new sand dunes don't wash back into your homes.

 

Prayers r with you.

[yellowss7]

Survived the 2pm high tide. Next one is at 2am. I'm heading down again tomorrow. Thx.

 

Tom

[Kitcat]

Just heard that northern NJ had a small earth quake. You guys seem to have offended the gods in some way! At least the snow makes it likely that the locust plague will not happen til next spring:).

 

Tom-hope the latest storm surge is not a big one. It has to be hard to feel so powerless.

[The Stig]

Woke to 10 in of snow to add to the misery of no power today! WTF!

[MHKflyer52]

To all of the folks on the North East Coast,

I have to say that I had been considering moving back to the North East close to where Tom (aka yellowss7) lives due to having family in that area (Cocranville and Oxford, Penn. and the Cherry Hill, NJ area) but with all that has happened weather wise (Sandy, a North Eastern storm with high tides and snow, a small earth quake, no power in some ares still) in the last three weeks makes me think I am better off out here on the West Coast where it is warm (65 to 94 degrees) :jester: and not snowing or raining :jester: even though we do have earth quakes daily :jester: with the occasional large one (the large quakes only last for a couple of minutes on average and the power get turned on with in hours if it goes out) and the high cost of homes and living and crowed highways that I am going to stay put for the time being. Beside I would have to get a top for my clone 7 and would not be able to drive it as much or post a photo like this to make you all envious of the area I live in even if it is foggy in the morning on the coast (PCH-1).

 

Hope everyone stays safe and that the reconstruction of things dose not take to long or cause any more upsets for you all.

[Kitcat]

Yeh, Martin, that fog looks really brutal, chin up man:).

[Croc]

Can someone in CA please slap Martin silly for me.....just a little...:jester:

 

The sight that is remarkable for me is being able to see clear across 100 feet of building (if I crouch down) as the bottom 3 feet on the ground floor of my building has been cleared of dry wall, cabinets, furniture, etc as all that wet stuff was removed.

[MHKflyer52]

Tom and Mike and others on the North East Coast,

So how are things shaking out now that a couple of weeks have passed.

I hope it is getting back to a some what normal condition for you all.

[yellowss7]

I met with the flood ins. adjustor yesterday morning. Not much covered other than the AC and heater. No coverage on the water damage, drywall, furniture, debris removal etc. Claims that there is no coverage on "ground level" damage. We are trying to argue that the house is above flood plain level. But it's like pissing up a rope.

 

All in all, it looks like about 50 to 60k in repairs. Just going to have to raise my rental prices. :nopity:

 

Could have be alot worse. Big issue IMO is that the high tide is now just 10 yards from my yard which is only about 5 yards from the house, with no dunes inbetween. Next full moon tide and or storm could be ugly.

 

Tom

[MHKflyer52]

I met with the flood ins. adjustor yesterday morning. Not much covered other than the AC and heater. No coverage on the water damage, drywall, furniture, debris removal etc. Claims that there is no coverage on "ground level" damage. We are trying to argue that the house is above flood plain level. But it's like pissing up a rope.

 

All in all, it looks like about 50 to 60k in repairs. Just going to have to raise my rental prices. :nopity:

 

Could have be alot worse. Big issue IMO is that the high tide is now just 10 yards from my yard which is only about 5 yards from the house, with no dunes inbetween. Next full moon tide and or storm could be ugly.

 

Tom

 

Hi Tom,

 

I know how that is with the insurance issues as we found that out with the quake insurance in 1994 after the Northridge Earthquake that not a whole lot is covered, mainly the physical structure and not much else especially if you do not live in the property full time.

 

Oh well life goes on and we all get older and memories fade so keep a smile on your face and good thoughts in your head and all will work out in the end.

[Croc]

I met with the flood ins. adjustor yesterday morning. Not much covered other than the AC and heater. No coverage on the water damage, drywall, furniture, debris removal etc. Claims that there is no coverage on "ground level" damage. We are trying to argue that the house is above flood plain level. But it's like pissing up a rope.

 

I suspect he is right. Your house will be on the official flood plain maps and as a result gound level cover is voided. Meanwhile, my building right next to the Hudson River is on the flood plain but because the ground floor is an empty basement designed to flood as a former riverside warehouse, the next level up of apartments and lobby is covered. Welcome to the intricacies and silliness of the insurance world.

 

I assume you have already worked with your regular home policy insurer to see what of the shortfall they pick up? Probably none but it is worth trying...

 

 

Could have be alot worse. Big issue IMO is that the high tide is now just 10 yards from my yard which is only about 5 yards from the house, with no dunes inbetween. Next full moon tide and or storm could be ugly.

 

My question looking forward - If the waters got to the second floor then what coverage have you got? Structure and contents? What is subject to the statutory $250k policy limit? Have you read your policy in detail yet? (Do you want me to?) Even better find a really good insurance broker to help you work out the details of where and where not you are covered. Right now you are in the post-catastrophe insurance dead zone but you want to be ready to move to up your insurance cover if you can the moment the insurance market comes on line.

[BruceBowker]

Not sure why so many are complaining about insurance companies. As long as you pay through the nose, they will cover absolutely everything and anything, except what goes wrong.