VOAD held a seminar for Wayne business owners to discuss resources available for flooding disasters. The seminar addressed the difficulties businesses and homeowners faced after recent floods, including issues with insurance reimbursement. Speakers discussed the need for a long-term solution to the flooding problem like a proposed $2.8 billion flood tunnel project, and the importance of disaster preparedness through organizations like VOAD. Business owners expressed concerns that continued flooding could force many to relocate out of the area.

1. BY JASON MOUSSAB
Correspondent
WAYNE – In recent years, New
Jersey has experienced massive
flooding and in turn leaving home-owners
and businesses scrambling
on how to live their lives and oper-ate
businesses. Wayne, in particu-lar,
suffered between $3 to $4 bil-lion
dollars in damages.
Wayne’s Volunteer Organiza-tions
Active in Disasters (VOAD)
held a special seminar for business
owners last week about what
resources are available to them the
next time a flood or other disaster
occurs in the town.
Pastor Karyn Ratcliffe, local
VOAD chairperson, spoke briefly
on how there must be a relation-ship
between resources and the
needs of businesses. She also
stressed that fixing the flooding
problem is the “ultimate solution.”
Councilwoman at large and
chair of the long term recovery
group, Lonni Miller Ryan then
spoke about how after the floods
passed, businesses and homeown-ers
still had problems.
“There are resources out there,”
she said. “We need to try and
reach out to the businesses to find
out their needs and wants.”
She added that her mission is to
help homeowners and businesses
that were severely flooded. Ryan
then told a story of a man who was
a contractor whose house was
damaged by the floods. To restore
his house the man acted as a gen-eral
contractor, spent $60,000 to
restore it, but was told by the
insurance company that he would
not be reimbursed because he did-n’t
hire an outside service
provider.
“He called me, which I then got
the state senate and assembly
involved to call insurance compa-nies,”
Ryan said. “Eventually he
was reimbursed for his expenses.”
Therese Farid from Project
Recover said their goal is to coun-sel
not only homeowners, but also
businesses. Her organization has
worked with numerous towns
whose people dealt with the trau-ma
after major flooding. Wayne is
the only town to promote project
recovery counseling.
Assemblyman Scott Rumana
also attended the meeting and said
that he is happy to see growth and
awareness of assistance for flood-ing
events from organizations. He
went on to say that five of the eight
largest floods in the state hap-pened
in the last seven years.
“VOAD is very important to
prepare for disaster relief,” he
stressed.
Rumana also spoke about a
plan where flood tunnels would
divert the water from the Wayne
area to Newark Bay. The estimat-ed
cost of this project would be
$2.8 billion.
“There is no federal or state
help,” he said. “We need numbers
so the U.S. senators will hear the
voices and not side-step the flood
tunnel issue.”
Ratcliffe added that the flood
tunnel should be viewed as an
investment rather than an
expense.
Alyssa Cimino, the Wayne
VOAD business liaison, pointed
out in a recent article that 43 per-cent
of businesses never reopen
after a flood disaster. In addition,
WAYNE TODAY AUGUST 2, 2012 9
29 percent of businesses close
within two years.
Various business owners shared
their hardships after being flooded
out and are concerned about how
often it occurs. Many owners said
that neighboring businesses are
counting the days when their leas-es
are up so they can move out of
the area.
Ed Fitzpatrick, owner of the
Grasshopper, said the road leading
out to Rt. 23 gets flooded within an
hour of rain. He said it looks like a
“ghetto road,” with all the leaves
and trees in the streets.
“I experienced three floods in
18 months and it was a major loss
on St. Patrick’s Day,” he said. “It
was a loss of food and business for
one of my busiest days.”
Moreover, business owners are
concerned that if flooding contin-ues,
they will move out of the area,
creating an economic problem.
The business owners under-stand
what the procedures are for
a snowstorm, but are unaware of
the resources available after a
flood or disaster event. VOAD is
trying to promote business partici-pation
in preparing a plan.
Community
VOAD meets with business leaders to discuss flood resources
Wayne VOAD’s mission
The mission of Wayne VOAD is to serve the people of Wayne at the time
of a disaster as neighbors helping neighbors. In close cooperation with
town officials, by supporting first responders and organizing people
who want to help, VOAD aim’s to facilitate communication of critical
information; cooperation among volunteers; coordination of vital
services; and collaboration among organizations. Visit VOAD online at
http://waynevoad.org/ or search for Wayne VOAD on Facebook.
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