From CBS New York:Scores of Breezy Point homeowners have filed a lawsuit against the Long Island Power Authority and National Grid, CBS 2 has learned.
According to the suit filed by 120 homeowners, the utility companies failed to de-energize the power grid ahead of superstorm Sandy.
Nearly 130 homes burned to the ground in Breezy Point and in Rockaway Beach, Queens after electrical fires broke out.
Earlier this year, 17 homeowners had announced plans to sue the utilities for failing to cut power ahead of the Oct. 29 storm’s landfall.
At the time, residents argued that if LIPA had turned off the power ahead of time, all they would be facing now is flood and wind damage and not a neighborhood wiped off the map by flames. They said homeowners’ insurance will cover much of the damage, but not the loss of so many irreplaceable items.
2 comments:
I would think their insurance claims would pay out more because their houses were total losses due to fire. Other folks have to deal with differences in coverages between wind, rain, and flood damage. My guess is that the insurance companies are behind this to backstop their losses.
If nothing else comes of this situation it should be revised building codes for these dense neighborhoods.
Combustible materials should be banned for new homes closer than some determined spacing. Any new construction closer than say, 150 ft must be made of non-combustible material: brick, cinderblock, steel.
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