Page 7 - ARUBA TODAY

A7
U.S. NEWS Friday 22 September 2017
Hurricanes stall start of New Jersey beach repair from Sandy

By WAYNE PARRY
Associated Press
MANTOLOKING, N.J.
(AP) —
Two hurricanes have
delayed the start of
beach widening and
dune construction in
some of the New Jersey
shore towns hit hardest
by Superstorm Sandy
five years ago.
Work in Mantoloking was
supposed to have start-
ed within the last week
or so, but hurricanes
Jose and Maria have
prevented that from
happening.
The barrier island town
was cut in half by Sandy,
and virtually every one
of its 521 homes was
damaged or destroyed
by the 2012 storm.
Steve Rochette, a
spokesman for the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers
says work in Mantoloking
should now begin in ear-
ly October, with other
nearby towns following This Oct. 31, 2012 photo shows a woman walking on a beach in Mantoloking N.J. past a house destroyed by Superstorm Sandy two
later when more equip- days earlier; a model boat swept from one of the damaged houses sits on the sand in the foreground.
ment is available. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
“They can’t do it now
with the way the weath- perstorm Sandy made contract for three towns previous beach replen- these projects is expect-
er is,” he said. “They landfall, and in Ocean on Long Beach Island ishment project. ed to begin in the fall or
need to be able to safe- City. It soon will award a that were left out of a Rochette said work on winter of this year.q
ly and effectively set up
pipeline and do dredg- An accounting for weather violence among insurers
ing and if ocean swells
are above a certain lim- By DAMIAN J. TROISE because of widespread to raise cash. German rein- Irma carved a path of de-
it, they can’t operate.” Associated Press damage and the inability surer Hanover Re, like Mu- struction through the Ca-
The dredging ship sched- NEW YORK (AP) — Allstate of people to get to their nich Re, said it could miss ribbean and then envel-
uled to work on the Man- expects insurance losses of homes or cars, its estimated profit targets. oped Florida. CoreLogic,
toloking project is in safe about $593 million in Au- losses may grow. Hurricane The Insurance Council of a property data company,
harbor in the Absecon gust after Hurricane Harvey Irma slammed into Florida Texas, the nation’s largest expects damage to com-
Inlet near Atlantic City, left a path of destruction this month and Allstate has state insurance trade as- mercial and residential
and pipeline equipment along the Gulf Coast. not released its estimates sociation, estimates overall property from Irma to range
is temporarily stored in The initial accounting Thurs- for that storm. insured losses from Harvey from $42.5 billion to $65 bil-
the Manasquan Inlet. day follows warnings from “The key thing is that we’re at nearly $19 billion. That lion. That estimate includes
A ship scheduled to work other insurers that are tal- in the peak of an extremely includes an estimate from insured and uninsured loss-
in Brick Township and La- lying the damages from a active hurricane season,” the Federal Emergency es.The damage, particu-
vallette and in the Ortley hurricane season that is no- said Dr. Gerry Bell, lead sea- Management Agency in larly from Irma, was expect-
Beach and Normandy where near being over. sonal hurricane forecaster which Harvey’s flooding ed to be much worse and
Beach sections of Toms Allstate’s monthly losses, at the National Oceanic will result in $11 billion in stock in insurance compa-
River has been put in which likely have not been and Atmospheric Adminis- payments to homeowners nies, while down, has re-
safe harbor in Sandy fully accounted for, are tration.Last week, German with flood insurance. Those mained fairly flat over the
Hook Bay. more than three times the reinsurer Munich Re, which flood losses would be the past month, and many are
$181 million recorded in covers losses from insurers, second highest on record, up sharply for the year.
After the storms pass, July before hurricanes dev- was the first to warn that trailing only Hurricane Ka- Yet the hurricane season
this ship will return to Ab- astated islands in the Atlan- it may not meet previous trina’s $16 billion. runs through November
secon Island, near Atlan- tic and began to strike the financial goals following Harvey flooded a vast area and on Thursday, the en-
tic City, complete work U.S. the one-two punch of Har- stretching from Houston tirety of Puerto Rico was
there, and then come to Harvey made landfall in vey and Irma, which made to the Louisiana border. without power and be-
Ortley Beach. Texas on August 25. More landfall in Florida Septem- The storm caused 70-plus sieged by landslides and
The Army Corps also re- than half the losses from ber 8.Others have issued deaths and damaged floods after Hurricane Ma-
cently awarded con- that storm are related to more pessimistic outlooks. or destroyed more than rie slammed into the is-
tracts for beach re- vehicle damage. Travelers Companies Inc. 250,000 homes and hun- land as the third-strongest
plenishment work in The insurer, based just out- suspended plans to buy dreds of thousands of auto- recorded storm to make
Brigantine, where Su- side of Chicago, says that back its own stock in order mobiles. landfall in the U.S q