Right: Stop FEMA Now's George Kasimos
was advised to raise his Toms River home.
courtesy of George Kasimos
Below: Home being raised in Seaside Park.
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David Turton Photography
G
eorge Kasimos was busy unearthing the debris
from his Sandy-damaged home in Toms River
when his neighbor paid him a visit. He informed him
that he had a bigger issue than just repairing his home.
He would have to elevate it as well.
"I thought he was crazy," Kasimos said.
Kasimos first went to his local municipality to investigate and realized that the information he needed
wasn't out there. "As we were getting into it, the issue
got more and more cloudy."
As he did his digging, he found that the problem
was bigger than he initially thought. It wasn't the local
government setting these standards; it was part of
FEMA's new regulations requiring homes in flood zones
to be elevated.
"Should I rebuild? Raise then rebuild? Rebuild then
raise later? Or simply walk away because my property
would be unaffordable," Kasimos wondered.
Like Kasimos, thousands of homeowners devastated
by Sandy found themselves in limbo.
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