Flood insurance claims from Sandy top Katrina

By the end of the second day after Superstorm Sandy’s powerful storm surge overwhelmed coastal areas of New York and New Jersey, the National Flood Insurance Program had already recorded more flood claims than the total for Hurricane Katrina, a storm that devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005. William McMahon III, president of the McMahon Agency Insurance in Ocean City, said Sandy has since far surpassed the notorious Katrina. Katrina, he said, delivered both flood and wind damage. Sandy’s damage was primarily from flooding. Few claims, he said, have been filed for wind damage.