Feds to offer buyouts on 646 N.Y. homes hit by Irene, Lee

Feb 6, 2013 | Written by Joseph Spector, Albany Bureau Chief

ALBANY — The federal government has given approval for 646 homes to be bought out after tropical storms Irene and Lee, and more money could be going to help recovering upstate areas.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is proposing that $400 million in federal aid should be designated to buy out residents whose homes were flattened after Superstorm Sandy on Oct. 29 hit New York City and its suburbs.

A part of the money will also go to recovery efforts for the Southern Tier and the Hudson Valley, which were hit by Irene and Lee a year earlier, Cuomo’s office said.

The specifics of Cuomo’s program have not yet been released. The state Office of Emergency Management said 646 applications have been sent to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for buyouts and approved after Lee and Irene, which hit in August and September 2011, totaling $55 million.

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http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20130206/NEWS01/302060049/Andrew-Cuomo-Irene-Lee-Sandy