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A year after Tropical Storm Irene hit the East Coast, causing major flooding and wind damage to the New York City area’s regional transit infrastructure, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has submitted its Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and insurance claims to recover $65 million in losses.

So far, FEMA has approved a total of $27.7 million to cover multiple locations throughout the MTA service area, MTA officials said in a prepared statement.
Typically, FEMA reimburses about 75 percent of approved costs. This recovery is expected to cover “a significant portion” of MTA’s $25 million insurance deductible, agency officials said. The authority “is diligently working toward maximizing recovery from all sources,” they said.

Among MTA’s operating agencies, Metro-North Railroad was the worst hit by the storm, which struck on Aug. 28, 2011. The railroad sustained washouts on the Port Jervis Line, where the Ramapo River flooded miles of track and left some rail dangling in mid-air when it receded. Mudslides on the Hudson Line also contributed to the railroad’s $27 million claim for losses.

New York City Transit’s claim totaled about $22 million. In addition, the agency claimed $14 million in lost revenue when service was suspended for the first time.

MTA Bridges and Tunnels lost nearly $9 million as result of the storm, the bulk of which was revenue lost due to a significant drop in traffic across its facilities.