For flooded, a fearful cost

As thousands of residents returned to flood-ravaged homes, many began to grapple with another big problem: Nearly all of them lack flood insurance.

Governor Mitt Romney officially asked President Bush yesterday to declare Massachusetts a disaster area and send financial help immediately. While the Federal Emergency Management Agency can offer short-term rental subsidies and help pay for minor repairs within days, more substantial help, in the form of low-interest loans for extensive repairs or replacement of property, is expected to take longer from a government already strained from last year's hurricanes.

In the meantime, many residents are throwing up their hands, wondering how they will pay for repairs. Fewer than 2 percent of Massachusetts households have flood insurance, FEMA said, and most of those who do live on the coast. Many in Essex County and the Merrimack Valley said they never thought they would need it.

On a block in Peabody, store owners assess the damage. B1

''I don't have any flood insurance," said Matt Bordeleau of Lowell, whose Alma Street home was fouled by home heating oil spilled during the flooding. ''You can imagine how stressed I am."

On the same street, Paul and Janet Belley said they had no idea who would pay for the cleanup of a flood-related oil leak in their home. The couple canceled their flood insurance in 1997 after they paid off their mortgage, because they never expected serious flood damage. ''I'm eating my words now," Janet Belley said.

Paul Soucy -- president of the Soucy Insurance Agency in Salem, which has clients across hard-hit Essex County -- estimated that 95 percent of his residential customers do not have flood insurance.

''People are finding out that the little streams and tributaries of the rivers back up in a rain like this," Soucy said. ''People who really don't live in flood zones have had flooding."

In Lawrence, Juana Aponte returned dejected yesterday from a trip to her insurance company. Without flood insurance, company officials told her, they would not cover damage to her furnace and hot water heater.

''They said, 'Go to City Hall,' " Aponte said.

Homeowner's insurance typically does not cover damage from flooding or water seepage, Soucy said. And even flood insurance can be limited. While it usually covers damage to utilities in a basement and any impact from the ground floor up, the coverage excludes damage to personal contents stored in the basement, he said.

As residents grapple with problems in their homes, officials are eager to tally the losses to the region. Federal officials do not plan to dispatch damage-assessment teams until tomorrow, when the water has receded enough for specialists to get a good look at the scope of the worst flooding to hit the Merrimack Valley since 1936.

Interviews with more than a dozen local officials suggested that even smaller towns might have taken multimillion-dollar hits. In some communities with rivers through downtown, businesses bore the brunt of the flood. But in most places, private residences sustained the most damage.

In Beverly last night, Keyspan personnel responded to a gas leak at 10:20 and evacuated several businesses along Cabot Street on Route 1A. Cement from a sewage main rupture there yesterday afternoon crushed a 6-inch gas main, and authorities roped off a portion of the road, which had a large pothole. No estimate of the cost of that damage was available.

Mayor Robert J. Dolan of Melrose estimated damage to property in his town would be between $2 million and $5 million. ''Melrose is 96 percent residential, and a third of our community was negatively impacted," he said. ''Everyone I know had something happen to them."

State Representative Bradley H. Jones, Jr. -- a Republican who represents Reading, North Reading, Middleton, and Lynnfield -- said of his district: ''My guess is it's going to be at a minimum several million dollars. I wouldn't be surprised if 1,000 houses were damaged."

State Senator Susan Tucker, Democrat of Andover, used an amphibious vehicle to tour her district, which also includes Lawrence, Tewksbury, and Dracut. ''You have to see it to believe it," she said.

''There were hundreds and hundreds of homes flooded," Tucker said. ''Between the institutional damage and homeowners, I'd say it's in the multimillions."

State Senator Steven C. Panagiotakos, a Lowell Democrat, estimated that the average affected home in that city ''suffered $50,000 to $60,000 damage."

''And there were close to 200 homes," he said. ''Everybody had water in the basement. But in these houses, I'm talking about water in the first floor."

Once a federal disaster is declared, Small Business Administration loans for up to $200,000 for homeowners and up to $1.5 million for businesses would be available. FEMA typically offers 18 months of rental assistance, and grants of $2,500 to $3,000 for minor repairs, said agency spokesman Marty Bahamonde.

''We're not going to let any moss grow under our feet," Romney said at a press conference. ''We want to move as quickly as possible."

At a later date, the governor said, the state will apply for additional help that would reimburse its cities and towns for 75 percent of flood-related costs and damage to public infrastructure, such as damaged roads, bridges, and dams. After seeking federal aid, Romney said, the state would try to plug remaining gaps.

Legislative leaders huddled on Beacon Hill to discuss the crisis. House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, a Boston Democrat, said lawmakers should wait to see what federal aid is available before putting together a state package. ''We don't want to jeopardize the ability to get and maximize the amount of money from the federal government," he said.

Raja Mishra, Russell Nichols, and Kathleen Burge of the Globe staff and Globe correspondents Caroline Louise Cole and Elizabeth Raftery contributed to this report.