New Yorkers are beginning to pick up the pieces from this week's devastating floods. Navigating the process of insurance can be challenging and overwhelming after an already traumatic experience.

“Those that get impacted by flooding, sometimes that road to recovery is long,” Federal Emergency Management Agency Flood Insurance Liaison Thomas Song said.

Thousands people are facing that very fate as they begin to assess the damage.

“Take pictures, document the damages,” Song said. “Whether it’s for flood insurance or homeowners.”

That’s after it’s determined by experts your home or building is safe to be around and enter.

“And you know salvage the things you really need,” Song said. “Your legal documents, your financial documents.”

FEMA manages the National Flood Insurance Program.

“This was to make government-funded or government-written flood policies available to the public,” Song said.

Cost varies based on the structure’s value and proximity to flood zones, but according to NerdWallet NFIP, costs New Yorkers a little more than $1,000 a year on average.

“Nationally, as a trend, I think we are seeing a decline in policies, or decline in coverage,” Song said. “One of the factors I will tell you and I don’t how much bearing that this has, is that we’re seeing the private insurers come into the market.”

Song said cost is more often than not the reason for people to shy away from flood insurance, but stressed finding an insurance agent you trust and a policy could make all the difference.

“You don’t have to live next to the river, you don’t have to live next to the ocean. When it rains and we have events like this, it can cause havoc anywhere,” Song said.

According to Song, over the past six years, more than 40% of the insurance claims FEMA has overseen stem from damaged properties outside of designated flood zones.