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| Hurricane Michael destroyed the Florida panhandle. |
Hurricane Michael made landfall as a Category 4 storm, it was relatively fast moving it entered and exited the Florida panhandle in hours. Some of the beach communities were completely destroyed, few homes remained standing. Residents will not be able to return to their places of residence for at least two weeks, and most likely longer. People chose to remain versus evacuating, over 200 have been reported missing, many that stayed and survived report it was a harrowing experience. The storm surge was the first to cause havoc, soaking the ground, flooding homes, and destroying businesses. The wind came shortly after taking advantage of the soft, wet, ground it started to topple trees, they fell on vehicles, roads, and homes. Survivors have reported the wind ripping roofs off, trees falling onto houses, and walls were torn off of buildings, it had to have been terrifying. Florida has a state-run insurance corporation, most homeowners have insurance for floods and Hurricanes.
(Follow this Link to learn about the fund.)
I live behind a Levee, in a flood zone, it is not a 100-year floodplain but one of those that are in danger all of the time due to possible Levee breaches. We pay for flood insurance, the federal government mandates flood insurance for homes that are in an under 500-year occurrence event. It is a bit hard to understand if your house is in a 500-year zone, you are not required to purchase the coverage for your home, but if you live in a 400-year zone you are. In fact, most localities do not even plan for a 500-year event due partly because of the impossible task of predicting how bad it will be. I don't know about you, but it doesn't make much sense to me to not have insurance, so let's take a look at it. If the Federal Government does not mandate for you to have flood insurance and your home is in a 500-year zone would you purchase it anyway or take your chances? Let's make a list and go through it:
1) Who is eligible for Federal Disaster assistance? You must first off be in a Federally designated disaster area, most go by county. The first item to take place is the disaster, second if it is bad enough the State will declare it a disaster area and allocate some funding. Then the Governor will request the President of the United States to declare the area(s) a "Federal Disaster" area, FEMA is then allowed to begin their operations, nothing can happen until the Feds declare it as an emergency. That cannot happen until the State declares it is. That cannot happen until after the catastrophic event occurs and the damage is assessed. These are the basic pieces of a Federal Disaster. Renters and Homeowners who have sustained damage to homes, vehicles or personal property as a result of the storm are eligible to apply, online: www.DisasterAssistance.gov or 1-800-621-3362. Then what happens?
2) There are two types of assistance, Grants, and loans. Grants are a "Gift" and do not need to be paid back, a Grant is meant to assist people to help pay for temporary housing, emergency repairs to their home, uninsured (and underinsured) personal property losses plus funeral expenses, dental, medical and any other serious incidences caused by the disaster. After the registration is submitted FEMA will contact you for an appointment, at that time they will look at the damages, the appointment will be a few days after the application is submitted. The inspector will not approve or disapprove the application, they are there to gather pieces of information, the decision will be made after that. FEMA inspectors do not ask for money or make recommendations for contractors. If that takes place, it's a scam and needs to be reported to FEMA authorities. You are eligible for reimbursement even if cleanup and repairs have been made. Take a mountain of pictures, before and after, label, date, location, time and weather conditions should be noted, the more information we have the better off we are, and the faster the decision will be made. If we have flood insurance we still have to apply with FEMA, after we contact our insurance company, in some cases the insurance company will notify them. Check with your carrier. (Click this Link for the FEMA Grant information.
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| The Federal Grant has arrived. |
3) I understand the grant, but what happens if I don't qualify for a grant, or even if I do qualify can I get a loan? Where does the loan come from? Do I have to have been denied by my bank first? No, The Small Business Administration offers loans to homeowners and renters, they must be paid back at low-interest rates. It makes me wonder about the areas that flood every year such as, the Red River of the North, the entire Mississippi River Valley, and Florida, how can these people afford it year upon year? None the less, the SBA is the main source of funding financial help after a disaster. Renters, as well as homeowners, qualify for grants, renters may also qualify for emergency loans from the Small Business Administration. The SBA loan will also be made for assistance to homeowners to pay uncovered damages.
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| Loans must be paid back to the Small Business Administration. |
4) If a house is not covered by insurance will FEMA pay to restore that home to its pre-disaster condition? The answer is No, this is the question I had from the beginning, no insurance, then yes grants, and loans are available, FEMA will not rebuild the house. This is the same question I had during the Anderson Dam incident in San Jose, many people did not have insurance. (At least the ones interviewed on the evening news did not). The people in that city have a lot of lawsuits attempting to place responsibility on anyone they are able to. I must say many people did have flood insurance, many more did not. The lawsuit will be in the courts for many years most likely. This flood insurance thing is going to become front-page news at some point depending on how many and how severe the future storms are. (I wrote this blog over a year ago, the discussions pertaining to flood insurance and FEMA funding are on-going) My insurance is subsidized by the Federal Government, and Congress has had a major problem with it for the past 10 years that I know of, it doesn't pay for itself, or even close to it. My flood insurance is $2000.00 a year, I think that is reasonable, there is a debate in Congress to raise it, at one-time mine would have reached around $20,000.00 a year, recently Congress said they may cap it at $10,000.00 yearly. All I can say is "We'll see." (My premium has remained the same, but we are still expecting it to change.)
(To know more about the Federal flood insurance program click this Link.)
5) A myth circulating is that if a person is not a US citizen there is no assistance available. That is false, FEMA may provide eligible immigrants who are undocumented, with short-term non-cash assistance. I personally believe that is a good thing, knock down all the barriers during a disaster and help everyone.
To check the status of a claim we may go online www.DisasterAssistance.gov or contact FEMA 1-800-621-3362.
Wow, what terrible natural disasters these Hurricanes are, and to observe from bone dry California is quite a contrast, How can I help, what disaster relief organizations can I rely on, to be honest with my donations? The only natural disaster relief organizations that I would be anywhere close to being qualified to recommend are outfits like the Red Cross, I suspect the best non-profits to donate to would be local long-established organizations, before making a donation perform due diligence and find a trustworthy one. I am sure we all remember the scam stories we hear after every catastrophe.
(How can I find out if I am in a flood zone? Go to this Link for information on how to obtain a flood zone map for your county.)
I'm writing this October 14, 2018, the wildfire season is nearing the end, however, another one has just started today. It is in Northern California again, up by Redding. I have little information, it is growing and the wind is predicted to attain 50 miles per hour, it has the potential of becoming a monster, all of the utilities have been shut-down as per PG&E's new wildfire policy.
It is estimated that 1/3 of the population will be prepared to the maximum for a disaster, Preppers, homesteaders and the like. 1/3 of us plan to do something to at least have some basic survival supplies on hand, then there is the 1/3 of us that have no interest or desire and believe the threat of a natural or man-made disaster will never happen. This terrible disaster can be a valuable lesson for some of us to get off of top dead center, create an emergency plan, prepare a 3-5 day survival kit, either put together yourself or a pre-packaged kit (check it out here). Make sure in your plan to have a telephone number for a contact out of your area. Create a store of dehydrated food, Mexico Beach has run out of water and food. A local Amish community has set up a kitchen and is serving meals in a partially destroyed church.
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| Dehydrated 25-year life food kits are available here Link. |
Thanks for reading my blog and sharing it. I wrote this after Hurricane Harvey destroyed Houston, it is still relevant for all of our natural disasters. We all are leery of the Federal Governments FEMA insurance, we wonder if they will be there when we need them, often although we pay premiums one day there may not be funds available. They may not be available because everyone living in flood zones is not required to purchase the coverage placing a burden on those that do. A better approach may be to charge everyone in the country a disaster fee to supplement FEMA's commitments. Many positions exist pro and con on that approach, I admit it is a shaky proposal, but with the increase in the number and intensity of the storms, something at some time will have to be changed.
jacquesandkate emergencykitsplus.com
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