Posted on 06/13/2011 7:38:13 AM PDT by TSgt
Jefferson County resident Jonathan Stewart said he laughed in shock after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) claimed the house his family lost in the deadly April 27 twister was ‘not unsafe to live in’.
Displaced families in tornado-ravaged Alabama are outraged after being denied federal aide to rebuild their flattened homes – due to ‘insufficient damage’.
The devastating reality is the house is now a concrete slab surrounded by rubble.
Mr Stewart told AL.com a FEMA inspector saw first-hand the Pleasant Grove residence he shared with his wife, Lisa, and their two children was ripped from the ground. Three days after the visit, however, he received a letter reading: ‘Based on your FEMA inspection, we have determined that the disaster has not caused your home to be unsafe to live in.
‘Although the disaster may have caused some minor damage it is reasonable to expect you or your landlord to make these repairs. At this time you are not eligible for FEMA housing assistance.’
Mr Stewart told the website: ‘Lisa and I looked at the letter and laughed.’ While he has since found out his insurance coverage will replace his house, the family is not alone.
Lashunta Tabb’s home 15 miles away in North Smithfield Manor was stripped of its siding, and more than half of her roof blew off with tornado-force winds.
She too, received a letter claiming there was ‘insufficient damage’ – the number one reason in Alabama the people are determined ineligible for FEMA grants, worth up to $30,200.
It is not yet known how many Alabama tornado victims received the letter.
FEMA deputy branch director for individual assistance Lynda Lowe said finding of insifficient damage are often correct, and many of those who filed for assistance did not have damage.
FEMA officials encourage whose who believe they were wrongly declared ineligible to file for an appeal through local disaster recovery centres.
Spokesman Renee Bafalis said: ‘If you have a question why you received a determination of ineligibility, go in there and let them look it up and help you file an appeal.’
A report issued on Wednesday, however, revealed few disaster victims follow through.
It showed less than one percent of the 25,081 applicants initially declared ineligible for any reason had appealed, leaving the potential for millions of dollars in federal aide to go unclaimed.
An applicant has 60 days from the date of the determination letter to appeal.
It was not known at press time how many applicants were declared ineligible in Alabama due to insufficient damage. However, similar findings have occurred after nearly every recent disaster.
THE BUREAUCRACY BEHIND APPLYING FOR FEMA AIDE:
When a disaster victim applies for a FEMA grant, an inspector is dispatched to the applicant’s property.
Inspectors carry laptops connected to a database called NEMIS (National Emergency Management Information System), which guides them through measuring rooms and assessing damage.
Items marked for repair or replacement are priced depending on the geographic region.
Letters are issued based on the computerised report, telling an applicant whether he qualifies for FEMA assistance.
An applicant has 60 days from the date of the determination letter to appeal.
What qualifies as ‘insufficient damage’ remains unclear.
A pending lawsuit accusing FEMA of improperly denying thousands of farm workers in Texas money to repair their homes after Hurricane Dolly struck in 2008 based on the insufficient damage finding claims that FEMA used a concept called ‘deferred maintenance’ to back the rejections.
Deferred maintenance is not referenced in any regulation, Jerry Wesevich, an attorney with Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid who represents the plaintiffs, told AL.com.
Mr Wesevich described deferred maintenance as a ‘shorthand term that FEMA uses when it determines somehow that a condition of a home prior to the disaster caused the damage after the storm’.
An Alabama inspectors’ coordinator for FEMA said deferred maintenance is no longer used in assessing damage, although there is a place for inspectors to note ‘pre-existing’ conditions.
No, fortunately I don’t know anyone who lives on such a low income that they couldn’t afford to cover their home. But I assume there are elderly folks who live in homes that have been paid off for years who can’t afford high insurance rates. I feel certain there are older ladies in Houston who live in flood zones who can’t afford flood insurance. We don’t have outrageous rates here because we don’t get hail like they do in North Texas or North from there, but comparing the rates I paid in Pennsylvania to Texas, I pay three times for my homeowners insurance here due to the risks of roof and window damage from storms here. I would guess Oklahoma and Kansas, Missouri, etc are higher than what we pay.
He would have been accused of being racist if FEMA had denied the application of black family whose home had been destroyed in tornado.
Obama came to the tornado ravaged areas (Missouri), hugged everybody, spouted that the administration would be “with them” until things were fixed, until the end. Go figure. He’s changeable as the wind, a real human tornado.
” accused of being racist if FEMA had denied the application of black family whose home had been destroyed in tornado.”
accused of being racist if FEMA had denied the application of black family whose home *was in the same state as* a tornado.
[fixed]
who the hell stands there like that?
I mean it must be an aswesome feeling being elected President, but I dont remember any one with class or dignity ever doing this (what, is he basking in his glory?)
The only one EVER that I saw look like this was Mussolini
I would not count too heavily on your homeowners insurance either. State Farm and BoA were equal pains in the butt. 2.5 years later, and I am still waiting for a final $7000 check. Try working with contractors with that kind of payout ‘speed’.
I just think I am wasting my money for FEMA flood insurance, $250 or so per year might as well take money and set fire to it, FEMA never pays....
Plus, if we didn’t flood during Hurricanes Alicia, Ike, Rita, Katrina, Bonnie, Dolly, Gustav, Allen, Jeanne, Danielle, Norma, Barry, Waldo, Juan, Pain, Chris, Roslyn, Beryl, Gilbert, Chantal, Jerry, Lester, Dean, Ismael, Charley, Arlene, Bertha, Fay, Erika, Claudette, Grace, Marty, Matthew, Ivan, Emily, Delia, Carmen, Caroline, Anita, Amelia, Lane, John, Alex, Elena, Hermaine, Erin, Humberto, Edouard, Ida or Trop Storms Allison & Claudette & Gabrielle, we probably won’t ever flood.
If we ever do, I am LEAVING and moving to retirement home closer to Austin where the kids are.
(those were the only hurricane names that have hit Texas since we moved here in 1973, there may be more. I can’t believe how many of these I actually remember. I guess when they are showing your town on the nightly news with a huge hurricane heading your way, you remember.)
I was talking to my insurance agent and he said that insurance doesn’t pay at all unless you rebuild. Unless it is a fire, then they do pay, IF NOT ARSON, of course. He said to get any money you must repair or rebuild the home. You can’t just get the insurance pay out and move someplace else. You must rebuild your home to get any money. It is such a racket. I have always said if my house is ever destroyed I will MOVE! I won’t want to remain here. Plus we are retiring some day and will be moving closer to the kids.
So what do the people do if insurance won’t pay for their destroyed homes. What does Obama have planned for that area that was destroyed in Joplin???????????
A government that taxes (takes)? everything from you to do everything for you is no longer a servant but a master. Over time more and more of the money stays in the hands of bureaucrats and crony capitalists and you starve.
Well DUH - they’re not Holder’s people. They don’t deserve help. They just deserve to be taxpayers so that “the right people” can get help.
If the government is going to be the insurer of last resort, and I’m not saying that it should be, then the criteria for coverage needs to apply equally to all. If these folks were the right skin color, you can bet that they’d already be out there building them a new McMansion.
I was talking to loan officer at our bank about insurance, etc. She said a lot of elderly people are underinsured. They don’t realize it until they have a fire, etc., and home is destroyed. Paid off house many years ago and didn’t increase insurance coverage to what it would cost to repair or rebuild home. She said it can cost $100K just to clear off the lot after a home is destroyed. You can get current rebuilding/repair costs from your local insurance agents.
Just how often? One in ten? One in 100? One in 5?
You might want to check and make sure you aren’t in a flood plain. I’ve lived in this house for more than a decade and the flood plain came to me.
Fortunately my congressman is pushing to halt the mandate that insurance companies use faulty FEMA flood plain maps. This spring he came to my house with a surveyor and took some measurements. They found my house to sit more than 6 ft above the dam and nearly 3 feet higher than the house next door which oddly isn’t in the flood plain.
I already checked and we are not in a flood plane. Bought first house here 1975 not in flood plane and never flooded. Bought this house 1987 not in flood plane. I already checked when I talked to my insurance agent last year and again this year. I stay on top of insurance. We are at highest point in this area. Plus this area has never flooded at least since we moved here 1973. If you are in a flood plane and have a mortgage you have to buy flood insurance - since we aren’t in flood plane - we don’t have to buy it. I got it after Katrina, but have never needed it.
that’s what they’ll be doing to your healthcare claim after 2013...
Thanks buffy - I think Graybeard was probably thinking about other situations and not that of the elderly living on very fixed incomes. Even my own grandmother, who wasn’t wealthy but certainly not poor, didn’t carry enough insurance to rebuild her home if it had burned or been destroyed by a storm. She just couldn’t imagine it taking that amount of money to rebuild. Fortunately she didn’t ever have any reason to make a claim.
Thanks for letting me know that.
They, too, should carry insurance.
That picture: Arrrrgh! Every time I see it I get riled. It’s the most telling of all his photos — the arrogance!
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