Good info about the mortgage deferral in a tight situation. Hopefully, they won't sock you too hard with late fee penalty.
Tip: Keep an eye out for your electric bill. With electricity out for several days, you power bill should be less than usual. Unfortunately, all too often following a storm, the electric company cannot/does not read meters for a month or two. As a result, you electric bill will be based on prior months (e.g. peak load for July/August), and your electric bill may well be a whole lot higher than it should be. If this happens, call the company with your actual meter reading in hand. They will probably try to talk you into waiting a month or two to make adjustments. Be persistent, and they will make the adjustment.
It also helps if you preface the conversation with ‘I spoke with the Public Utilities Commission today (my Aunt works there)’ ...the conversation/negotiation tends to go your way after that.
Many utilities have rat AMR - automatic meter reading, the meter ‘pings’ your elec company with the reading every month.
Somebody was asking how they knew how many residents didn’t evacuate..... elec company can judge pull from homes and extrapolate how many left and turned everything off vs. how many were pulling normal juice when Ike hit.
If they ping your AMR meter for current pull, which should be zero but is not, they can infer you haven’t evacuated.