FEMA and Floods - application Q

[barbarabini]

Hurricane Irene caused some damage to my basement and extensive damage to my mother in laws.
She lost her hot water heater, dryer, rugs, sofa, I think the linoleum underneath is a total loss among other things. Because her hurricane deductible is 6000 - insurace will deny the claim -which i gues is in the 4000 range.

We are in nj in an area that is not a flood insurance area. So neither of us had that.

They just declared our counties eligible for fema assitance. What should I do and is this worth doing? Are any claims like this successful?

Also, I ripped out the rug ect. and the water heater was replaced yesterday. We took pictures and have the recipt - anything else we need?

 

[prncess674]

You don't qualify for FEMA assistance. FEMA will only help out if your maximum insurance coverage did not meet your needs. You had insurance and since your deductible was 6K and your damage was 4K then you are SOL.

It is clearly spelled out here.
http://www.fema.gov/assistance/process/dhelp_insurance.shtm

 

[katrina1122]

You need to already have FEMA flood insurance to make a claim for Irene.

As to NJ being declared, this happened with Floyd as well. It was a specific application process that you had to go through, it wasn't actually FEMA flood insurance. Call your local/county OEM office for help. In all likehood the exact details aren't out yet.

I processed some Floyd aid for local businesses damaged and the county's application for assistance to give to those businesses wasn't even due until 6 weeks after the hurricaine. Then the businesses had to apply to the county.

Funding distribution varies of course, so start making phone calls now, but go local. Calling FEMA probably won't help as you aren't FEMA insured.

Plus, if it's water damage from failed/missing sump pump and not actual river/stream flooding you probably aren't eligible regardless even with homeowners. We learned that one the hard way.

 

[Darcy03231]

You need to already have FEMA flood insurance to make a claim for Irene.

As to NJ being declared, this happened with Floyd as well. It was a specific application process that you had to go through, it wasn't actually FEMA flood insurance. Call your local/county OEM office for help. In all likehood the exact details aren't out yet.

I processed some Floyd aid for local businesses damaged and the county's application for assistance to give to those businesses wasn't even due until 6 weeks after the hurricaine. Then the businesses had to apply to the county.

Funding distribution varies of course, so start making phone calls now, but go local. Calling FEMA probably won't help as you aren't FEMA insured.

Plus, if it's water damage from failed/missing sump pump and not actual river/stream flooding you probably aren't eligible regardless even with homeowners. We learned that one the hard way.

Our basement flooded when we had the Mother's Day floods in the NE several years ago. Even though our county was declared a disaster area we didn't qualify for FEMA funds as it was ground water, not water from a river or stream.

 

[Aurora D]

Go online and apply for FEMA assistance. Two years ago our basement flooded due to heavy rains. We lost our hot water heater. We are in NJ, not in a flood zone and didn't have coverage. FEMA was wonderful. They replaced the hot water heater completely.
Hurricane Irene flooded us also. Hot water heater is destroyed again. Waiting to hear if our county will be included. We are in Monmouth.
Good luck! I think you will be covered!

 

[barbarabini]

Aurora:
Q - my in laws got their water heater replaced yesterday. They kept the receipt ect. Is that enough to attempt reimbursment? or did they have to wait until FEMA oks the claim before installing the water heater? (the flood wiped it out so they needed a new one asap).

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Go online and apply for FEMA assistance. Two years ago our basement flooded due to heavy rains. We lost our hot water heater. We are in NJ, not in a flood zone and didn't have coverage. FEMA was wonderful. They replaced the hot water heater completely.
Hurricane Irene flooded us also. Hot water heater is destroyed again. Waiting to hear if our county will be included. We are in Monmouth.
Good luck! I think you will be covered!

Did you not buy flood insurance?

I have been in this situation and now have flood insurance. And I am not in a flood zone.

IMHO FEMA bailout 1 x is good, but... after that????


All you need is the receipts. You are allowed to clean up, get things back to working condition prevent further damage etc...

 

[Aurora D]

In our first situation we waited for FEMA to inspect before we were able to replace the water heater. This time we will apply online and plan to get a tankless water heater so we aren't in this position again. We'll submit the receipt and photos of the damage to FEMA.
@OrangeCountyCommuter- I now plan to look into flood insurance. I'm told it's very expensive and am not sure we'll be able to afford it. We have been in our house 10 years and besides Hurricane Irene and the torrential rains that caused our first problem we had never flooded. These were extraordinary weather events that we could not have "planned" for. As I stated above we definitely plan to move our hot water heater so we are not ever in this particular situation again.

 

[Reddy]

I would be very careful - I'm hearing of FEMA telling people that they have to repay alot of the cost that they had from Katrina (a few other things) - this is several years later that they are doing this (this is people who lost everything and still haven't gone back, banks got the house/land)

 

[JoiseyMom]

I am also in Monmouth county, and my basement was destroyed...it was furnished and carpeted. Our's was due to no power to the sump pump. Our insurance will cover up to 10k, but I don't think it will be enough to cover repairs and what we lost. The adjuster is first coming tomorrow. It took us days to find a company to help us clear out the basement... Sigh...we still have some stuff to get rid of, but there is no room left at the curb... sigh.

Now my major concern is mold. The downstairs smells mildewy...we have 2 dehumidfiers going and small fans, and all the little windows open down there. We started smelling the mildew on the first level of my house today... I am not a happy camper.

DH actually got the second dehumidifier in PA when he was there yesterday on a job interview!

 

[jms920]

We are in the Hudson Valley. We also sustained water damage from Irene. We had about 1" or so of water in our basement, which was finished with paneling, carpet and furniture. We also had a problem a a couple of years ago, from heavy rains. At that time our insurance refused to cover anything. We managed to immediately get the carpet up we sucked up all the water with wet and dry vacuums, put fans and dehumidifier and anything we could think of. The basement was never the same. It always had a smell. At that time we put carpet tiles down. We figured we at least, could pick them up quickly if we ever had a problem again. I ordered these online, they are 2'x2' tiles with a heavy rubber backing. We also had a ditch dug away from the house with the hopes of channeling water to the road. This worked until last week.

When Irene visited us last Sunday we checked all night and were dry. Around 9am Sunday we noticed one corner was getting wet so we immediately started picking up the tiles. Then it just started coming in faster than we could work. We got about half of them up dry the rest ended up soaked. We relentlessly sucked water up with the wet / dry vac and I was using the carpet shampooer to suck up water on the tiles to pick them up. By afternoon the rain stopped and we put every wet tile outside in the driveway to dry, after sucking up as much water as possible. They were dry by the next afternoon and are in great condition. Now for the bad news. The basement stinks! We planned to put it back together this weekend but I see no point if there is mold. We have paneling and foam insulation and naturally the wood studs. Short of ripping the whole thing apart I'm at a loss as how to proceed.

Oh and for the funny part, all the while I was cleaning up I kept singing, "it could have been so much worse, we are so lucky" LOL MY DH thinks I was crazy. But in spite of all I knew we were very luck it wasn't worse than this. I was grateful. But now I'm wondering....

JoAnn

 

[scrapquitler]

Hurricane Irene caused some damage to my basement and extensive damage to my mother in laws.
She lost her hot water heater, dryer, rugs, sofa, I think the linoleum underneath is a total loss among other things. Because her hurricane deductible is 6000 - insurace will deny the claim -which i gues is in the 4000 range.

We are in nj in an area that is not a flood insurance area. So neither of us had that.

They just declared our counties eligible for fema assitance. What should I do and is this worth doing? Are any claims like this successful?

Also, I ripped out the rug ect. and the water heater was replaced yesterday. We took pictures and have the recipt - anything else we need?

Check with your insurance company....I just heard on the news here in CT that several of the insurance companies have decided to waive the Hurricane Deductible for certain homeowners because it was no longer a 'hurricane' just a 'tropical storm' when it hit here. Not sure if this would apply in NJ, but it couldnt' hurt to ask.

As far as applying for the FEMA aid, you can't get it at all if you don't apply. If you apply and they deny, you still haven't lost anything, so you might as well look into it.