FEMA and Hurricane Irene

[barbarabini]

Update:

I contacted FEMA because my basement received water damage as a result of IRENE. I did not live in a flood hazard area and never received any water prior to this storm (11 years in the house), so I did not have flood insurance.

I have to say, Fema was quick and efficient. I made a claim on 9/2, they came out on 9/7 and approved the claim on 9/9. This seems to be the timeline for others in my area. (NJ) I hope that others with this damage have the same experience. Thank you for the info to all that replied.

Now, the approved amount was about 50% less than what I paid for the damaged floor covering (berber carpet) but this time I am putting down a vinyl floor so the cost was less and the award covered all but 200 of it. Good enough.

My elderly parents-in law lost their fridge, hot water heater and dryer when the water came up high in their basement and they were made whole.

 

[babyrich]

Update:

I contacted FEMA because my basement received water damage as a result of IRENE. I did not live in a flood hazard area and never received any water prior to this storm (11 years in the house), so I did not have flood insurance.

I have to say, Fema was quick and efficient. I made a claim on 9/2, they came out on 9/7 and approved the claim on 9/9. This seems to be the timeline for others in my area. (NJ) I hope that others with this damage have the same experience. Thank you for the info to all that replied.

Now, the approved amount was about 50% less than what I paid for the damaged floor covering (berber carpet) but this time I am putting down a vinyl floor so the cost was less and the award covered all but 200 of it. Good enough.

My elderly parents-in law lost their fridge, hot water heater and dryer when the water came up high in their basement and they were made whole.

Thats awesome, both my sisters are still waiting for FEMA to decide on their case. They each had about 5 feet of water in their basements.

 

[barbarabini]

FYI

If you register to view your account online at disasterassistance.gov
you find out if you are approved appx 10-14 days faster than waiting for it through the mail.

They should check online, because it may already been decided if its been more than 2 days since the inspection.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

I'm glad everything worked out for you. We had a similar experience with FEMA last year due to very heavy rain in our area and back up from the main sewer into our basement. They were out in our neighborhood en masse and once they determined insurance status, adjusted claims promptly. They provided us with a check which covered about 1/2 the cost of a shut-off valve from the main sewer (which will hopefully prevent future back up). We lost so much more, but were happy to have some help.

 

[ziggystardust]

Do you mind if i ask you how long it took to receive your check?

We were approved according to the disasterassistance site but have yet to receive a check (it said 7-10 days, we're only on day 8- but i'm just wondering).

In our case, it was our entire apartment. 90% of our furniture was destroyed. We also have been displaced by the storm and are still technically homeless because of it.

 

[Free4Life11]

Congrats, glad to here you were covered! People who have not yet applied had better jump on it. I've just read that the disaster relief fund has less than $400 million in it and could be empty by September 26.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...und-runs-dry/2011/09/14/gIQAh5UqSK_story.html

 

[babyrich]

One of my sisters just called me to let me know she was leaving work early to meet the FEMA inspector at her house. This is the 3rd time they have come to her house. We have no clue why they need to inspect that many times.

 

[C&M&C&M]

Our finished basement flooded March 2010 here in MA and FEMA came in a declared it a disaster. They came in, evaluated and declared it a total loss. We were glad to get some help to pay the electric bills and to get a dumpster (Husband was unemployed at the time).
We were offered a low interest loan to help us destroy and refinish the basement including adding a pump system and replace the furnace which sat in water for over 5 weeks rotting the whole bottom of it.
So we started filling out paperwork. It started out with easy stuff, then they started asking for building permits, forms that proved that anyone we hired had their own workman comp insurance, everything had to be notarized and we had to file on our own another mortgage with the county. We ran around for months trying to do all of this with really no direction from FEMA.
It took 10 months before we saw most of the loan and if I figured out all the time, effort, telephone calls and money we spent on our own, it was TOTALLY not worth it.

Now we are trying to refinance and SBA who guarantees the FEMA loans won't classify the mortgage that we have with them in good standing because "they don't do that" and they will not file the subordination. They also did not report the mortgage to credit agencies so it is not listed on our credit reports which caused a whole boat load of troubles.

So I would think twice before ever contacting FEMA .

 

[babyrich]

My sister is hoping for a check but I am starting to wonder if they will only offer her loan. She has 2 levels that got flooded. The lower part had mostly personal storage like decorations, old paint, and etc. But the furnace and the water heater were destroyed. The ground level had the washer/dryer and a freezer. The floor was finished and there was some furniture.

I thought she might received some $ for the furnace at least; but who knows now.

At one point she was told that she was non-compliant because she didnt have flood insurance and she is in a flood zone; but none of her house "paperwork" states that the house is in a flood zone. So she had to gather all that stuff and send it to them.

Maybe this last inspection will be the last one.

 

[monorailsilver]

Our finished basement flooded March 2010 here in MA and FEMA came in a declared it a disaster. They came in, evaluated and declared it a total loss. We were glad to get some help to pay the electric bills and to get a dumpster (Husband was unemployed at the time).
We were offered a low interest loan to help us destroy and refinish the basement including adding a pump system and replace the furnace which sat in water for over 5 weeks rotting the whole bottom of it.
So we started filling out paperwork. It started out with easy stuff, then they started asking for building permits, forms that proved that anyone we hired had their own workman comp insurance, everything had to be notarized and we had to file on our own another mortgage with the county. We ran around for months trying to do all of this with really no direction from FEMA.
It took 10 months before we saw most of the loan and if I figured out all the time, effort, telephone calls and money we spent on our own, it was TOTALLY not worth it.

Now we are trying to refinance and SBA who guarantees the FEMA loans won't classify the mortgage that we have with them in good standing because "they don't do that" and they will not file the subordination. They also did not report the mortgage to credit agencies so it is not listed on our credit reports which caused a whole boat load of troubles.

So I would think twice before ever contacting FEMA .

We got flooded last March too (I am in southern CT). I asked my hubby about FEMA & he said it would be a loan. So instead we ripped out our stinky wet berber carpet, all the baseboards & our brand new, 1 day old couch off the floor (thankfully that didn't get ruined). It took a good week for the water to stop pouring in. $5000 later we have porcelean (breathable & I know I spelled it wrong) tile & we still need to put in baseboard but my husband wants to put cement board along the bottom first. So I wait...

Oh & we also dug a trench around our foundation/house & put in tubes/drains & 2 sump pumps outside. Thankfully my neighbor let us use his equipment free of charge & we just had to buy the rocks, tubes, pumps, dirt.

No wonder we have no money in CT....

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Our FEMA assistance was in the form of a grant, not a loan. There was an additional option of applying for a low-interest loan if we had needs above the grant, and we did, but we decided to simply pull the $ from savings instead.