FEMA wants their money back!

[arminnie]

I just want to be made whole.

And there are people all over the world who would like to be made whole from bad things that have happened to them. It doesn't always happen. I guarantee I've lost way more than the amount of the mortgage you are having to take out. I had to live with it and go on.

 

[LuvDuke]

I never stated that I did not have flood insurance. And there IS solid proof, reams of it. The gov't shouldn't be taken for a ride. I just want to be made whole. Before Katrina, I had NO house note, it was paid off; now I need to take a mortgage of 169,000.

We can endlessly showcase the "I'm perfect and I know it all brigade" or we can share experiences.

First of all, I know how you feel when you say "I just want to be made whole." This area still hasn't recovered from Charley and that was a small, fast moving storm WITHOUT much of a storm surge. I know how it feels when you wish life could be the way it was, and yet deep down, you know it will never be the same. Give yourself time to mourn for what was and give yourself time to start hoping for the future.

Here's the practical advice: If you are not being treated fairly by your insurance company, get yourself a private adjuster. My sister was low-balled by her insurance company and got a private adjuster. The insurance company ended up settling for $165,000 MORE than they had previously offered. Get mad and get even.

Hang in there. There are millions across this country going through what you're going through. You'll survive and things will look better.

I hope this helps and feel free to PM me.

 

[LuvDuke]

Well, I guess the law is wrong and you're right! No point trying to debate it since you appear to know it all. Aren't you tired of being "right" all the time? I have private insurance, so I'm not sure who your refers to.

Who knows, maybe one day your private insurer will drop your policy, like it's happened to many hard working and decent Floridians and you'll find yourself with the "moaners" that have Citizens. Enjoy your day!

Kinda begs the question why the complaining individual is still living in an area in which they have so many complaints about others taking so much advantage of their good nature?

 

[ducklite]

Here's the practical advice: If you are not being treated fairly by your insurance company, get yourself a private adjuster. My sister was low-balled by her insurance company and got a private adjuster. The insurance company ended up settling for $165,000 MORE than they had previously offered. Get mad and get even.

And I agree with you 100% with this statement. I never said that insurance comapnies shouldn't pay up. Of course they should--if the peril was covered under the terms of their policy. If people didn't have flood insurance, than they shouldn't be expecting payment on flood damage.

All I am saying is that

A. If you were un/underinsured, that is either your ignorant mistake that you'll now have to deal with, or between you and your insurance company, and you have no reason to seek public dollars for repairs to your home.

B. Citizen's should not expect everyone in the state of Florida to subsidize their costs of doing business, rather those costs need to be passed to their insured's. If it means people need to sell their homes because they can't afford coverage, that's just the way it is. I'm sure there are some who aren't insured by Citizen's who won't be able to afford the $400 surcharge they are being forced to pay so some millionaire on Fisher's Island can get subsidized rates.

Anne

 

[annegal]

If you live in an area near a large body of water and are at, below, or slightly above sea level, and require a levee system to keep your home from flooding, it's not rocket science to figure out you should have flood insurance. I'm not sure why that concept is so foreign.

ANne

There is a flood insurancec map of LA and only certain areas need flood insurance.

I disagree about N.O......the levee sstem failed due to poor design.
Hate to burst your bubble, Anne...the whole state of Louisiana is drained with levees and canals.

 

[ducklite]

There is a flood insurancec map of LA and only certain areas need flood insurance.

I disagree about N.O......the levee sstem failed due to poor design.
Hate to burst your bubble, Anne...the whole state of Louisiana is drained with levees and canals.

"Need" means that the mortgage companies require it.

Like I said, if I lived at, below, or slightly above sea level, I'd have it, whether my mortgage company required it or not.

If that means the whole state should buy it, then that's what they should do. I have a lot of friends who live near the shore in NJ. They aren't in designated flood plains, but they have a flood policy. The cost of having one far outweighs the cost of not having one should you ever need it...

Anne

 

[arminnie]

There is a flood insurancec map of LA and only certain areas need flood insurance.

I disagree about N.O......the levee sstem failed due to poor design.
Hate to burst your bubble, Anne...the whole state of Louisiana is drained with levees and canals.

Only certain areas were required by mortgage companies to have flood insurance. Many properties in the flood plain did not have mortgages or flood insurance.

I cannot state that poor design played no part in the failures, but I am certain that the total CORRUPTION so prevalent in Louisiana politics (can't speak for Mississippi) had way more to do with the failures than anything else. Even good design (which I'm not even saying was there) isn't enough when you have people bribing and paying off contractors, inspectors, etc at every step of the way.

William $BILL Jefferson is my pathetic excuse for a congressman. Not all of the Louisiana politicians are corrupt but enough to have inflicted major damage.

 

[zipuzee]

Attached is a link to an article in the today's (6/8) New York Times (you'll probably need to cut and paste). Below that is paragraph three of the article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/opinion/08Isaacson.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

"The Army Corps of Engineers helped bring some clarity last week by issuing a remarkably forthright report accepting full blame for the design flaws and negligence that caused the breaks in the levees it built. That helped people everywhere understand why federal money should, as Mr. Bush has pledged, mitigate the damage to the houses, businesses and utilities that relied on those levees, just as a corporation would have been expected to help cover damages caused by its negligence."

 

[arminnie]

This is a great link showing the time line of what happened with the levee failures in the New Orleans area:

http://www.nola.com/katrina/graphics/flashflood.swf

I think I've posted it before, but I've looked at it a zillion times myself.

 

[ducklite]

Attached is a link to an article in the today's (6/8) New York Times (you'll probably need to cut and paste). Below that is paragraph three of the article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/opinion/08Isaacson.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

"The Army Corps of Engineers helped bring some clarity last week by issuing a remarkably forthright report accepting full blame for the design flaws and negligence that caused the breaks in the levees it built. That helped people everywhere understand why federal money should, as Mr. Bush has pledged, mitigate the damage to the houses, businesses and utilities that relied on those levees, just as a corporation would have been expected to help cover damages caused by its negligence."

Some of those areas flooded before the levees breached--and in those cases they deserve nothing--they built in low lying areas. Period. I can see your point where the levee's failed because of poor design and flooded areas that should have stayed dry, although I still hold out that anyone in NOLA and the surrounding areas should ahve had flood insurance. I've got friends who live in the Central Business District who had no flooding at all--NONE--and never have in the 100 or so years the landmark home has been in the family. But they carry flood insurance, something that would jsut make sense for anyone living in such an area.

BUT--some of the posters on this thread are saying that people in coastal areas of MS and FL should be reimbursed. For what? There are no levee's there. Their damage was due to an act of God. Why should they be reimbursed by tax dollars for something the government had no control of at all?

Anne

 

[lulu71]

I feel so sorry for people that have lost loved ones. But the "stuff" is just "stuff".

No truer words have been spoken (at least on this thread ).

 

[agnes!]

I cannot state that poor design played no part in the failures, but I am certain that the total CORRUPTION so prevalent in Louisiana politics (can't speak for Mississippi) had way more to do with the failures than anything else. Even good design (which I'm not even saying was there) isn't enough when you have people bribing and paying off contractors, inspectors, etc at every step of the way.

William $BILL Jefferson is my pathetic excuse for a congressman. Not all of the Louisiana politicians are corrupt but enough to have inflicted major damage.

I helped people find missing loved ones after Katrina. Of ALL the offices & people I talked to, which included Senators, Congresspeople, Speaker of the House, Congressional Committees, USAToday reporters, disaster relief officals in Texas & LA & Mississippi, individual hospitals all over the country, Pentagon (Lt. Colonel, Sergeants, etc), FBI local offices and main HQ, FEMA local to NOLA & their national HQ, Salvation Army, LA State government offices, hospital associations both local and national, nursing homes all over LA & Mississippi & texas, heck - *EVEN* the Red Cross!(not my favorite organization) AND the notorious St. Gabriel's Morgue!!!!...ALL of these offices were as helpful as they could try to be., and if they couldn't be helpful at least they tried to be gracious.

*EXCEPT* for Congressman Jefferson's LA office. They told me (gist of what they said because I was so incredulous that ANY thinking person with a heart could be so spectacularly UNhelpful) "Well, we really don't know who you should call or who you should contact. We can't help you."
Ugh.
Am I still bitter about it? You BET. This scumbag doesn't deserve to be in office after all the crud he's pulled, including pulling National Guard Troops off of their post-Katrina duties so Jefferson could "rescue" papers & computers from his NOLA home. (Gee, do you THINK they had incriminating information on them?!? ) All together now...let's spell the words bribery and corruption AND incompetence.

agnes!

 

[annegal]

He really is a scumbag, Agnes.


Our local Representative, Boustany still goes 100% to keep everyone aware of how devestated the lower southwest of LA is(another area, like Mississippi ,ignored by the press)

 

[DVC Sadie]

Only certain areas were required by mortgage companies to have flood insurance. Many properties in the flood plain did not have mortgages or flood insurance.

I cannot state that poor design played no part in the failures, but I am certain that the total CORRUPTION so prevalent in Louisiana politics (can't speak for Mississippi) had way more to do with the failures than anything else. Even good design (which I'm not even saying was there) isn't enough when you have people bribing and paying off contractors, inspectors, etc at every step of the way.

William $BILL Jefferson is my pathetic excuse for a congressman. Not all of the Louisiana politicians are corrupt but enough to have inflicted major damage.

arminnie, The corruption in the state of Louisiana has been a thorn in my side for 40 plus years. The money the fedeal government gave the great state of La. for the Levees was used for other projects, such as casino dredging and other items that had nothing to do with levee maintenance.

My father was a local businessman and what he always taught me was that nothing got done (business) in NOLA without having to pay everyone along the way. It was just the price of doing business.

I too am a survivor or Betsy in 1965, Camille in 1969 and now Katrina. I am so frustrated with the insurance companies who won't pay legal claims.

We will be okay but I fear for people who are not fighters (I am), and people who did work all of their lives and had a large nest egg but find themselves with a check for 250,000.00 but had a house worth so much more. No matter how much insurance and how many different rider policies you own the limit for flood insurance is 250,000.00

Now the Missississippi Insurance Commission is thinking about allowing the insurance companies to raise rates by 398% which would increase our insurance to over 44,000.0 a year. Those kinds of numbers are mind boggling for most people and since the insurance companies didn't pay this time alot of people will probably forgo getting insurance again.

Just because I have empathy for people who are struggling (all people) I do realize that their are some people who will try to work the system every way they can and those people I have nothing but contempt for.

 

[arminnie]

Just because I have empathy for people who are struggling (all people) I do realize that their are some people who will try to work the system every way they can and those people I have nothing but contempt for.

It's just so sad on so many levels. And I do want to add here that even though LA has had some terrible politicians and some individuals who have tried to scam the system the vast majority of those with damage are decent people caught in a bad situation.

 

[DVC Sadie]

It's just so sad on so many levels. And I do want to add here that even though LA has had some terrible politicians and some individuals who have tried to scam the system the vast majority of those with damage are decent people caught in a bad situation.

ITA! Yes, the decent people far outnumber the scammers, thank goodness.