Jan. 10--With their own muscle and help from platoons of volunteers, victims of the recent flood spent much of last week hauling soggy debris out of their homes.
Hopes for quickly repairing their lives hinge on two questions: Did they have flood insurance, and did they have enough of it?
Joe Nelson didn't. His little wood-frame home in Eureka had 20 inches of water in the first floor. When the water went down, he called his insurance company. "They said there was nothing they could do for me," he said.
Nelson rents the house from his 97-year-old grandfather. Nelson had a renters insurance policy, but standard policies don't cover flood damage. To get coverage, renters must buy a separate policy.
His grandfather had a homeowners policy, but standard policies also exclude floods. It takes a separate flood policy, bought through the National Flood Insurance Program, and his grandfather didn't have it.
As a renter, Nelson could just walk away, but he won't do that to his grandfather. So, he spent last week ripping out wet drywall and flooring.
Nelson is a tall, strapping man who works in construction. "I can do all the work myself," he said. But he thinks he'll spend $10,000 on materials -- and untold hours of labor -- repairing the mess and replacing appliances.
Neither state nor federal officials could say how many of the 7,100 buildings damaged by water have flood coverage. But the raw coverage numbers are not encouraging for flood-damaged communities.
In Eureka, there were 44 flood policies in the entire town, according to data from the National Flood Insurance Program. Arnold has 94. Hard-hit Pacific has 202 policies.
By late last week, the low-lying streets of Pacific were lined with piles of busted drywall, wrecked appliances, soggy clothing and furniture -- all dragged from the modest houses of the neighborhood.
The flood surrounded Peggy and Steve Flannery's two-story house and filled the basement, just missing the first floor. But the water swamped the living quarters at two rental houses they own on the same block.
The wrecked rental homes were "our retirement nest egg," she said, and they have no flood insurance on their properties. Why not? "They were paid for," she said.
Mortgage lenders require flood coverage in "special flood hazard areas." These are generally "100-year" flood zones -- places with a 1 percent chance of flooding in any year. A few lenders require coverage in 500-year zones.
But owners often drop flood coverage when their mortgages are gone, and some homeowners with mortgages manage to drop coverage without their lenders noticing.
"I've had a lot of people say they reduced their flood insurance, and then they got flooded," said Steve Parker, a Shelter Insurance agent whose own Eureka office was flooded. He has plenty of flood insurance.
Peggy Flannery decided not to get flood coverage after hearing that a neighbor was paying $6,000 a year -- an amount that flood insurance experts say is indeed possible. "When he told me that, I didn't even look into it," she said.
Now Flannery is wondering how she'll afford to repair her houses. "I can't get a loan because I'd have to get flood insurance, and it's sky high," she said.
The National Flood Insurance Program publishes rates for homes in low- and moderate-risk areas. Coverage would cost about $455 a year for a $150,000 house.
But rates are higher in the 100-year flood plain, where costs are set by elevation and type of house.
"It can vary tremendously. It can be up to thousands of dollars," said Tim Weyerich, Midwest regional director for Aon, an insurance firm.
Premiums are "going up considerably," said Patty Templeton Jones, executive vice president at Wright Flood, one of the largest writers of flood policies.
A 2012 law attempted to make premiums cover the actual cost of federal insurance. But premiums rose so sharply on some high-risk properties that Congress in 2014 capped annual hikes at 18 percent for primary homes. Premiums on rentals and second homes can rise at 25 percent a year.
Virginia Carmier, who is retired on disability, was walking with a cane outside the wreck of her small ranch home in Pacific last Wednesday. She has a mortgage, so she has flood coverage, for which she pays $900 a year.
But she was still worried. An insurance adjuster came by, Carmier said, but gave no firm answers on how much she would be paid or when.
"I've got so much going through my mind. I'm afraid I'll have to fight with the flood insurance company," she said. "Give me a break."
Actually, Carmier was indeed getting a break. A troop of volunteers from the Southern Baptist Convention was in her home, pumping out water and pulling out wallboard before mold could set in.
Across Pacific and Eureka, flood victims said that the first substantial help they received came from groups of volunteers, largely from churches, who helped with the cleanup.
"They were an army of angels," said Diana Scheuer, a Eureka homeowner, who had her flooded basement cleaned by members of Central Baptist Church.
LIMITED FEDERAL HELP
People without flood coverage can hope that President Barack Obama will declare the flood zones a federal disaster area. That would open the door to a grant program for flood victims. But the average grant is only $2,500, said a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and it won't replace flood insurance.
A disaster declaration would also offer-low interest loans from the Small Business Administration for homeowners, renters and businesses. The SBA will make loans of up to $200,000 on damaged homes at 2 percent interest, and loans of up to $40,000 for personal property. The only requirement is that the borrower has the ability to repay.
State and federal officials were assessing the damage last week to determine if the region qualifies as a disaster area.
In floods, the first financial help that victims receive often comes from the place they'd least expect it.
"I can't tell you how many times someone has told me that the first money they actually saw was from the IRS," said Ed Thomas, a former federal disaster official who now heads the Natural Hazard Mitigation Association.
The tax code allows a deduction for disaster losses, generating a big refund check. "For a middle-income person, that can be a significant chunk of change," Thomas said. It could come soon -- tax filing season begins later this month.
Some homeowners may get a shock when they apply for building permits. If a home suffers damage equaling half its value, federal rules require that it be "flood proofed," or elevated out of the 100-year risk level, says Thomas. That's often done by putting the building on stilts.
Local towns must enforce those rules to stay in the National Flood Insurance Program.
The flood swamped some homes that were outside the 100-year flood hazard area. In some cases, they created a different kind of insurance claim -- for sewer backup.
"I was here 37 years, and I never got a drop. Then this one kicked my butt," said John Gunter. His house backs on a steep hill above a small creek. The creek climbed the hill, drowned his backyard shed and lapped against the home's foundation.
But the water actually came in through the basement sewer. Gunter and his wife tried to plug the drains, then started hauling water in five-gallon buckets up the stairs.
His neighbors along White Doe Court found sewer water welling up from both drains and overflowing toilets.
Gunter lost his battle of the buckets and found 4 feet of water in the finished basement, wrecking bedrooms, swamping a $3,000 mattress, ruining flooring, walls, the electrical system, washer and dryer.
His house isn't in a flood hazard zone, so Gunter didn't get flood insurance. His homeowners policy covers sewer backup, but only up to $5,000.
"My washer and dryer and mattress cost more than that," he said.
He was luckier than other homeowners. A standard homeowners policy does not cover overflowing sewers. Homeowners must buy a special endorsement, costing about $50 a year.
The recent mess might improve business for insurance agents, who sell national flood insurance.
"We got a lot of calls from people asking, 'How do I get flood coverage, because this one came close,'" said Parker, the insurance agent.
Jim Gallagher -- 314-340-8390
___
(c)2016 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at www.stltoday.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
0 Response to " Some Missouri Flood Victims Didn’t Have Insurance "
Post a Comment