Sharing the following:
The following are questions presented by lawyers trying to help victims of the Hurricane, along with my answers:
Questions presented:
1. Does insurance, specifically FEMA, or the government, recognize a difference between flooding naturally vs. flooding induced by government decisions outside the homeowner’s control, basically picking some homeowners over others through reservoir releases?
Answer to question 1. No.
2. When does FEMA decide to buyout property or issue specific relief for home renovation obligations associated with a natural disaster? A $30k allowance cannot being to cover the cost of damages and many cannot carry a mortgage plus a renovation loan. Any other options out there?
Answer to question 2. FEMA does buyouts whenever it decides to do so. There is no set plan in that regard. The $30,000 figure is for what is called increased cost of compliance benefits. ICC comes into play if the City Engineer issues a written finding that the building was more than 50% damaged due to flood. If so, that triggers an extra $30,000 in benefits payable under the policy to pay toward raising the home to an elevated state. But the $30,000 must still be within the policy’s maximum as stated in the policy. And a maximum policy benefit amount is $250,000 on the building. The policy will cover a detached garage up to $25,000, but that amount covering the garage is included in the maximum policy benefit. In other words, tack on an ICC claim or garage claim, and the maximum amount payable is the policy limit amount. And the maximum policy limit sold under flood insurance is $250,000.
There are no good alternatives, except charity.
3. Many homes cannot be repaired and may be completely gone due to the reservoir releases, not the hurricane. Is there a legal difference for people who planned correctly for a hurricane but could have never anticipated what the reservoir releases would do?
Answer to question 3. For people whose homes flooded not at all due to the storm, but solely because the floodwaters were released from the reservoirs, these people still need to make a flood claim if they have flood insurance. I am discussing the matter with some other lawyers as to whether there are viable claims against the Corps of Engineers for releasing the floodwaters in the manner in which they did. Do not hold your breath on that one. My research on it says NO. But I will get back to you on that. In the meantime, those people whose home flooded solely because of the reservoir dump should just get on with the cleanup and document everything they would anyway for their flood claim. Some top notch lawyers are researching this matter and I will post what their research reveals.