My parents’ house flooded on July 4. By the time he left, there were waves in his house. If they used to delay leaving for a few minutes, or if they did not know where to drive to reach high ground, they would not have made it. His neighbors, 30 feet away, were among the victims.
We saw so much kindness in the days after the flood. Before the Mercy Chef and Samarine purses arrived to provide strict food and physical assistance to the groups such as the two women who used to speak only Spanish used to walk with the river leaving fresh fruits. They wanted to help but they could. We ate the cooked watermelon and pineapple on that first sad day, while we dig through the waist-high soil, silt and even horse manure, which to revive and only to allow the discovery and rescue workers to clean the victims’ bodies.
There was not much to save. But there was a lot of kindness, so much help, so much understanding.
It was different when we turned to FEMA’s disaster aid program. We know that FEMA is not an insurance policy; This will not cover the loss of all my parents. This is not a part of the story I am telling.
The part I am telling is about FEMA’s bureaucracy, which needs to be strictly demolished and re -created.
My parents did not have flood insurance – their house was 30 feet above the river, and the water never went close to that high. But FEMA app does not ask about flood insurance – it only asks if you have the insurance of the owners of the house, which they definitely did. If you lie, the form threatens the time of gel, and therefore, after a lot of debate, we replied that yes, they have insurance of the owners of the house. FEMA meant flood insurance that covers their loss. It took weeks of weeks of letters, calls and documents to clean this important, verificationable fact.
False hope was also given. The inspector who visited our home, as he was good, told us wrongly that FEMA would pay out our HVAC, septic and well out of a separate pot of money, as those items are necessary to make a house alive. “In fact?” I asked “Wow! We were not expecting.”
Well, it turns out that she was wrong, which I would learn only after weeks of phone calls. (At least I think this is the last answer.)
After the flood, we were told the first letter received from FEMA that my parents were approved for $ 1,200 in home repair. Have I mentioned that they have lost everything? You may think that this small amount was for immediate needs, but the same letter told them that they were receiving $ 1,500 for immediate needs. The $ 1,200 was based on the amount of damage seen by the inspector to repair the house. This admitted that this amount would not cover all their losses.
A phone call led to an hour’s wait for an hour that never reduced. We had a lot to wait for that long time.
A series of letters came after that, sometimes as four in a day, a FEMA app, which requires triple authentication, when we were covered in mud and had no power, no WiFi and no flowing water. It was impossible to understand the letters. My parents outsourced this part of the flood recovery for me, and of course, I was happy to take it. How could they do it themselves?
We then received a letter stating that his appeal was denied. FEMA’s letters are legally written – and I call it as a lawyer – but it was clear: their appeal was denied. Funny talk, as he did not file an appeal. And I say that an appeal in court as a state judge.
Another phone call, another waiting time. Someone finally replied (let’s call him Palm) and asked us to call the kingdom to appeal, so I immediately called the state. But the woman who replied in the state told us that we need to appeal through FEMA. Another call for FEMA, and Palm admitted that he had earlier mispken – yes, we appeal through FEMA, and no, our appeal was not denied, despite the letter clearly saying so.
The process of appealing is difficult to find. I was asked to make a list of all items in my parents’ house. But my parents’ loss was much higher than maximum recovery, so the list sounds like begging for scrap – please give us money for the bottle that was swimming under the river.
I will leave you further examples of how broken this bureaucracy is.
As a rule, you only face FEMA disaster aid in your most desperate moments. I cannot imagine how a disaster victim who is suddenly homeless can navigate FEMA on her own, especially if she has just lost a family member or does not speak English – or does not speak legal. Many people will give up, either out of exhaustion or confusion. I entice to give up.
This is not a new problem. Palm told me that she knew that the letters were unclear and misleading; They had been trying to change them for years, he said, so probably will not happen. This requires the help out of the outside.
Katy Botman was selected in the fourteenth Court of Appeals, Place 6, in November 2024. He is certified the board in the Civil Appellate Act and is a member of the Texas Association of Civil Trials and Appellate experts.
