Family Member w/N.O. Problem

[Seeker]

A family member recently bought a 'shotgun house' (anyone whose lived in NO will know what that is) and just spent an awful awful lot of money de-termiting it (formerly NO biggest problem) and renovating.

Luckily they were newlyweds and were in FLA for the recent flooding, but this property damage has hit them bad.

Good News: The house was not submerged or flattened or burned down by looters.

The Bad News: It was damaged heavily by flying debris and is now effectively an 'island' in the current mess.

My Question: Will they get money (fed/provincial/municipal) if the house has not actually been levelled? Are they better off (thinking bad thoughts) just paying some dumbass looter to burn it down so they can recoup the loss?

Note: I knew about the hurricane but didn't care until I saw how bad it was. I thought hurricanes were as common as earthquakes in CA there, so I dismissed it. Hearing about the Superdome on this site makes me very glad they were out of town.

[Sava]

why would they pay a looter to burn it down? just burn it down themselves and blame a looter

[Whoha]

Hurricanes are fairly common, strong ones however are quite rare.

They will probably get their money, now whether or not they are allowed to rebuild in that site will depend.

[chequita guevara]

If they were insured and had a hurricane rider, they will be fully reimbursed by their insurance company for the value of their property and anything in it, up to the amount they insured it for minus their deductable . . . assuming it doesn't find a way to weasal out of its obligations. If not, they may be eligible (most likely they are) for a low or no-interest loan from the Feds through FEMA.

[Seeker]

Sava, they're in Florida.

I know they have 'Flood Insurance' does that count for hurricanes?

Also, about the FEMA thing any timeline on when reconstruction work is likely to begin/finish?

[Mr. Harley]

It all depends on the policy and the applicable state and federal laws. I would strongly suspect that the "Flood Insurance" will cover the damage from water coming in from ground level. However, there are some interesting ways the insurance companies have to weasal out of it if instead the roof failed and the damage is from the top down primarily. Plus the companies have various rules on "Acts of God", etc. Essentially there is no way to "Armchair General" this one, they need to call their insurance company.

FEMA should start publishing info on that in the near future. They may be able to get grants to replace all different sorts of destroyed household goods, as well as reconstruction loans. The biggest issue is going to be if they are permitted to rebuild, which is largely political. My bet is that Bush doesn't dare not do it, even though that would be the intelligent thing to do. His administration has taken so many hits in the approval ratings area that my bet is that he will take the ever popular let's rebuild route.

[Seeker]

Thanks.