Still Waiting...

We are still waiting to hear from my in-laws as to how their home faired during Ike. The didn't live in Galveston, but they lived between Galveston and Louisiana and right now all they know is they have walls.

Last time Rita/Katrina hit they lost my sister-in-laws business and their home, so they moved from their home into her grandmothers old home. I do not know how they faired, but I cannot absolutely cannot imagine the devastation happening twice.

Look at Galveston. I saw the beach front with only one home standing. How on earth can people pick up their lives from such total devastation? How many years has it been and residents of New Orleans are still trying to pick themselves up and get back to the everyday.

Here I complain that the bill collectors are calling, but what happens when you no longer have a job because the business was obliterated off the earth? No home, no job, no place to go. Will FEMA step in and help more than previous times? I don't know!

I know we had a devastating storm last December and flooding was unreal in places, it still haunts me when I drive to Olympia and see how many trees are gone, the BBQ joint that was crushed in a landslide, homes with water lines to their roofs! What did FEMA do for these people?

About as little as they did for us. You see, if you have homeowners insurance, FEMA tells you they can't help you. When your homeowners insurance doesn't pay, FEMA won't help you and neither will anyone else. You have to document dates, times, names just to get things done and then you have the wonderful insurance adjustor that ranks right up their with ambulance chasing attorney's in my book.

My in-laws last time were told it would take over six months just to get an adjuster to their home. When we lost our roof, it was evident the adjuster hadn't done their job. They took the tarp off and left it to my husband to put back on in the pouring rain and then they low balled the job for a complete tear off and re-roof at less than $3000.

When we complained, we were told we were being (excuse the word, but it is the word that was used)screwed by the contractors in our area when we got our bids. EXCUSE ME!! I thought that was a pretty inflammatory and broad statement. We had 4 bids and all ranged between $9000-$12000 and the difference was a 20 or 30 year roof shingle.

We fought from January until April to get the money that was due us, but not until my husband and I finally got tired and wrote a letter to our insurance companies CEO. Whoa, you should have heard the calls we got of apologies.

So, how will these poor people in Texas get treated any better?

The only thing I can say is that after years and years of paying insurance premiums and all of us being at the mercy of the insurance companies, I guess Mother Nature got even & I do not by any means in any way shape or form, mean that to take away this tragedy, I just mean they finally have to sow what they have reaped all these years.