Victim of Hurricane Ivan. 09/16/04 FEMA and me: Catch 22

[trof]

I have flood insurance, but happily we didn't flood.
We live on a bay, so that's where the water went, downslope.
But the high water mark came within 10 yards of the back door.
My dock was completely under water.

Except for a tree through the roof of a screened porch, the house was relatively undamaged.

We lost 19 large oak trees.
Just blown over.
That's when I learned what a shallow root system our water oaks have.
Imagine a 20-30 foot high tree lying on its side with a root pancake 10' high.
I paid a private contractor several thousand dollar to cut the trees into shorter lengths so they could be hauled to the street where the FEMA contractor would pick them up.

The FEMA contractor can not come onto private property.
They can only pick up from the street right-of way.

I did not get one penny from FEMA.
Nor should I have under the rules in place.
FEMA is geared toward communities, municipalities, counties, etc.
NOT individuals.

And here's where It REALLY gets shitty.
I had to take those thousands out of my IRA.
That put me into a higher income tax bracket.
Every nickel you take out is INCOME.

So, to add insult to injury, I not only had to take funds out of my IRA THAT I CAN NOT REPLACE BY LAW, but I had to pay higher taxes on my "income" that year.

Screwed and screwed again.


PS: I'm not a rich bastid.
I live on a (smallish) pension and S/S.
The modest IRA is for emergencies.

[Warpy]

1. Those tree lengths were likely sold to a wood lot

and resold at a huge markup to fireplace people farther north. Or the ones with no sign on heart rot (something the species is known for) were probably sold to a lumber mill, where they would eventually be kiln dried and used the way red oak is, for furniture and veneers.

You can bet it didn't end up in a landfill.

And yes, the rules suck. Downed tree removal should be covered somewhere. And yes, I've seen exactly what you described when oaks fell on the school I was in because the PTB decided a brick building was safer, so they didn't cancel classes when Hazel came through. Hazel was no lady.