Courtesy of Rick Shiver
Fortunately, my house sits at the highest spot in the neighborhood, so my water damage was minimal, but I had a lot of wind damage. My gutters were ripped out.
I had never applied for FEMA aid before. So I had no clue what to expect.
I was shocked that I got money from FEMA so fast
I didn’t have electricity initially. Even when I did, from my generator, the Wi-Fi wasn’t working. The day it came back on, I filed online with FEMA for money to repair the damage and wrote them a description. The answers were pretty cut-and-dried. They assigned me a case number.
I submitted the application on Monday, October 14. On October 21, the inspector came by. He was here for about 15 minutes. The ductwork for the AC has to be completely taken out and replaced. The awning has to be rebuilt and all that metal replaced.
He took some pictures, looked everything over, and the next day I had money in the bank. That was eight days after I filed.
Altogether, I was given $9,166.
I had no clue how long it would take to get the money, but I was expecting it to be a month or two before I got anything back.
Have you experienced damage from hurricanes or other disasters and applied for help from FEMA? We’d love to hear about it. Please email reporter Dan Latu at dlatu@businessinsider.com.
The quickness helped — the air ducts will be moldy in there shortly if I don’t get them fixed. And I’m not the least bit interested in breathing in mold for the rest of my life.
I don’t know if the $9,166 will cover everything, but I can tell you it’s going to help. I was really thankful for what I got. I’ve never gotten anything from the government, so this was nice.
If I don’t have enough to do all the repairs that need to be done, then I’ll just pay myself. But that’s fine, I’m happy to have any help at all.
The government’s done a great job. I’m a registered Democrat, and I think the information being spread from a former president is all BS, because FEMA works and it works well.
People might start to leave Florida, but I want to be near my grandkids
We’ve been fortunate. Over the years, we’ve had a bunch of hurricanes and missed some bad ones. With how intense this flooding was, it’s fortunate that we haven’t had more deaths.
It’s been a rough month. I believe people will be leaving this area.
One neighbor came by after the storm. He could hear that I had a generator and knocked on my door asking if he could charge his phone. I let him in. When he was finished, he said they’re moving back up to Pennsylvania. He said they can’t take it anymore. He meant it.
I initially thought I might need to move. I’m 72 and can’t keep doing this every couple of years. But my children live here, I get to see my grandchildren. I’m not going to move away from them.