Last night I was headed over to the shop after dark and the moon was so pretty. I had to come back in and get the camera.
Moon
As I was standing out there looking at it, I thought about everyone everywhere who sees the same moon. People all over the world. People in Houston who are hurting. There’s something kind of bittersweet about looking at the moon, feeling so blessed and then realizing how many people are seeing that same moon and feeling sad or hopeless right now.
I have friends near Beaumont. The husband is a couple years older than I am. The wife is my age. We all went to high school together . . were all together from the time we were about 6 years old til in our mid-20’s. Their house has at least 6′ of water in it. It isn’t in an area that has ever flooded. I would be surprised if they have flood insurance. What do you do when you don’t have insurance and you’ve lost your home and every single thing you own? Most people don’t have the cash to buy a new home, especially if their home they planned to spend the rest of their life in suddenly has a net of ZERO. Will lenders make a loan to someone who’s 67 years old, retired and living on a pension/social security? Who wants a house note at that age? What if they still had a mortgage on their house? You know some people do! Do you default, ruin your credit, walk away and live under a bridge? Hopefully they at least had full coverage insurance on their vehicles. That’s one family . . there are thousands!
It’s all probably something almost all of the people in Houston/Beaumont/Port Arthur areas never thought they’d be facing. I realize there were other areas hit hard – Port Aransas and the Rockport areas but homeowner’s insurance will pay for wind damage but not flooding.
My family is all fine. The worst of the storm didn’t make it to Lake Charles. Some low lying areas that flood often were flooded and they have quite a few evacuees from southeast Texas there but Lake Charles got lucky.
I wish I could do something or say something to make everything better for those hurting. I’ve done what I can but somehow, it doesn’t seem like enough.
The moon always makes me have deep thoughts. Often, when I’m out and the moon is up, I remember times at my grandma’s. The evenings were always special but it was after dark that I missed my parents and my sister so I’d get a little teary at dark. I guess I can blame it all on the moon.
karenfae says
glad your family is ok but feel for those that have lost their home – like you say at our age who wants to start over again with a mortgage! (especially if all you have is SS)
Wanda says
My best friends here an I were just saying the exact samething. What do you do at our age when this happens? Do you clear
everything out and try to rebuild with what cash you have You might get it done before you die. What or how does FEMA work? Do they give you money or is it a loan? How can people get money from FEMa 3-4 times for same house? It is so sad because some never ever flooded in 50 + years so how would you know to get insurance. Do we all just need to take it like regular house insurance? I just need someone who maybe had been there to explain it to me. And what about the people in nursing homes that were told they couldn’t get them out/leave. Like you I love sunsets ,sunrises and the moon.it never gets old to look t them because they are new everyday.
cindy says
FEMA will help those who did not have flood insurance but they are slow. they will pay for a hotel for an amount of time, but most of the hotels are full. Flood insurance is actually very inexpensive for a home not in a flood plain. Maybe $100 a year or so. I don’t remember because when I tried to get it on a house I bought some time ago, the program had been suspended and I forgot about it after the program came back.
debbierhodes says
I think the fema money is a loan… low interest … would like to know for sure. I think the same things what do you do when on pension and social security.. scary.. I wondered if cars were covered with regular full coverage insurance too.
debbierhodes says
Just looked up quickly Fema money isn’t a loan and not repayable.. and isn’t taxable. Some that are Small business loans will be repayable..
Ava Crotinger says
Yes, I’m presently far removed from Houston, Texas but I’m a Texas native and my family are in the state. I wish I could do something – to donate here and there just doesn’t seem like enough. Prayers for sure and a heavy heart.
Linda in NE says
I’ve wondered about many of the people who lost their homes and don’t have flood insurance because they were never in a flood plain. I believe if you default on a mortgage you not only ruin your credit, but owe tax to the IRS for the amount you defaulted on because they consider it income. Kind of between a rock and a hard place. How do you keep paying a mortgage when you have to pay to live somewhere else, pay cleanup costs, try to rebuild with another loan….maybe without a job if your place of work was destroyed or badly damaged? Even harder if you’re retired, trying to survive on Social Security. I’m afraid lots of people are going to see a whole new way of life in sub-standard housing in bad neighborhoods because that is all they are going to be able to afford unless they have family willing to take them in and support them for some time.
dezertsuz says
I can tell you from experience that you CAN get a mortgage if you live on SSI and a pension. Mortgage rates are very low right now. Some of the people who didn’t have flood insurance may have had mortgage insurance and that will help them. With the number of people affected, I’m sure there will be some kind of program for help, but as someone else said, it will be slow in coming. Many people left New Orleans and never went back to their ruined homes. There may be people in Houston who do the same. I can’t imagine living through all that. I think most people will be in shock for sometime to come, and have a hard time dealing with things as they now are. I hope your friends had some kind of back up plan, Judy.
Stephanie Lee says
FEMA. That’s what you do in situations like that. You apply with FEMA and hope they give you enough to start over- pay off whatever mortgage you have left and get something new. My parents went through this last year in those West Virginia floods. They lost the house and everything on the first floor. We couldn’t save any of it. They were lucky. They were close enough to paying off their mortgage after 25+ years that they had enough left over after insurance and FEMA that they could rent a place to stay. Mom says she never plans to buy another house. She wants to rent until she dies. I guess just in case the flooding ever happens again? She didn’t specify.
Most of the people in town there had no flood insurance at all. If their mortgages didn’t force them to have it, they skipped it (because of the totally outrageous price!). Most of them were told that they weren’t living in a flood area. And no one ever thought the water would ever get that bad. We’ve never seen the entire town under water- ever. It was a shock for us all.
I have a lot of family scattered all over Texas in this mess, too. Some were far out of range, some evacuated when the storm first headed inland, some stayed put and hoped. A couple had to be evacuated in the middle of this mess… I just don’t even know how this is gonna end up. Having been through a couple of post-flood clean-ups, I just can’t imagine how long this is going to take. It’s a huge mess and my heart breaks for everyone that has to deal with it…
obed101 says
Age doesn’t mattter when you apply for a loan. How you can pay for it will. We had flood insurance for the flood last August, but 85% of the people who flooded did not. I will never understand why people don’t buy flood insurance. It is cheap at less than $500 a year. and if you are in a flood zone and it is more expensive, then you REALLY need it! We were not in a flood zone, but have always had it. Our repairs were paid for, including several upgrades, and our contents were replaced, with some money left over. It was hard, I won’t lie. And my stuff is gone. But we had the money to do it because of the flood insurance.