of natural disasters. FEMA claims that about 22 million dollars were paid out in error to 5,500 people. Now they want their money back. This is pure unadulterated political BS. i wanna puke.
Quote:
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – After the raging Cedar River filled his home with 13 feet of water and ruined most of his possessions, Justin Van Fleet pleaded for help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to get back on his feet.
Dead broke and living in a FEMA trailer following the 2008 flood, Van Fleet repeatedly submitted paperwork and made countless phone calls arguing his case. After seven months, the agency finally gave him more than $20,000, which he said gave him his life back and allowed him to move into a house.
Then in March, a letter arrived from the government with a shocking message: He should never have gotten the money. And he had just 30 days to pay it all back.
The agency is asking Van Fleet and thousands of other Americans who were victims of natural disasters to return more than $22 million in government aid, acknowledging it mistakenly made payments to many people who were ineligible.
"It literally felt like everything is being taken away from me again," said Van Fleet, a 28-year-old call center worker. "It's like going through the flood again."
Documents obtained by The Associated Press show that FEMA is seeking payments from more than 5,500 people who were affected by 129 separate disasters since 2005, including floods, tornados, hurricanes and other calamities from Arkansas to American Samoa. The agency is still reviewing records, and more repayment requests could go out soon, including to victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Perhaps maybe it's time to completely do away with FEMA and this kind of mistakes wouldn't happen. One must ask why he didn't already have federal subsidized flood insurance already?
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Perhaps maybe it's time to completely do away with FEMA and this kind of mistakes wouldn't happen. One must ask why he didn't already have federal subsidized flood insurance already?
If im not mistaken the folks in Cedar rapids would have a hell of a time getting flood insurance.Actually a lotta the rivers in the midwest are tricky to get insurance if they consider it a flood plain.
To be honest I dont feel to sorry for many of them, if you live in a place where the rivers known to flood every year the obvious suggestion would be, move back from the river cuz once she decides to rise your not gonna stop it.
People created a lotta the problems with these rivers in this area anyway.Every field with a low spot in it has tile in it instead of letting the ground do its job and soak up the water we try to re route it so it doesnt hinder farming.Water that shoulda been absorbed is run into the creeks and then into the river.Every spring we get new record flooding if it rains and as soon as the water goes down the tiling machines come out.
We also used to have a lotta wetlands in this area, little sloughs and shallow lakes and such that collected the water, theyve for the most part been drained and tilled under.These areas that used to store water are gone and all the water that would have been kept in them is run out in these tiles.
To make it worse we channeled big stretches of these rivers.Instead of having the naturaul bends and holes in them we straightened them out and created a much stronger current during high water as theres nothing to slow it down anymore.Farming practices have pretty much done away with anything between the plowing and the water so the ground itself runs right into the river and silts it in.Now you have a shallower river with a faster current and massive amounts of water that shouldnt be in it to start with being dumped back into it through tiling.
I grew up running these rivers for and am quite familiar with them.Every year it seems like it takes less rain and snow melt to create these flooded areas and it takes a little longer for them to go back down.We havent had a good rain here in probably a month and theres still places the timbers flooded out and fields that are to wet to plant.
I agree that I don't like the US to be responsible for funding recovery from natural disasters. I think people have to be responsible for choosing to live in flood plains or near the coast where hurricanes can strike or where earthquakes are endemic. Low interest government loans for credit worthy parties? Maybe.
On the other hand, once they have given money to someone in the case we are discussing, it seems uncouth to ask for it back -- unless the person lied or misrepresented their position -- and especially unreasonable to expect that it needs to be paid back in 30 days. On this last point, it is probably possible to negotiate an alternative pay back period with the government, so this may be something of a red herring. Who knows, there may be some issues in this story we are unaware of. For example, maybe the guy DID misrepresent his position in some way?
I'm just hoping this can be reported fully by the news media with as much intensity and sympathetic committment to the victims as they invested in portraying George Bush as responsible for ANYTHING negative that resulted from Hurricane Katrina.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by petasux
To be honest I dont feel to sorry for many of them, if you live in a place where the rivers known to flood every year the obvious suggestion would be, move back from the river cuz once she decides to rise your not gonna stop it.
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I agree, and what really gets me bent is how the government will reward some for building in areas known for destruction. Like on the coast.
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kaafir mushrik
Unintended consequences and God have one thing in common: Liberals don’t believe in either of them.
I'm inclined to agree that people who choose to live in a flood plain, along a coast frequently beset by hurricanes, etc., are taking a chance and should be willing to accept the consequences.
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Dont get me wrong, theres some disasters that people dont set themselves up for. Tornadoes for example can hit just about anywhere.Some places are more prone to them but realistically you cant just not have anyone live in these areas because of the possibility.You can choose not to live in an earthquake zone, but say you live along the coast and an earthquake at sea sends a tsunami in and wipes you out.Well, who woulda seen that coming?Mother nature does some wierd things you really cant predict and usually its not good but some things are just common sense.
A guy here bought property on the river, he picked the highest ground in the area and put up a million dollar house.Hes not in a flood plain, the water is just never gonna get that high.I used to fish directly below his house.
The problem is he built his house as close to the bank as possible to maximize his view from that high ground.Its a cut bank that drops straight off into the river.When I fished it you had to wade out to a small mud flat at the bottom of it.That mud flat was formed from the cut bank caving into the river every spring.For 20 years I watched that bank crumble into the water.His house is within feet of it.He has probably 100 acres of ground he could have built on and he picked the spot with the greatest possibility of his house winding up in the river.Theres no way to stop the erosion, the banks probably 50 ft high and straight up and down.May not be in his lifetime but he probably left a serious problem for his kids when that banks at the back door.
I think people have to be responsible for choosing to live in flood plains or near the coast where hurricanes can strike or where earthquakes are endemic.
In lieu of recent events we might as well throw in the areas likely to be hit by tornado's.
If you think about it, is there anywhere in this country that isn't susceptible to some sort of natural disaster?
I can understand if people are living in areas of chronic flooding, but the 100 year flood is a different issue.
There's no where to hide, we're all susceptible to some sort of natural disaster.
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In lieu of recent events we might as well throw in the areas likely to be hit by tornado's.
If you think about it, is there anywhere in this country that isn't susceptible to some sort of natural disaster?
I can understand if people are living in areas of chronic flooding, but the 100 year flood is a different issue.
There's no where to hide, we're all susceptible to some sort of natural disaster.
You can live in a tornado prone area for many lifetimes and never see one. The New Madrid fault has not shifted seriously for over a hundred years and noone has any idea when it will shift again. But the Mississippi floods certain areas on a regular basis and hurricanes along the coast are a regular event. One can prepare for these events. Building a house too close to the edge of a drop off to the water is just begging for a storm to undercut the bluff and drop your house in the water. And you can be pretty sure that a hundred year flood is going to come along within the next hundred years, maybe next year.
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Proud parents of our own "Daddy's Little Girls"
I heard Jesus He drank wine and I bet we'd get along just fine.
Obama's FEMA Goes After Victims
