Hurricane Helene -- Check In!

[Sea_Ice]

On one hand, gallows humor is helping me get through this mess.

On the other, I still have a damaged house, and massive clean-up, and navigation of the insurance & FEMA mess to get through.

Enjoy your fight, but please pardon me when I don't participate...

[fleabite]

I'm so sorry to hear that, Sea Ice. It sounds as if you have a frustrating, exhausting, and expensive road ahead. I wish you the best with the cleanup and repairs.

[apl68]

I'm so sorry to hear that, Sea Ice. It sounds as if you have a frustrating, exhausting, and expensive road ahead. I wish you the best with the cleanup and repairs.

Seconded.  Have you yet been able to get much idea of the extent of the damage?

[Sea_Ice]

I'm so sorry to hear that, Sea Ice. It sounds as if you have a frustrating, exhausting, and expensive road ahead. I wish you the best with the cleanup and repairs.

Seconded.  Have you yet been able to get much idea of the extent of the damage?

TY for the good wishes!  I've got the basics assessed and documented - the major issues stem from having to wait until next week for an adjustor, while still getting necessary actions (such as tree and large branches off roof & the holes temporarily patched) completed without any real input about allowable/acceptable cost from my ins. co. 

The lack of real information about acceptable $$$ to get repairs made, downed trees out of the yard, etc. really exacerbates things.  Especially when there's a constant parade of offers to do the work, with the most common approach being some variation on "we'll deal directly with your insurance company, so don't bother your pretty little graying head about a thing".  I can spot some of the obvious scammers, and some of the highly inflated prices, but it's a stressor I really don't need.

I understand that insurance is swamped, but the lack of concrete information is incredibly frustrating.  Add to this the facts that fixing the house will require vacating parts of it, that my landscape will never be the same, that cleanup will do vast amounts of additional damage, and it often becomes overwhelming.  Trying to locate and move some of my more treasured plants does help, but so many have gotten too big to ever move - or are permanently down.

[apl68]

Helene is still claiming casualties.  Our state church association has disaster teams in the region doing cleanup.  A few days ago, a member of the team was injured in a chainsaw accident.  Emergency surgery saved his injured leg.  But he is now unable to work for a living, and faces an insurance denial of the physical therapy that he needs to (literally) get back on his feet.  Churches in the state are now taking up a special offering to help him and his family.  And still trying to help with the hurricane cleanup.  It's going to be a long haul.