This one takes the cake. "AP IMPACT: FEMA asks for return of disaster aid"

[in_cog_ni_to]

Life just isn't hard enough for disaster victims. :( Now I've seen it all. :(


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.<snip>

<snip>
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.

FEMA admits the payments were largely its own fault — the result of employees who misunderstood eligibility rules, approved duplicate assistance for costs that were already covered by insurance or other sources, or made accounting errors. But the agency is still obligated to try to recover the money.<snip>

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110510/ap_on_re_us/us_fema_reclaiming_aid

[mrmpa]

1. WTF

[hedgehog]

2. Some years back, people noticed that there were houses and entire

towns along the Mississippi that flooded year after year. There was at least a limited buyout offer for some homes. The rest of the reform was the opportunity to buy Federal flood insurance if you were in a designated flood zone. The concept here was that people wouldn't be forbidden to build in a flood zone, but that if they chose to do so, they would have to pay into an insurance pool in order to get the money to rebuild after a flood.

Now, who should determine the flood zone; USGS maybe? USGS and National Weather Bureau? How about, local town zoning boards who often are dedicated to protecting the development value of open land? what happened was that many local governments refused to designate obvious flood zones. People already living in a flood zone often insisted it wasn't so because after all, who is going to pay big bucks to buy a house in a flood zone?

Now, my husband lived near a creek that flooded ever spring. He inspected the maps himself before he ever looked at any property. A lot of people, though, trust their local governments (and/or don;'t want to believe the evidence in front of them ). They buy that lovely waterfront property and put their savings into a house. Flood insurance isn't available because the local government tells the Feds it's not needed. When the flood comes, there is no Federal program to give people money.It's a terrible situation that leaves a lot of people unprotected.

[shraby]

3. If I remember right, that's the way it has always been. The

money given by the government to aid disaster victims were considered a low interest loan and was expected to be paid back. The first I read of it was in the 1960s/1970s and it surprised me because I was always under the impression it was "free money" in the form of aid. Sometimes it was used to tide people over until their insurance claims were paid by the insurance company, but the ones without insurance still had to pay back the money.