Thanks to everyone again for your thoughts and support.
We arrived back at my parents’ home in Mobile, Alabama Monday night. Will quickly re-adjusted to the familiar environment and his sleep difficulties quickly subsided. We had a good time visiting my brother Skip, sister-in-law Emily, friends Gwen and Mario (with Gwen’s dad, brother, and girlfriend!), and our NOLA neighbors Linda and Walt who were staying in St. Simon’s with Walt wonderful mother. It was nice to re-connect with so many and allowed us some options while Alabama power restored services to the area. Gasoline is still quite scarce, but we’ve been asking around and were able to find a great place yesterday with no lines. The stores are pretty much all open so today I’m going out to re-stock a bit on little things (ie: Will is out of toothpaste.)
Our ears are always tuned to the news from New Orleans. We frequent NOLA.com as well as related weblogs. We are anxious and hopeful for the opportunity to visit the house, collect some belongings (ie: toys and pajamas for Will, clothes for Paul, pillows for me), and assess any damage.
We’ve talked to our insurance agency (USAA) and they were generally good. We have a deductible of about $3000 (ouch) for any damage. The bummer is that if we do NOT have any damage, we will get no assistance in expenses related to the evacuation or in loss of use. In essence this makes sense: insurance is only for when you cannot habit your home due to damage, not because the city says you can’t, or because there is no power and water. Still, in this type of situation, you’d think they’d be a bit more flexible. We’re worried about potential damages from the house sitting empty that insurance may not cover. Hopefully we can get back soon and know exactly with what we are dealing.
Nonetheless, we are incredibly lucky to have a free place to stay that offers some free babysitting.
stardust | 08-Sep-05 at 2:34 pm | Permalink
Wow! only 3000.00 for damages that seems too low. My renters insurance covers close to 12,000.00 is that the same thing?
We lost our house in a flood some 10 years ago now, I guess it’s been. Anyway – they paid for us to rent and they cashed us out for the price of the house – though we might have been able to rebuild the area was deemed “condemned” due to toxic water and such settling into the soil – You would think the forced evacuation you are expereincing would equally qualify for a lot more insurance support – that’s pretty much what happened to us – though I might be getting some faxes wrong – It’s been a long while.
Keep me posted on the insurance saga….. I have heard from my home agent up here that people are buying places up like crazy down there – sight unseen. Have you heard anything of the such?
Ok – I have to run for now. I’ll chat more later. 🙂
Relieved to hear the house appears safe and sound. 🙂
Love,
Deneil