Ken we took some hit over here in New Jersey. What a friggin mess. Trees down all over. Towns flooded out. You name it we got it. Where I live there is a high water table in the ground so I have 2 sump pumps in my basement because of it because of problems in the past. Both sump pumps were running continuously from Friday night into Saturday morning. They have finally caught up and only go on when the float flips the switch to pump ground water still coming in. They will probably be running for another week or so as one of them is a back up to the other. The Winds were unbelievable through Sunday night and died down around 8pm here.
In the next town over is where my fathers estate is located. There I have another problem being the house is located in a flood zone. Went there at a little after 3pm this Sunday afternoon and all was dry except for a block away where there might of been maybe 8-10 inches of water in the roadway just above the curbs over the sidewalks. This is located in the town of Bound Brook, N.J.. By the name you know the town is bound by brooks on both side of it and the Raritan River below it. It has been Rocked by many major floods the worse in '99 with Hurricane Floyd. Almost as bad in 2007 and then hit again last year in March of 2010 and now this one in 2011. Thats 3 major Floods in 4 years and 4 major floods in the last 12 years. 250 Million dollars has been spent since '99 to shore up the town with plenty of flood preventionwork going on actually pretty much building a fish bowl around the town. This weekend was the big test with Hurricane Irene. As I said all was well this Sunday afternoon in the vicinity of my late fathers home. Just around 6pm Sunday night after thinking all was clear I got a call that the Levee broke on once side of the town as it did in Katrina in New Orleans and was now flooding the town. Don't know anything more but will find out soon enough today Monday morning. Feel asleep for a few hours Sunday night but woke up as Mr.Muffler called me at 11:30pm to let me know they just got their power back on in the Norfolk area of Virginia where he lives. Wasn't able to make contact with him for days as he claims his cell phone was not working either showing "No Service". I thought something bad happened to him and his wife Shirley but all is well as I spoke to him for a good hour. Now I am up and posting here and returning emails. Thanks again for your concern.
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1967 Marlboro Maroon 4spd Coupe 1973 Dark Blue 4spd Coupe w/air, original 25,000 miles 1999 Black C-5 Hatchback Coupe 6spd LS1 1934 Ford 3 Window Coupe eng. code "ZZZ" 350-345hp Chevy Powered! 1970 Black on Black Monte Carlo(FOR SALE)Asking $18k
Glade to hear no major injuries or damage to you and your family. They made it sound much worse than it was prior to Irene actually hitting. Has to be very scary! Saw pics on the news and did do a lot of damage but not as bad as predicted. Thank God!
I actually had to sneak into where my late fathers home is located Monday morning. Where it was dry Sunday afternoon after the Hurricane was flooded in the streets and all the way up the driveway to the detached garage. From the water lines it looks like 2' went into the garage but recided. Went into the house and opened the door to the basement and I could see water. Was able to go down 6 steps til I hit water. Didn't have a flashlight with me but I believe there is maybe 4-1/2' of flood water down there about the same as we had in 2010 with the last major flood I was faced with. Another mess to clean up. It took me from March of 2010 until June to clean the last mess up being I did everything myslef. Took a lot of time away from me to enjoy my cars. Was hoping that wasn't going to happen this year. Can't win for losing.
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1967 Marlboro Maroon 4spd Coupe 1973 Dark Blue 4spd Coupe w/air, original 25,000 miles 1999 Black C-5 Hatchback Coupe 6spd LS1 1934 Ford 3 Window Coupe eng. code "ZZZ" 350-345hp Chevy Powered! 1970 Black on Black Monte Carlo(FOR SALE)Asking $18k
Glade to hear no major injuries or damage to you and your family. They made it sound much worse than it was prior to Irene actually hitting. Has to be very scary! Saw pics on the news and did do a lot of damage but not as bad as predicted. Thank God!
I'm guessing that life is a lot more stable on the East Coast than on the West Coast.
No major fires, no major earthquakes, no Sunamis, no major mud slides, no yearly floods, no volcanos, etc.
My house on the coast got flooded twice, two sumps, power out for weeks, no power no, sump pumps, I had to add a dedictated power line and a generator.
Trees down every year, 250ft trees, roads washed out forever, its just a part of living in California.
Any flood insurance? Might be time to think about it if you don't have it? I can't fathom having to clean up after a flood. Water, silt, mold, etc. Gotta be a real pain. Good luck!
Any flood insurance? Might be time to think about it if you don't have it? I can't fathom having to clean up after a flood. Water, silt, mold, etc. Gotta be a real pain. Good luck!
Can insurance be purchased if the property is in a flood zone?
Fred, I'm so sorry to hear about the water damage. Dangit!!!
Ken my father had flood insurance on his home ever since it was hit in '99 from Hurricane Floyd. The Estate continued to pay for it through 2010 after my fathers death in 2008 but the Estate couldn't afford to pay for it this year in 2011 being it is almost out of money and broke. To tell you the truth based on my experience with Flood Insurance at my late fathers residence it is not all it is cracked up to be. In 2010 FEMA pulled a fast one on us and others when they jacked up the deductible from $2k to $4k without anyone telling the people who were hit in the 2010 flood. Put it this way if you only have basement flooding it is not worth the money. First of all on a home like my late fathers the cost to get Flood Insurance the last time I paid was about $1400.00 a year round figure. If you have nothing in your basement but a hot water heater and furnace you still have clean up to do. You are already into this flood with $1400.00 paid out for insurance. Add another $4000.00 to it for the deductible and now you are into this flood for $5400.00. Ask yourself where did insurance help you here? You may as well have no insurance for what you have to go through in aggravation trying to get paid. Now it is a different story if your first floor becomes flooded. In our case the only time the first floor was flooded was with Hurricane Floyd. Since then they spent over $250 million through the Army Corp of Engineers to do much Flood Prevention work to the area. It did its job through Sunday afternoon keeping the water out of the town pretty much so until the breech in the system gave way and let flood water into the town Sunday night.
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1967 Marlboro Maroon 4spd Coupe 1973 Dark Blue 4spd Coupe w/air, original 25,000 miles 1999 Black C-5 Hatchback Coupe 6spd LS1 1934 Ford 3 Window Coupe eng. code "ZZZ" 350-345hp Chevy Powered! 1970 Black on Black Monte Carlo(FOR SALE)Asking $18k
I think the flood insurance is more for major flooding and the high deductible keeps all the little claims from depleting the reserves. People will only need it if the damage is substantial VS minor flooding. In Cali you can buy flood and earthquake insurance. Earthquake insurance is usually a % of the house cost in determining deductible. So if your house is 500K yo may have a 50K deductible. It's crazy expensive too.
-- Edited by kensmith on Tuesday 30th of August 2011 10:30:10 PM
Lost my INTERNET and power but I've never been flooded nor will I till the end of the world comes .I have generated power as do my neighbors and the Internet came back on yesterday .For the most part I think I live in an area that other than a little snow storms we live fairly well .
Lost my INTERNET and power but I've never been flooded nor will I till the end of the world comes .I have generated power as do my neighbors and the Internet came back on yesterday .For the most part I think I live in an area that other than a little snow storms we live fairly well .
I hope things get back to normal for ya Fred .
vette boy, I am ok at my place. My problem is the Estate house. Can't give the place away over the last 3 years. Even tried to buy it myself to rent it out as an investment but because the State of N.J. has their hands in on 1/3 of the Estate because my mom is in a nursing home they have been unreasonable to what they feel I should have to pay for the place. You see prior to this latest flood I had no problem with paying the current accessed value the town had on the house on the date of the death of my father in December of 2008 for the year 2008. I felt and still feel that was only fair. Problem is the following year in 2009 the town doubled the accessment on homes and now the state of N.J. wanted me to pay double the price that it was accessed at during the year 2008 the year my father passed. I basically told the state to piss up a rope that I was not interested in paying double for a house located in a flood zone that was already hit twice in 1999 and 2007 with major floods and especially now in 2010 and 2011 with 2 more major floods. That makes for 4 major floods in 12 years or 3 major floods in the last 4 years. Not a bad batting average but it doesn't help make the sale.
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1967 Marlboro Maroon 4spd Coupe 1973 Dark Blue 4spd Coupe w/air, original 25,000 miles 1999 Black C-5 Hatchback Coupe 6spd LS1 1934 Ford 3 Window Coupe eng. code "ZZZ" 350-345hp Chevy Powered! 1970 Black on Black Monte Carlo(FOR SALE)Asking $18k
I've been told that here in the West that if your home is in a flood area, you have to carry flood insurance because of Katrina. Thanks to the current regime in power in DC its mandatory, no choice. I'm 400 feet above the lake, theres no way that it can get me. The other house on the coast flooded in some years of heavy rain twice a year. I built the place to take a flood with no real damage.
Two french drains, 2 sump pumps, a generator back up, raised living areas, ceramic tile on the lower levels. If I had to do over again I would have added a center floor drain and ceramic base coving. The water is the least of the problem, the mud and the slit is the bad part. It would take 10 12 hours to clean up after a flood and theres some areas that you can't get to so Black Mold is a problem.
The basic problems with floods is houses aren't built with a flood in mind.
Fred was your father a Vet? It looks like your stuck with the "Estate" house, unless you prove to the state of New Jersey that the house is only worth x amount of money through apprasials made by a realtor or bank apprasiers.
Medi-Cal here in California has a similar heath plan. Ie the state pays for your medical care but you have to sign over your house to them. Its not that way with Medi-Care.
In reality no-one ever owns anything, the state has control over everything. If I were in your place I'd find away around the state and sell the "Estate" house. You don't need the headache and with the tax laws the way they are in your state it would be hard to make a profit on a rental.
In 2009 with the new double assessment a year after my fathers death an approved assessor paid by the Estate came out and assessed for almost $30k less then what the new assessment for the town was listed at but roughly $80k higher then the date of death 2008 year assessment. I always felt the date of death assessment should be the correct amount to go by especially being I am a relative interested in buying my fathers house being my father never made it to 2009. Afterall according to the Federal Government you have to live the complete month in order to keep your social security check for said month. My father missed living the complete month of December by one day and the estate had to reimburse the Fed Gov. his complete SS check for the date of death month. You see its ok for the Federal Gov. to do this but it is not for a family member to count the day of death amount as being the correct amount the house is worth. Seems like the government does things to benefit the government not the people doesn't it?
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1967 Marlboro Maroon 4spd Coupe 1973 Dark Blue 4spd Coupe w/air, original 25,000 miles 1999 Black C-5 Hatchback Coupe 6spd LS1 1934 Ford 3 Window Coupe eng. code "ZZZ" 350-345hp Chevy Powered! 1970 Black on Black Monte Carlo(FOR SALE)Asking $18k
When the state wants MORE MONEY they re-accessed property values its an old Ronald Regan trick........... But under Prop 13 when actual property values go down the state here has to cut your taxes by re-evalutating your property value. Homes aren't selling anywhere so your property value should have gone down not up.
In the 70's Reagan wanted MORE MONEY to increase the California Hiway Patrol so he doubled the accessed value of all the real estate in California. Some people where forced to sell thier homes because that couldn't pay the doubled property taxes.
When the property tax values were increased it made the cost of homes soar, the 1st real estate bubble in this state. A major problem with not living in California is the other states have no property tax caps. Whenever the state wants MORE MONEY they go to the home owners.
They can't do that here were protected by law. Taxes are set at 1% of the purchase price as long as you own the home. But the state wanted MORE MONEY so they got around the Prop 13 Law by inventing "FEES", Fees are illegal taxes.
That is fees are taxes but sence they are not CALLED taxes they are not subject to 2/3 vote by the state cronies.
When the state wants MORE MONEY they steal it from "We the People".........but now "We the People" don't have anymore money so they borrow it from China. The bottom line is the state is destroying this country. The US spent $900,000,000 just in Libya this year wheres that money coming from?
