Flood Victims Face Insurance Woes

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - As if losing just about everything to flooding isn't bad enough, some flood victims are finding out the insurance coverage they thought they had doesn't exist. Now they're faced with no way to recoup their losses.

FEMA is the most hope some of the flood victims have. For others, it's a hard, expensive lesson learned. For insurance agents, it's a teachable moment so the next time this happens, fewer people will fall victim to Mother Nature.

Eula Horrell said she dodged the severe weather bullet that shot towards Tennessee on May 1st.

"I could not believe the amount of rain we had that weekend," said Horrell. "I've never seen any rain like that in Memphis in my life."

The rain that hovered over the state for nearly two days dumped inches of water outside, some of which crept inside homes forcing families elsewhere.

Insurance agent Kathy Thurmond-Edwards said, "We've been busy with a lot of phone calls inquiring about flood insurance." Thurmond-Edwards said it's a common misconception that a homeowner's policy covers flood insurance.

"When we're talking about flood, we're talking about areas of land that is normally dry and it floods and it enters in your house as surface water. That requires a separate flood policy," she explained.

The average policy is priced at about $400, but the sticking point that discourages many is that the money must be paid upfront. It's just another reason why people don't buy into the weather safety net.

"Most people don't have flood insurance because their lender didn't require it, but anybody can get flood insurance," she said.

Renters and buyers can all purchase a policy, whether you live in a high-risk flood zone or not. Better safe than sorry is what insurance agents often suggest. But Frayser resident Jamie Berner isn't buying what they're selling.

"They're misleading, very misleading," said Berner. "A lot of character clause in them. You've just got to watch what you reading."

Thurmond-Edwards agreed, saying "My advice is to do something unusual. Read your homeowners policy. It is a contract, and you can tell what's covered and not covered."

Thurmond-Edwards suggested making an appointment with your agent if you need clarity about coverage or your contract.

The good news for some flood victims, if you have comprehensive coverage on your car insurance, then you have flood coverage for your vehicle if it took on any rain water.



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Memphis Police Officer Hits Pedestrian

FAST FACTS:

    * Pedestrian struck by Memphis police officer
    * Victim is 57 year old South Memphis woman
    * Witnesses say officer was speeding with no lights and sirens

(Memphis 05/22/2010) - A South Memphis woman is dead after she is struck by a Memphis police squad car. The accident happened about 2:00 a.m. at Essex and South Third St. There are questions tonight from eyewitnesses about the officer's speed and if his lights and sirens were on at the time of the accident.

"The officer was just flying down the street. He wasn't on call. Wasn't no lights, sirens are nothing going," said Bernice Johnson, eyewitness.

Johnson, a nursing student who was on her way to work, describes what she saw when a Memphis police officer driving down Third St. struck pedestrian, 57 year old Irene Connard. She literally offered Connard her last breath. Johnson along with the officer administered CPR.

Johnson said, "I mean it's just horrible. It's just horrible. They need to slow it down, too. It just don't make no sense."

Hours later witnesses still talked about the power of the impact at the scene of the accident.


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GOP gubernatorial frontrunner Oxendine agrees to take hunting safety course after shooting mishap

January 25, 2010 — Georgia Insurance Commissioner and prominent Republican candidate for governor John Oxendine was told Monday by the state Dept. of Natural Resources that he and his companions on a Jan. 17 quail-hunting trip should take a hunting safety course. Oxendine’s 13-year-old son accidentally shot a man in that hunting party, who sustained superficial wounds. Oxendine said Monday that he’ll take the course, but he added that he doesn’t need a state hunting permit because he hunts only on private reserves; he also said that the mishap wasn’t as big a deal as has been reported. ““No one is asked to stop driving a car because of an auto accident,” he said at a forum for gubernatorial candidates.     --Pork projects for state legislators is a big reason why the state of Texas has wasted almost $1 billion of money that was supposed to be used for transportation improvements since 1991 but wasn’t,  claims the Forth Worth Star-Telegram.   --A staggering one million-plus new jobs need to be created in North Carolina over the next 10 years, says the US Chamber of Commerce. That would replace jobs lost in the state during the recession, and add new ones needed to meet expected population growth. The total number of jobs needing to be created nationwide is 20 million, says the chamber.   --A 2005 water-rights lawsuitt filed by the Mississippi state attorney general against the city of Memphis has been dismissed by the US Supreme Court. The suit had alleged that Memphis has been stealing roughly one-third of its drinking water from Mississippi by pumping excessive amounts from an aquifer that runs beneath portions of Mississippi and western Tennessee. The high court denied Mississippi’s motion to overturn an appellate court’s 2009 ruling. Apparently all the pumping by Memphis has re-channeled water from where it has long flowed, underneath Mississippi, to underneath Memphis.

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