Little water, big headache: Typo thwarts FEMA check to flood victims

— -- Micky and George Hartz had a flooded house and a huge headache. A small amount of water had come and gone quickly, but it was just enough to damage their drywall. But their annoyance turned to frustration when their emergency flood insurance check got lost, leaving them without vital funds to repair. Read the Hartzes’ original letter to the ABC News Fixer below, and see how The Fixer helped shake loose their money. And check out The Fixer’s tips for buying flood insurance.

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Dear ABC News Fixer: Our emergency check from our flood insurance was sent to an address that doesn’t exist because of a typo on some paperwork. Now we are told that FEMA needs to approve an address waiver before funds can be released, and this may take several months.

Because of this address mistake, we can't get approval for any funding. Can you help?

-Micky and George Hartz, Magnolia, Texas

Dear Micky and George: Your soggy nightmare started Memorial Day weekend in 2016, when torrential rains flooded large areas north of Houston. It was bad. People maneuvering boats down neighborhood streets, rescuing people and pets -- and muddy brown water everywhere.

You told the ABC News Fixer your house only took on 1 to 2 inches of water, but it was enough to cause the baseboards to buckle and necessitate removal of 2 feet of drywall and insulation.

Luckily, you had bought flood insurance. The vast majority of flood policies are through the National Flood Insurance Program. They’re sold by private insurance companies, but the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) manages the program.

You said the insurance adjuster got a little lost trying to find your house after the flood – and it turns out that was because there was a typo in your address on your flood insurance policy. One number in your street address was missing. You’re not sure how that happened, but it seems to have occurred when your policy was transferred from one insurance company to another. All the other paperwork was correct, including the FEMA proof of loss document, flood questionnaire and advance payment request.

You were quickly approved for the first emergency check of $10,000 – but that money never came because it was mailed to the incorrect address.

And so the frustration began – weeks of calling and calling, only to be told you’d need a special address change which could take months!

Meanwhile, you had to dip into your savings to start time-sensitive repairs, such as removing wet materials from the house.

This seemed like such a stunningly simple problem to fix, especially because all your other documents were correct and the adjuster had been to the correct address. We had a little better luck. We found a higher-up person at FEMA who understood the problem and immediately took steps to fix it. They reissued the $10,000 emergency check and overnighted it to you in Texas.

You also received additional insurance funds and finished repairing the home, which has since been sold.

As we mentioned, you were smart to buy flood insurance. Your case, which we fixed last year, has lessons for homeowners hit by floods after this year’s major hurricanes and storms. The biggest lesson is that ordinary homeowners’ policies do not cover flooding. Sadly, after Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, it was estimated that only 15 to 20 percent of homeowners in Houston and Corpus Christi had flood insurance to protect their homes.

Homeowners must purchase flood insurance if they’re in a high-risk flood zone and have a federally insured mortgage. But recent events have shown why flood insurance can be crucial even for lower-risk properties.

Here’s some more advice for homeowners:

--Check out FloodSmart.gov to assess your property’s risk level and learn about flood insurance.

--Keep on top of flood map changes. If your risk goes down later, you should be able to pay less.

--Don’t count on government disaster assistance to bail you out. Even if there is a disaster, federal aid usually means a low-interest loan, not coverage for what you lost. That’s why having flood insurance is so important.

-The ABC News Fixer

Do you have a consumer problem? Contact The ABC News Fixer to submit your problem online. Letters are edited for length and clarity.