When You Don't Make It

[Straight Shooter]

BP , you are talking from a uk perspective , in fact most modern builds do not use a double skin brick/ concrete block wall with a 3” cavity bonded with butterfly cavity ties ....stainless steel or galvanised .....most builds now are timber framed.....this allows the lid / roof to be fitted and felt , battened , and tiled first ! The outer skin ....brick or blocks are built after ....tied to the studs , that why they are fast to erect .....my place was up and roof on and covered in two days ! .....I very much doubt our place ...or any other builds would stand up to what Kentucky has experienced ....even your stone cottage ! American weather is worlds apart from our weather BP ....in this case it was even more severe than previously recorded , it could be argued why? Live there in the first place knowing there’s a good chance of it taking place every year ....it’s the season for it ! ......I suspect they feel like you BP ....about Devon .....or me here in South Wales ......it’s home ! U

[bigpaul]

you could be right SS, in any case its a few years since I was on a building site and things change and not always for the better.
I saw some new photos on the lunchtime news today from Kentucky and there appeared to be concrete buildings still standing but the wooden ones were all flattened, anyway its all academic anyway, its happened and lets hope people can rebuild and get on with their lives although some have not been that lucky.
I agree its home wherever we live, we could have moved to several places when we came back home to Devon we did have several offers but this location was the one that suited us best and still does.

[Pete Grey]

MB & CH, I hope the federal government is giving the tornado damaged areas the physical and financial support they need.

[Mortblanc]

It does not work exactly the same here as it does there Pete. The Federal government does not just "sweep in and take care of things".

Each state has its own reaction force, then there are regional agreements between adjoining states.

If that does not cover the emergency then the state officials have to request Federal help.

That was one of the famous glitches in the Katrina disaster. there were resources waiting to go into action but due to partisan politics the Governor of Louisiana refused to request help from GW Bush. Then accused the opposition party of hindering and stalling the recovery efforts.

As GH has already mentioned, the "feet on the ground" in KY will be local volunteers from unaffected areas, the State Emergency Management System, state National guard, and elements from the surrounding states. GH home state touches Kentucky on the eastern border.

Federal help will come as other forms of disaster aid. Low interest loans and such. Hardly ever are there people sitting at desks handing out recovery cash. They will issue vouchers for hotel expenses, food and clothing, but seldom hand out money.

A difficult situation when there are no operating hotels, grocery stores, or shops and every car in town is sitting on four flats and has no glass.

One is expected to tide oneself over until an insurance check arrives, and that is supposed to cover rebuilding expense. Problem with that is that American insurance companies will deny every claim and stall until the people that do not have enough sense to hire a solicitor give up on their claims.

Back in 2012 a tornado blew past me at a distance of 1/2 mile, took a turn around my house and plowed into a housing estate 2 miles down the road. That one relocated several houses and left not a single house of the 300 in that development untouched. All had damage of some form with several being shifted from their foundations, roofs torn off and all of the glass shattered.

I saw one house, a nice brick one, that had a new garage. The tornado picked up the neighbor's brick garage, turned it 180 degrees and sat it neatly down against their house.

At any rate, every roof in that development had its shingles torn off. The entire estates was under the protection of blue poly-tarps. Soon some tarps were gone and the roof repaired, then another and another.

It took 3 years for the last of the blue tarps to disappear. Which does not mean that it took three years for the insurance to pay. More than likely it took 3 years for the family to save enough money to do the repair themselves.

It will take ten years for Mayfield to rebuild. Some businesses will never return and some families will find homes elsewhere. They will have too to survive. Their home is gone, their job is gone and the only thing left for them in Mayfield will be the graves of their loved ones.

Disasters suck! That is why they call them disasters.
.

[CharlesHarris]

Contiguous states usually have agreeme he u see the Emergency Mutual Aid Assistance Compact, which can be activated by participating stage governments without any need for Federal involvement. WV and KY have one in effect and K9 search units, heavy equipment and support personnel have already been deployed.

[CharlesHarris]

Contiguous states usually have agreements under the Emergency Mutual Aid Assistance Compact, which can be activated by participating stage governments without any need for Federal involvement. WV and KY have one in effect and K9 search units, heavy equipment and support personnel have already been deployed.

[Pete Grey]

I don’t know if the US is the same, but over here while the insurance companies use loss adjusters to keep claims low, there is an alternative.

Home owners (or any type of claimant) can employ a firm of LOSS ASSESSORS who work for you, to fight your claim for a fair deal, arranging all repairs, often at no cost as their fees are paid by the insurance company and builders.

Or if you want cash to employ your own builder, or do your own repairs, they do charge a percentage, but you do get a better deal.

This may be of help to anyone with insurance problems, don’t just accept the first offer from your insurance company if you think it’s unfair.

[Joe]

Saw it on the news MB, glad I wasn't in that. I think anyone above ground would have struggled to survive.
As was mentioned above the US storms are at another level from what we see over here, the most we get up in Scotland is trees blown down, lorries turned over and the odd roof removed.
I think if I was over there I would be having one of those storm shelters.

[Mortblanc]

There are large areas of the US where it is impossible to dig a shelter. I lived in one area in Tennessee where we had to set fence posts in 5 gallon buckets of concrete to build a fence.