Displaced by Flood - Help Nick & Lauren Start Over
There is nothing worse than waking up to go to the restroom at 3:30 AM on the morning of your 25th birthday, only to step off the bed and into inches of flood water. Trust me, I speak from experience.
December 28th, 2018, during the early morning hours, our house flooded. Our home is a partially underground flat, with the master bedroom being almost completely underground. Water entered from the wall and baseboards of the master bedroom, and followed gravity through the entire house, only managing to miss the utility closet.
We have 3 dogs, a cat, and a parrot. Luckily, all of our babies were unharmed by the flood waters (other than a couple of wet paws!). Various family members are helping babysit for the time being, but it's so hard, so emotionally straining, being separated from our children.
All of our furniture was affected - much of it is damaged beyond repair, some of it is salvageable, we honestly haven't gotten that far yet. If there are any items you would like to donate, feel free to reach out! In addition to the furniture lost, we have lost many personal items, clothing, artwork, electronics, and more. We are currently estimating our loses and incurred costs in the $8-10k range.
The hardest part of this whole deal... The repairs. All the paneling, all sheet rock at least two feet up, all the insulation, all the baseboards, maybe more pieces I can't remember... all of that has to come out of every single room the water touched. These repairs will take an estimated 2-3 months and cost in excess of $50k, during which time we will not be able to occupy or store anything in the house.
Neither our landlord's insurance nor our renter's insurance are currently willing to cover the water damage, since it was caused by "outside" water. There are extenuating circumstances to the root cause, circumstances that have decided and discernible liability. We will attempt to hold those entities accountable.
Disclosure: We are proud, self sufficient people who have been done wrong through no fault of our own. We are not asking for a handout, nor do we expect to receive one. In the event that one of the insurers, FEMA, or some other third party offer assistance, we will turn over all funds first to the landlord for his expenses, and finally to UNICEF Alabama.