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Becky Bentley: Disaster with no way to rebuild

Becky Bentley was told she didn’t need flood insurance because she didn’t live in a flood plain. After the floodwaters receded, everything she owned was destroyed. Without flood insurance, she’s on her own.

Disaster With No Way To Rebuild

Well, in September it rained several days.

It didn’t really alarm me until the morning of the actual flood and found that there were so many streets around everywhere that we couldn't make it to school.

Then in a little bit, the water came up and kind of came through the wall, so we decided that we probably needed to think about getting out of the house.

So my son had put our cat in the upstairs bathroom, so we had to go upstairs to get the cat and at that time, the water was probably just maybe ankle deep in the house.

In the amount of time it took us to go up the stairs and get her and we came back and got to about right here and I said, "Oh, we're not going back down," because the water had risen that much.

So we go back up the stairs and open a window and yell for neighbors to come and help.

When my son and I came out the front door, it was pretty high, it was very scary, I think I was in such a shock that I couldn't think of anything except I just want to get out.

The water got so high that the mulch from my flower beds came up into here.

Everything was – it was just like somebody had dropped a bomb inside the house.

Everything was just destroyed.

It's all so personal and just things like that that you know, you can't keep it, it's ruined, just throw it away.

And to have to look at it and say I know I've got to let it go and they're just things, but they're my things.

For the cleanup, we had a lot of volunteers and we were very careful.

Everybody had to wear gloves and protective gear because all that stuff is contaminated.

As far as the house itself, all the drywall, all the contents taken out.

I did not have flood insurance because I was not in a flood plain, so we were told we didn't need it.

Things are a lot more difficult because of no insurance.

I'm paying a mortgage, plus having to pay for someplace else to live.

Going forward, when I move back into the house, I will have flood insurance.

I won't take another chance.

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Last Updated: Friday, 01-Feb-2013, 3:49 PM (EST)