Was Told That Erma Never Been Flooded

To The Editor:
I’m a retired 70-year-old widower, and I live in Erma. I’m really not complaining too much about the March flooding but I’m really so sorry that I wasted so much time. When I bought my home in 1997, my wife was alive. I remember proudly telling her that I asked some elderly neighbors about flooding in Erma. I was told that Erma never had been flooded. Someone told me that the airport was built in Erma because it never got flooded. I don’t know if the stories were true or not but we loved the area and got a great deal on the house and the truth be known, we would have bought it anyway.
In early 2010, I had (as everyone else did also), snow up the ying yang. I spent four days on top of my flat garage roof, shoveling snow. After the snow we had rain. All of a sudden, I had 11 inches of water in my driveway and water in my garage and in my family room. My family room is about six inches lower than the rest of the house. This room had about two inches of water on the floor. When my driveway began filling up with water, I ran to Lowe’s and bought a sump pump. I wanted a large one but they were sold out.
I manned this sump pump, tried pushing water with a large broom and spent hours fighting this water problem before losing the battle and my family room getting ruined. I bought a wet/dry vac and tried sucking the water up. I would have used sand bags but I didn’t have sand or bags.
I use the term, “water problem.” I called FEMA. They sent a gentleman who told me to rip up the rug, they would pay for another rug. I spent every day trying to vacuum up the water. It wasn’t working. I gladly ripped up the rug. It was beginning to get moldy.
I got a letter from FEMA in about a week. Flooding didn’t cause my damage. FEMA is the government, and they said flooding didn’t cause damage to my rug. I didn’t know that they didn’t cover “water damage.” I wasted time calling FEMA. I stayed glued to my house so I wouldn’t miss the person coming to my home and inspecting it. When the FEMA inspector left my home, he left some important papers on the kitchen table. I asked where he was and drove to him with his paperwork.
FEMA said I could have a low-interest loan. In fact they called me and said that I better fill out the paperwork for the loan because time is running out. I told them what they could do with their loan money. I also asked that they remove my name from any list that they have. Come hell or water damage I’ll keep my home without wasting my time on government paperwork. I didn’t have flood insurance because Erma never floods. I have to see about getting “water problem” insurance. Erma occasionally gets that.
ROBERT UHOLIK
Erma