There is no denying that relief from FEMA for people impacted by natural disasters can be a godsend. But, with that said, the process to qualify for specific aid and the time it takes to payout (with no guarantees) can be a waiting game many people can't stomach.
For this report, we profiled a Shore Acres homeowner who suffered repetitive losses. Jennifer Gans'Gans’s home on a canal has flooded four times since 2020.
"I bought it in 2015, and it has not flooded since then," Gans said. "Just ripping out everything, throwing away all your memories."
In 2020, Gans flooded during Tropical Storm ETA. Since then, there has been a parade of storms: Hurricane Idalia (2022), a December "no name" storm (2023), and this year, Hurricane Helene.
In 2021, Gans applied for aid through the Flood Mitigation Assistance program backed by FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program. The program will pay 100% of the cost to either lift her home up and out of the flood zone or install support beams, make the bottom floor a non-livable space, and she can build a second-story living area.
Her paperwork had an issue, so she re-filed in 2022 and qualified for assistance. Nearly three years later, Gans has been waiting in a flood relief purgatory.
"You set yourself up for three years of hell," Gans said. "Because they just don't move that fast."
"If you knew then what you have gone through now, you would have sold right after Idalia?" ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska asked.
Gans replied, "After the first flood there (Eta), I wasn't going to leave. That never even crossed my mind. But after the second flood (Idalia), you start to say, 'Okay, do I want to do this? Keep doing this kind of thing?"
It is more than worth it if you make it through the entire process. But, Gans tells Paluska she doesn't recognize herself in this new life after the disaster.
"I lived with my boyfriend, then my mom, then a friend, and yeah, pretty bad. But now I'm at the hotel, and I've been there since November 18," Gans said. "It's weird though. It's like, you have those moments, almost like you're dizzy. You wake up, like, where am I? What? Whose life is this? I'm living in a hotel."
Gans continued, "And then you're like, 'Okay, you got it this, it's just one more step, you keep going.' But you have those awful moments of what's happened, like, I have nothing here. I'm in two queens and have a mini fridge. I can't even, you know, but you have to keep your wits about you and know that it's going to work out."
A homeowner can apply for Flood Mitigation Assistance only through their local municipality. For Gans, that means the City of St. Petersburg, Florida, is doing everything it can to follow federal guidelines and elevate her living space above the flood zone.
"We were the first city in Florida to do FMA," Hanna Rebholz, the Floodplain Manager for St. Petersburg, told Paluska. "We were the first city to ever have FEMA-funded elevation. So that's great."
But, Rebholz said the process is complicated, long, and scrutinized down to every cent.
"It's definitely a lot of work to manage these grants, make sure they're correct, make sure they're on schedule, because FEMA gives us a schedule, and make sure they're done to our local code. That application process is the hardest because you want to elevate, but you're just waiting to get approved. Once you're approved, you're in the air like that."
"I bet a lot of people call you, and they're like, it's been two and a half years. What's happening,? Paluska asked.
"This is the process," Gans said. "I literally got told by FEMA to stop emailing. I was crying every day for a month after the storm, because I can't do anything. I literally can't, but I'm calling FEMA, trying to get through FEMA, and I'm just getting we're 'reviewing it…. we're reviewing it."
Rebholz said she is frustrated with the process but knows it is there for a reason, and if she doesn't follow the rules, the citizens of St. Pete will suffer.
"We can't lose FEMA's backing, and as hard as it is to give people the bad news, we still have to do it, and in turn, it will be a safer city," Rebholz said. "This isn't going away. These storms are not going to get smaller. They're not going to get less frequent. It's this problem is not going to go away. People need to realize that our end goal is to elevate homes. We need to get the homes out of harm's way, and in turn, we can start raising streets and garages and stopping the flooding on high tide as well as storms."
While Gans is lucky, she is also unlucky to have been flooded four times in four years. Another downside of her funding is that it is a reimbursement program, and Gans will have to make a substantial downpayment with her own money before the process can start. For now, Gans has come to terms with where her life is now and is just looking for the light at the end of the tunnel.
"How will you feel once you're in here and it's elevated and done? Have you thought about the emotion?" Paluska asked.
"Oh, I have thought about it a lot. I have pictured it, and I have been dancing and laughing, and I have been with my friends around. It's perfect. It feels amazing. It feels great."
At this point, it could still be a year or more before she is back home.
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