Congress visits Katrina ravaged Mississippi Coast

If what has been done to homeowners after Hurricane Katrina is criminal, then Pass Christian and Bay St. Louis would easily qualify as crime scenes.

It was into those communities that Coast Congressman Gene Taylor led more than a dozen of his congressional colleagues this week, including the most powerful of them all - Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Read the rest in The Sun Herald.

Luckily we had no problems with our insurance. We live north of the interstate and all our (slight) damage was due to wind.

From Daily Kos

A Breath Of Fresh Air In Post-Katrina Mississippi
by Ana Maria

Today’s a big day in Mississippi. While there are plenty of contested local races throughout the state—particularly on the Republican side, the insurance commissioner is the most important statewide race because it impacts every individual, family, community, and every form of government inside the state.

Here on the coast, electing Gary Anderson as the Democratic nominee and booting out George Dale from office would clearly send more than a few ripples of joy throughout the Katrina-ravaged region. You see, the insurance crisis impacts so many things that most of us—myself included—just don’t think about until it is pointed out.

Read the rest of Ana Maria's diary here.

As a resident of the Mississippi Gulf Coast I can't describe my disgust with George Dale or my relief that he will no longer be overseeing the insurance industry in Mississippi You can also read Ana Maria's post at A.M. in the Morning!

Government control wrong way to go

While the rest of the developed world is seeking privatization and competition, many U.S. leaders persist in pinning their hopes on more mandates and more government control of our medical care.

Read the rest in The Sun Herald.

Does the Jackson County School Board know something the rest of us don't?

The uniformed enslaved Jackson County Schools spent $4,500 on insurance for damage done by foreign terrorists.

Approval was given to pay $4,500 for insurance on the district's modular buildings at a Board meeting Tuesday. That's pretty routine except in this case the insurance only covers damage by foreign terrorists. The insurance doesn't cover damage that might occur at the hands of domestic terrorists like the Oklahoma City bombers.

I knew the Jackson County School Board lacked common sense when they refused to provide an opt-out of the mandatory public school uniform policy even though parents sued them, but to spend $4,500 for insurance against foreign terrorist? I can only echo The Mississippi Press' sentiments.

In the terms of school district budgets, $4,500 is a mere drop in the bucket. On the other hand, the $4,500 in expenses add up pretty darn quick. The money would have been better spent in the classrooms rather than a far fetched threat.

Lott will testify against insurance immunity

Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott, R-Miss., will make a high-profile appearance Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify against the insurance industry's antitrust immunity.

Read more in the Sun Herald.

Alasandra's Observations on Katrina

At the time I didn't post anything. By the time I finally had Internet access and the time to sit down and write there were dozens of blogs on Katrina and I didn't really feel I could contribute anything.

We were LUCKY, unfortunately many others were not.

We evacuated to Meridian which is in Central Mississippi for those of you unfamiliar with the state. My biggest complaint is that Mississippi Power choose to cut power before the Hurricane even hit, without informing their customers. If they had bothered to inform their customers that power all over Meridian was going OFF at a specific time we could have had our meals cooked, water gathered and our generators hooked up. As it was their customers naively believed that the power would be back on in a few minutes as nothing had happened as yet to cause a power outage.

My parents were able to hook their generator up the next day. They assumed the power would be on soon, so they were just using it to keep the food in the refrigerator & freezer from spoiling. We had no lights, no air conditioner, no computer, no TV, no stove, no phone and no HOT water and by this time the local radio stations had gone down so we had no news of the outside world, except when we got in my car and listened to XM Radio. Anything we ate had to be cooked on the grill outside or eaten uncooked. And thanks to an inconsiderate neighbor we were stuck inside the house with the windows closed, so it was like an oven. I have asthma which is triggered by smoke, my Mother is allergic to poison ivy and if anyone burns poison ivy and she smells the smoke her throat will close and she has to be rushed to the hospital for a shot. This neighbor insisted on burning debris that contained poison ivy and caused a lot of smoke keeping us cooped up inside. My parents didn't want to say anything to him because he is a friend of theirs.

As you can imagine we were anxious to know how our home fared so Hubby came down to see. He of course had no way to contact me or anyone else. Luckily our home fared well and he came back that night to tell me. By this time parts of Meridian had power. I will be forever grateful to my Aunt for inviting me to come over and take a bath (My parents didn't get power restored until much later). We left the next day for home.

Hubby hooked up the generator so we could run the refrigerator and ceiling fans. With the windows open it was comfortable. Jackson County sensibly enacted a burn ban, it's a pity Lauderdale County (where my parents live) didn't. We have well water so if we needed water Bo had to unhook the refrigerator and ceiling fans and hook up the well. Hot water had to be heated on the propane stove we had for camping. Restocking food was a problem as the grocery stores were out of nearly everything and very few deliveries were being made. Gas to run the generators was also scarce at first.

I was impressed with our local State Farm agent. They were open even though many of the agents had damage to their own homes. They attempted to make their customers comfortable while they waited to file claims, cool bottled water was being provided (this probably doesn't sound like much to most of you but at the time cool bottled water was a LUXURY). The agents were working hard to process claims in a timely manner, our claim was taken and we were told an adjuster would be out soon. We asked to be made a low priority as our home was livable (minor roof damage Hubby was able to patch until we could get it fixed) and we knew that many other customers did not have homes anymore. Eventually an adjuster came out. He had been flown in from San Diego and was living in a "State Farm" park in Mobile, Alabama as there was no where in Mississippi for them to stay. As all our damage was caused by WIND we had no problems with our claim.

For us life went back to normal fairly quickly once the power was restored. I will be forever impressed by the people that reached out to help and how the people of our community came together to help one another. Many other residents of the Mississippi Gulf Coast are still feeling the effects of Katrina, please keep them in your thoughts.

How Could They Be So Wrong?

PolitiCalypso posted Insurance Industry Issues Veiled Threat to the Gulf Coast at DailyKos. Some of the comments were infuriating to say the least.

Yes, State Farm made some serious mistakes in handling their Mississippi and Louisiana claims, but folks who live in hurricane zones need to pay for the risk that they incur by being there. Nothing that Mississippi does will stop costs from going up unless they manage to milk federal taxpayers for it a la flood insurance.
Single payer universal healthcare coverage saves money and saves lives.


The residents of Mississippi are not trying to "milk" federal taxpayers. BTW we are federal taxpayers too.


but i personally don't think that is what happened here. anyway, glad to know you don't think someone has the right to be further subsidized for a beachfront home in hurricane alley.
by essexgreen on Thu Feb 15, 2007 at 09:02:29 AM PST

MANY of the people who lost homes to Hurricane Katrina didn't live anywhere near the BEACH.


i support state farm here (0 / 0)
the claims for "tornado damage" (despite no doppler radar confirmation whatsoever of any tornadoes) were, in my opinion, an attempt to garner coverage for hurricane damage for folks who chose not to have hurricane insurance. in my opinion, these claims represent yet more of a stream of subsidies of the gulf coast by folks who don't live there. they keep building houses there and keep refusing to buy expensive hurricane insurance and keep relying on "friendly" juries to bail them out.
when Mississippi wants to play fair, namely to pay for the coverage its juries will ex post facto claim they have, then the companies will come back. and that's proper.
by essexgreen on Thu Feb 15, 2007 at 08:57:16 AM PST


I live on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and I don't know of anyone who refused to buy Hurricane Insurance (in fact I doubt you could get a mortgage without Hurricane Insurance). Many people were told they didn't NEED flood insurance because their home was NOT in a flood plain. They had Hurricane Insurance, they paid their PREIUMS in FULL and on TIME. Then a Hurricane comes along and the storm surge from the Hurricane destroys their home and the insurance companies come along and say oops sorry that's not covered. And MANY of these people did not live near the beach.

well (0 / 0)
the reason there are separate policies for P&C and for flooding is they are different, and clearly stated as such. if you want to insure your home against storm surge then you also buy flood insurance. everyone in Mississippi knew this. they also seemed to "know" that they could "get" by force the coverage for free.
the plaintiff's lawyer here was trent lott's brother. lott abused the powers of his office to threaten a vendeetta against state farm, leading to the settlement. you have trent lott to thank for his.
by essexgreen on Thu Feb 15, 2007 at 09:26:05 AM PST

Everyone in Mississippi did NOT know this. I really hope ESSEXGREEN reads this. MANY people were told by their insurance agents that they didn't need flood insurance because they DID NOT live in a flood plain. They also didn't live on the BEACH or in MacMasions, they lived in low to middle income housing and were regular working class families.

One of my friends whose husband is in the military owned a home in a middle income subdivision no where near the beach. They were told they didn't need flood insurance because their house was not in a flood plain. There was nothing but a slab left where their home used to be due to the storm surge. They struggled to make mortgage payments on a slab with no help from their insurance even though they had paid their premiums because the insurance company insisted that ALL the damage was due to the storm surge, and sorry but the storm surge wasn't covered under their Hurricane Insurance (which they did have). They are trying to sell their home now as he was transferred, I can only imagine the nightmare that will be if the Insurance Companies refuse to write new policies.