New Orleans family relocates to Daniel Island

It is one of the more pungent reminders of all that Brandon, her husband, Andy, and their two sons left behind when they fled their one-story home in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana to escape Hurricane Katrina. Brandon’s purse and a few other salvaged household goods are now taking up residence with the rest of the Breaux family in the Daniel Island townhome they are renting. The family settled in the Lowcountry after spending more than two weeks traveling in multiple states. They were drawn to Daniel Island by their good friends, Lynn and Chris Cobb, also Island residents, and the prospect of work for their property investment and renovation business.

"At the moment, we can’t live in our home down there," said Brandon, "and we can’t really work in the (New Orleans) area because nothing is back up to speed yet, so Daniel Island seemed like a great option for us. Our plan is to stay here at least until the end of the school year, maybe even another year or two, until we can either renovate or rebuild our house."

Even after everything they’ve been through, Brandon said it’s sometimes hard not to shake the feeling that they’re "on vacation" and will soon be returning back home. It still seems like just yesterday they packed up their things and headed out for what they thought would be just a few days. Mother Nature, of course, had other plans for the Breaux’s and hundreds of thousands of others.

Many of us thought it would be like Hurricane Ivan last year," said Brandon. "We evacuated and came back two to three days later. A few leaves were missing from our trees, but that’s about it."

It was just a little more than two months ago, on Saturday, Aug. 27, when Brandon remembers turning her attention to an ominous looking storm brewing in the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Katrina was forecast to take a slight turn away from New Orleans, but it didn’t appear to be changing course.

"All of a sudden people were like, wait a minute, this storm isn’t turning," she remembered. "And that it was not just any kind of storm…but the worst-case-scenario storm."

Both Brandon and Andy sprang into action securing their home and preparing to evacuate. Andy worked on the outside of the home, grounding things that could become like "missiles" in the wind, while Brandon focused on matters inside.

"I tried to pack what was most important," said Brandon. "I took pictures out of frames on the walls, and gathered clothing and other necessities…I also made sure to lift as much as I could off the floor and onto higher surfaces in the house."

***image4***One of the most helpful things Brandon packed was an "Emergency File" containing hard copies of all the family’s insurance policies, bank statements with account numbers and contacts, credit card account information, social security cards, and other pertinent documents (see sidebar for more details on what to include in an "Emergency File"). She had no idea then how critical that file would become to her family in the coming weeks.

"I think if you live in a vulnerable place to natural disasters, it’s also a good idea to take all of your important papers and make copies of them, seal them up and mail them off to a family member and ask them to save it for you. That way if something happens to your file, there is always another copy out there."

Putting photo negatives into a three-ring binder as you develop pictures, or copying photos to a disk, is another suggestion Brandon has for future evacuees. "That way you can just grab your notebook of negatives (and file disks) and go," she said. "You basically just take what you have time to gather."

There were other lessons learned. Brandon wishes she had taken the time to put large cups under the legs of tables and chairs to protect them from water. If a small amount of water comes into the house, furniture would at least be somewhat protected. She also didn’t pack the children’s immunization records, documents required in most states before enrollment in school. Not having them, she adds, sometimes means the children need to be completely re-immunized. Taking food out of the refrigerator is another thing she didn’t do. A friend later suggested burying items like meat or fish in the ground outside to avoid the stench associated with rotting food.

"You definitely do things differently if you have to get out really fast," Brandon added. "Planning ahead is really important."

Brandon and her family were as prepared as they were going to be. So early that Saturday evening, the same day they decided to evacuate, they headed north to Baton Rouge to stay with friends.

"It was 6:37 p.m. when we drove out," she recalled. "And I wondered if (we) would ever see that house again."

The next day they traveled to Palestine, Texas, along with Andy’s family. While they were there, in near-perfect weather, they watched the television news as Katrina bore down on their community.

"It was a very powerless, strange feeling," Brandon said. "It’s also very surreal. It was hitting where we lived, and you think about all the people who stayed."

From Palestine, they headed to Houston, where they were able to get a hotel room with two bedrooms and a kitchen. It was there that they first heard about the now infamous "water after the storm" in New Orleans. Still not knowing about the fate of their neighborhood, they headed to Lake Charles, La., where they would be only three hours from home. They soon got word that residents of Jefferson Parish could return to their homes for a few days and then would be "locked out" again for two weeks. When they finally got to their house, some nine days after they left, the exterior seemed relatively unscathed. But, as Brandon said, that was not the case inside.

***image2***"You walk in and you know immediately that something isn’t right," said Brandon. "The carpets looked darker than you remember and when you step on them they squish. You can smell everything and see a water line on the walls."

Indeed the water had subsided but it had clearly left its mark. Although the breeched levees in and around New Orleans did not reach the Breaux’s home, located just about a half of a mile from the Mississippi River, they suspect the storm drain water did.

"We think when they evacuated Jefferson Parish, the service personnel who run the pumps left too," Brandon said. "Debris from high winds probably caused the drains to become clogged, and with no pumps operational, the water had nowhere to go."

The Breaux family was lucky. The water was anywhere from 3" deep to one foot in their house, much lower than in other more devastated areas, but high enough to cause significant damage to their home and its furnishings.

After leaving their home, they stopped in Montgomery, Ala. and then headed for a pre-planned trip to Hilton Head for a few days. From there, they made their way to Daniel Island, where a furnished townhome owned by Daniel Island Real Estate Agent Brenda Cook was waiting. Inside, Angie Johnson, also of Daniel Island Real Estate, had left a welcome basket full of treats and gift certificates to local businesses. The Breaux’s friends, the Cobbs, provided linens for the family, office supplies, a stocked refrigerator and toys for the children.

"It is just a great illustration of how wonderful everyone has been to us on Daniel Island," said Brandon.

That welcoming spirit would help ease the frustrations of trying to piece together a plan for the future while navigating through an insurance abyss, the depths of which they had not experienced before.

"We were in a house that was built before flood codes," said Brandon. "That’s our biggest dilemma right now. Do we renovate a house that sits on the ground and will potentially go through this again? Or do we take the house down and build something else that is higher up? I think knowing what your insurance policy covers is really important."

The insurance issue has probably been the Breaux’s biggest source of frustration. The damage to their home has been dubbed a "flood event" and not a "wind-driven’ event. That means their homeowner’s insurance policy will not cover additional living expenses associated with them being out of their home (i.e. rent, hotel bills, food, etc.) While their flood policy, a national government-sponsored program, does provide up to $250,000 in damages due to water in the home, it does not cover any additional living expenses.

"I tend to disagree that our home was not damaged by a wind-driven event," said Brandon. "Although we didn’t have water from Lake Pontchartrain rising into our home, we did have storm-drain water. The pumps were not working properly because of the hurricane…I think there may be some movement to change (the policy) on that."

Daniel Island-based insurance agent Rick Iriart agrees it is a frustrating reality for many homeowners who find themselves in that situation.

"A flood policy is underwritten by the government," explains Iriart of State Farm Insurance on River Landing Drive. "It is designed to be a disaster relief policy, so it doesn’t really have the same bells and whistles your homeowners policy would have. Unfortunately, there is currently no way to purchase a policy that provides for additional living expenses (due to flood damage). You basically have to just set aside money for those extra expenses."

There is also a "hurricane deductible" to consider, added Iriart. For example, if your home is insured for $300,000 and you have a 5 percent hurricane deductible, that amounts to $15,000 you need to pay out-of-pocket before your benefits kick in.

For the Breaux family, there have been other avenues of emergency assistance. They did receive initial help from FEMA, but have been unable to get additional funding. Still, Brandon is quick to point out that their family is very fortunate.

"There are so many people who desperately need help," she added. "We know people who had a terrible experience (with damage). When you put it into perspective, we were extremely lucky."

Despite that good luck, the bills continue to mount for the Breaux family with their both their former business and income on hold. They plan to submit letters to FEMA from their insurance adjusters saying "additional living expenses" will not be covered by their current homeowner’s policy, in hopes FEMA can provide more assistance.

"It’s a very strange process to go through," she said. "It’s like your life has been thrown into a bag and shaken up…You just have to be persistent, keep calling, keep asking questions, and keep pushing it."

Another great tip Brandon has for those in hurricane-prone areas like Daniel Island is to keep a "Disaster Journal" after the storm to organize the details of your recovery. In it, she continues to document all of the phone conversations she has with insurance agents, banks, FEMA, etc. That way, she says, if there is ever a discrepancy she can quickly refer to her notes.

She also points out that if and when you receive help from your insurance company, you have to keep in mind that the money technically belongs to both you and your mortgage company (if you still owe money on your home and do not own it outright).

"When a disaster happens," said Brandon, "your financial obligations don’t go away. You still owe your monthly payments for things like your mortgage, health insurance, credit cards and even some utilities. Generally most companies are willing to defer and give you time to come up with a plan, but those payments don’t disappear."

To help keep track of expenses, Brandon and Andy have worked hard to save all of their post-hurricane receipts. On a recent return trip to Jefferson Parish, they took pictures of the damage in their home so they could submit both before and after pictures to their insurance company. In an interesting insurance coverage twist, their refrigerator itself is covered by their flood policy (because it was damaged by water), but the contents are covered by their homeowner’s policy (due to lack of electricity in the home).

While issues like that keep things somewhat confusing, the Breaux family seems to be weathering the transition fairly well. Life in the Lowcountry is starting to feel a bit more "normal." The kids are each enrolled in local schools, Graydon at First Baptist Church School in Mt. Pleasant and Matthew at Daniel Island Academy, and they are considering purchasing a home on Daniel Island.

Although Brandon claims she can still "smell her house" in her purse, the scent is beginning to fade a bit. In time, so too will the memories of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation. For now, the Breauxs are happy to be on Daniel Island, a place they say has been incredibly welcoming and supportive.

"It’s certainly not a hardship to be here," added Brandon with a smile. "It’s a lovely area with really nice people and everything we could possibly need."