Ken Newton/St. Joseph News-Press
The northern wall of Larry Moore’s basement features temporary supports and plastic sheeting, the result of a repair project cut short at the Amity, Mo., house.
AMITY, Mo. — The thermometer on a basement post measures Larry Moore’s problem. Its mercury touches 38 degrees. Outdoors, the temperature registers about 30.
He crosses to the north side of the cellar and pulls aside some insulation and other materials. Daylight shows where a wall should stand. Cold air trails inside.
The federal government needs to answer for this, Mr. Moore believes.
President Bush signed a disaster declaration for DeKalb County after storms battered Northwest Missouri in early May 2007. Federal Emergency Management Agency officials approved money for repairs to Mr. Moore’s home in Amity. Following FEMA instructions, he submitted work estimates from two licensed contractors and opened a bank account to take in the funds.
The low bid came in at $19,291. FEMA money came into the account at Independent Farmers Bank in nearby Maysville, the balance touching $10,998 on Feb. 11.
Repair work commenced. Then, deposits into the account stopped. The contractor worked until the money ran out.
A hole in the wall remains.
Now Mr. Moore, 60, widowed and living on disability checks, can see his breath in the basement. During wet periods, he watches water flood onto the concrete around his furnace. With an exterior door suddenly out of square, the man fears his house of 22 years has shifted on its foundation.
Joined in a bureaucratic fight, Mr. Moore wants to know why only part of his storm-caused damage got funded.
“I don’t want them to come out here and tear my house completely down and rebuild a new home,” he said. “I just don’t want it falling in.”
The severe storms of 19 months ago left 17 counties eligible for FEMA assistance to individuals and households. By August 2007, the federal agency had approved $5.22 million in disaster aid. More than 900 residents registered for help.
Mr. Moore got approval for aid on Dec. 11, having applied after the deadline but getting a waiver from the agency. A FEMA inspector came to his home on Dec. 31, walked through the house, measuring and making notes on a laptop computer.
Faced with a job estimate topping $19,000, Mr. Moore got an initial FEMA grant of $8,283 for home repairs plus $446 for rent assistance. He appealed. FEMA then sent another $2,268 for repairs, including a note, “Our inspector identified deferred maintenance which is not disaster related as a cause for the remainder of your damages.”
Mr. Moore again appealed.
The offices of U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond and Rep. Sam Graves wrote letters on Mr. Moore’s behalf, though to no positive outcome. The office of his state representative, Jim Guest, continues to push FEMA for some resolution.
Louise Diender, Mr. Guest’s chief of staff, said the required submission of project bids implies FEMA intended to pay for all repairs.
“Suddenly, they changed their mind and they already had it opened. That does say the government is culpable for that,” she said. “The house is imploding because of them.”
Josh deBerge, who works for FEMA’s regional office in Kansas City, said privacy regulations prevent him from speaking about specific cases. However, he said the agency acts in individual assistance cases to return houses to a state of habitability.
“That’s our goal,” he said. “It’s not to bring it back to pre-disaster condition.”
Whether because of miscommunication or missed steps in the bureaucratic process, a hole continues to allow cold air into the Moore basement. As temperatures dropped, water pipes froze and the constantly running furnace played out. A wood stove provides the only heat.
Mr. Moore sifts through a plastic box that contains documents, pictures, receipts and correspondence from his FEMA interaction.
“I’m not a smart man, but I do know that right’s right and wrong’s wrong. And this is wrong,” he said.
Ken Newton can be reached
at kenn@npgco.com.