The residents of the Genesis II Apartment complex in the city of Mullins faced a tough situation when a sudden storm flooded their homes in early November. South Carolina Public Radio’s Laura Hunsberger explores what happened and what help is available for residents who experience flooding beyond the major October storm.
A little more than 500 square feet, each apartment is home to a senior resident.
Barbara Sellers has lived at the Genesis II Apartment complex in the city of Mullins for 6 years. Genesis II is a community for low-income seniors, subsidized by HUD, or the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Barbara says they were thankful when they got through the October floods without damage, but they never expected what happened just one month later. On November 4, as a heavy rain fell on Mullins, a neighbor told her they had to evacuate. South Carolina Public Radio’s Laura Hunsberger has the story.
An earlier version of this story stated that the window for damage from the October Floods was October 3 – 23. It has been correcte d to October 1 – 23.
Understanding FEMA’s Role
- According to the Robert T. Stafford Act (hyperlink: https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1383153669955-21f970b19e8eaa67087b7da9f4af706e/stafford_act_booklet_042213_508e.pdf), there must be at least 100 uninsured homes or business that have been totally destroyed or have major damage for FEMA to get involved.
- The Small Business Administration can get involved if at least 25 homes or businesses have major damage.
- The incident period for the Disaster Declaration pertaining to the October floods is October 1 – 23, 2015. Any damage that happens after that has to be considered separately and must again meet the minimum criteria for FEMA to get involved.
- This applies both to situations like the flood in Mullins (where they had little to no damage during the October event) and to recurrent flooding (where a property already impacted during the October floods has additional damage due to new flooding).
- However, “if you’ve received federal assistance, you have a case number [and] you’ve already registered, your case can still be ongoing. So it’s worth it to call and ask the questions and have that discussion with an individual assistance coordinator.” (Derrec Becker, SCEMD)
- Where FEMA cannot help, officials hope non-profit and volunteer agencies will step in.
- For help (or to offer help), call 211 or visit http://www.sc211.org/
Update (3/2/16): On March 1, the residents of the Genesis II Apartments were able to move back into their homes. Thanks to donations and funds raised on their behalf, the residents were all provided with furniture, small appliances, and other home essentials to get started in their newly renovated apartments.
Dawn Hall, Regional Property Manager, shared this about move-in day: “What could have been a very stressful time for our residents ended up being a very joyous occasion. Furniture Services even sent helpers to assemble furniture and unpack boxes, put away kitchen items and “stage” apartments!
Lisabeth Medlock with Flood Hub worked tirelessly to line up complete move-in packages at an affordable rate (entirely paid for with donations) so our residents would be able to come back home with no stress… Lena Graves, our Service Coordinator out of Lakeside, was the driving force behind finding and working with Flood Hub and Palmetto Project, another outside entity that reached out and procured several monetary donations.”
For information about Palmetto Project and Flood Hub visit: http://palmettoproject.org/