They have you, and it's hard to do anything about it.

About all that flood insurance most people who got flooded didn't have.

Turns out, even those who had flood insurance are being denied.

You see, if it's a backwater flood, the insurance doesn't have to pay out.  You have to be able to prove you had water before the river crested and the pooling caused the water to flow back.  Only flash floods, storm surges, or burst pipes are covered under most flood insurance.

They have you any way you go, this insurance industry.

One lady who was denied is an attorney, and she is documenting that she had water in her house early enough that it does count as a flash flood, so she will probably win out.  Those who don't know to fight, or who didn't flood until after the rain stopped, may have been paying those premiums all of those years in vain.

It makes me sick and angry to think about.

If you have flood insurance, check to make sure they can't deny you on a backwater flood, and change it if you have to.  It will cost you more, but it will be worth it if the worst happens.

This is as bad as when the insurance industry managed to not pay out for storm surges brought by hurricanes, having them reclassified as floods all of a sudden.  Really?  The water a hurricane pushes onto the shore isn't part of the hurricane?  It's a separate flood you have to cover with separate insurance?

It didn't used to be that way.  Nor did you have a "named storm deductible" like now.  At least this wasn't a named storm, if you have flood insurance that will cover it, they can't make you pay the extra deductible.

A friend of mine, the one i will be going to see in September when i go on my yearly sanity retreat, was recently told she and her husband needed a new A/C unit, and that the home warranty wouldn't cover it.  When i told them to fight it, and ask about the buy out at least, her husband read them paragraphs of their own documents and it will be covered.

Read your policies, know what they cover, and if you want more covered, know you will pay extra for it but it might come in handy.

In better news, my yearly sanity retreat is coming up.  DiDreaming and Dayeanu will drive here, and from here we will go to San Antonio to meet up with Grace and a few others.  We are still hoping Little_Ninja, will be there, so we will have music.

Today is:

Black Ribbon Day -- Estonia; Latvia; Lithuania

European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism -- European Union

Flag Day -- Ukraine

Great Feast of the Netjeru (all gods and goddesses) -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Health Unit Coordinator Day -- US National Association of Health Unit Coordinators Inc.

International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition

National Spongecake Day

Nemeseia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (local festival to the goddess Nemesis, date approximate)

Ride the Wind Day -- internet generated, a day to get out and ride with the wind in your hair, in whatever transport you choose, or fly a kite

Sento Kuyo -- Nenbutsu-Ji Temple, Adashino, Kyoto, Japan (memorial service for graves that no longer have families to tend them; through tomorrow)

St. Eoghan's Day (Patron of Derry, Ireland)

St. Rose of Lima's Day (Patron of embroiderers, florists, gardeners, needle workers, people ridiculed for piety; The Americas/The New World, especially Central and South America, Latin America, Peru, and the West Indies; Lima, Peru; Philippines, Santa Rosa, CA, US; Villareal Samar, Philippines; against vanity)

Tvimanuor -- Traditional Icelandic Calendar (the name means "Double Month", and the origin is uncertain; perhaps because winter is coming and it's time to double up on the preparations)

Valentino Memorial Service -- Hollywood Cathedral Museum, Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Los Angeles, CA, US (annually since 1927, a memorial service celebrating Rudolph Valentino on the anniversary of his death)

Vertumnalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (in honor of Vertumnus and Pomona)

Vulcanalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (festival to the god of fire)


Birthdays Today:

Kobe Bryant, 1978
Jay Mohr, 1970
River Phoenix, 1970
Queen Noor of Jordan, 1951
Rick Springfield, 1949
Shelley Long, 1949
Antonia Novello, 1944
Patricia McBride, 1942
Richard Sanders, 1940
Tony Bill, 1940
Barbara Eden, 1934
Sonny Jurgensen, 1934
Mark Russel, 1932
Vera Miles, 1930
Gene Kelly, 1912
Edgar Lee Masters, 1868
Navy Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, 1785
Louis XVI, 1754


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"She Loves You"(Beatles single release date), 1963
"The Bat"(Mystery play), 1930
"Gasoline Alley"(as a daily comic strip), 1919


Today in History:

On the feast of Vulcan, Roman god of fire, Mt. Vesuvius begins to rumble, 79
Visigoths storm Rome, 410
Edward I executes William Wallace, Scottish patriot, for high treason, 1305
French explorer Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec City in his third voyage to Canada, 1541
Rabbi Joseph Caro completes his commentary of Tur Code, 1542
The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of Huguenots in Paris begins, 1572
The first one-way streets open in London, 1617
Steamship service begins on the Great Lakes, 1818
Great Britain abolishes slavery in the colonies, 700,000 slaves are freed, 1833
Automobile tire chain is patented, 1904
The World Council of Churches is formed, 1948
Lunar Orbiter I takes the first picture of Earth from the Moon's orbit, 1966
Bryan Allan, in a Gossamer Condor, completes the first man-powered flight of one mile, 1977
Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defects to the US, 1979
Hans Tiedge, top counter-spy of West Germany, defects to East Germany, 1985
Hungary opens the Iron Curtain and allows thousands of East Germans through to West Germany, 1989
West Germany and East Germany announce that they will unite on Oct. 3, 1990
The remains of Anastasia and Alexei, rumored to have survived the 1917 assassination of the Russian Czar and his family, are found, 2007
Heavy winds knock down the Anne Frank tree in Amsterdam, breaking off approximately one meter above the ground, 2010
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown, 2011
Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner, announces he will not contest the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency charges of doping, a result of which will include being stripped of all of his tour de France victories, 2012
Libya's ruins of Cyrene, a World Heritage Site near Shahhat, is damaged by real estate developers, 2013