Homeowners without flood insurance left hopeless after storm
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One neighborhood near Nellis and Sahara looks like a scene out of New Orleans with cars washed up on sidewalks and huge sinkholes where other sidewalks once were. Chief Investigator Darcy Spears talked to families who say they've only just begun to d Video by ktnv.com
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Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) - One neighborhood near Nellis and Sahara looks like a scene out of New Orleans with cars washed up on sidewalks and huge sinkholes where other sidewalks once were. Chief Investigator Darcy Spears talked to families who say they've only just begun to dig out from disaster.
They'll have to reach into their own wallets because none of the people we talked to have flood insurance. They say they were told by insurers that they didn't need it because they don't live in a flood zone.
Kim Ziska's three dogs drowned in the flooding and she thinks their bodies are amid the debris under her storage shed.
"They are afraid of water. They were hiding," said Kim.
She can't get to them and says she can't even get inside her house to begin the mammoth task of cleaning up.
"I will be living in the mud and the carpet full of mud I don't know how to do. I need help," explained Kim.
She recently lost her husband and her job and says she can't afford what it will take to fix everything.
"We want to prevent before but they say you are not in flood zone so they don't allow that we have flood insurance. That's disaster now," said Kim.
People in that location need insurance for more than their homes. A car our cameras found does not belong to the people who live in the house where it is near. Clean up crews say it washed from around the corner,came down the street and finally the water laid it to rest in the neighbor's yard.
None of the neighbors Action News talked to had flood insurance. A former official with the Regional Flood Control District says homeowners were warned to get flood insurance after construction of the Arroyo Trails and the walking paths adjacent to the golf course. Everyone Action News talked to said insurers wouldn't sell it to them.
"They said we didn't need it. That's what they said. Everyone you talk to on the block will tell you the same thing, they said it wasn't a flood area," said William DeFalco.
If that area does get designated a flood zone, it's too late for the people living there now. They'll be relying on the many agencies that were out there to give what help they can.
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