The heartbreaking reality of Hurricane Harvey is setting in for Texans who have returned home to find all of their belongings destroyed by the storm.
House by house, they are tossing their ruined belongings in to the street to be taken away. Where just days ago lay up to 5ft of water now stand rows of battered furniture, clothes and precious personal items, all of which have been taken to pieces.
Footage of just a few streets in Dickinson, a suburb in southwest Houston with around 18,000 residents, paint a devastating picture. It is among the worst affected areas of the city.
Eventually, the rain stopped and the storm moved on to Beaumont, Lake Charles and Port Arthur. Those areas are still at the mercy of the floods.
In Beaumont, the failure of water plants has left the entire city without clean, running water. They are still relying on bottled water and cannot bathe.
The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in Dickinson, Texas, on Saturday where residents are now going through the painstaking and devastating chore of tossing out their ruined belongings
There are also fears the nearby Netches river, which swelled under heavy rainfall, could lead to yet more flooding.
To pile on to their trauma of residents who have already been forced to flee their homes, many now face the daunting prospect of battling with insurance companies to replace their belongings.
More than 400,000 households have already applied for FEMA aid and tens of millions of dollars have been doled out to them.
The issue of receiving private insurance claims is separate and is sure to be more complex.
Some residents started filing their complaints before the rain had even stopped because they were so eager to get to the front of the line, insurance experts in Houston told NPR.
‘They filed claims before they evacuated. So they actually have no idea if there’s damage or not. They just wanted to be at the front end of the curve,’ Joel Moore, an independent insurance adjuster, said.
Only around 20 percent of the homes in areas which were hit by Harvey have flood insurance, the Consumer Federation of America estimated this week.
These are the scenes in Dickinson, Texas, in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Residents who have returned home by the floods it created must now go through the painstaking task of throwing out their damaged belongings and wait for them to be collected
FEMA will be collecting the damaged property of residents whose homes were affected by the floods. Above, one home in Lakewood Forest in northwest Houston
Another pile of destroyed belongings in Lakewood Forest, Texas, where many homes were affected by the floods. The area is now dry
Juan Banda removes damaged goods from a home in Houston on September 2. Residents are helping each other with the clean up from the devastating hurricane
Tibisay Vegas cleans out her car in Houston, Texas, on Saturday after returning home after the floods
The damage inside Dwight Chandler’s house in Highlands, Texas. The water level rose to chest height, ruining his walls, floors and furniture
Joseph Boutte gives a remarkable smile as he surveys the damage in his home in Houston on Saturday
Behind the piles of damage, residents hung Texas flags on their garage doors
A church volunteer works to remove Hurricane Harvey flood damage from a home in Houston
Amy Carbo and John Carbo remove ruined belongings from their home in Corpus Christi on Saturday
A home in Houston over the weekend where residents have begun tossing out their trashed belongings
It leaves an enormous amount of people stuck with the cost of replacing and fixing their homes.
There had been concerns that a change in insurance laws which was due to come in to place last week, in the middle of the hurricane, would also make it more difficult for people to claim back money.
Governor Abbott assured Texans that this was not the case last week as he gave updates on the storm.
Part of the insurance claims process will see smaller, catastrophe specialists tour homes in affected regions to determine the claims.
The experts sit idle for most of their careers until a natural disaster strikes. Then, they work long days touring the homes of those affected and are sternly warned by bosses to be sympathetic.
‘How would you feel if you were in the same situation? You need to slow down, shut up, let them vent, let them cry, tell them you’re sorry, and if you’re not sorry you need to get out of the business,’ Moore said.
There are other fears that inexperienced insurance brokers may not have put together the right plans for those who do have policies before the storm hit, meaning a simple mistake in the paperwork may render some of policies useless.
It was an issue which hampered thousands of claims after Hurricane Sandy. FEMA eventually reopened thousands of those claims and dished out money as a result.
‘There’s much stronger awareness that FEMA has made, and much stronger points that FEMA has made with insurance companies to try and ensure that the consumer’s treated appropriately and fairly,’ Don Griffin of the Property Casualty Insurers Association said.
In other areas of Texas including Port Arthur, the flood water remains. Above a woman moves through the water on Friday
Larry Koser Jr. canoes through his home in Houston on August 29 when floods were at their worst. Homeowners must now go through the dreaded process of filing insurance claims for their damaged goods