Tornado victims unable to get permits to rebuild their homes

NewsChannel4 KFOR ^ | 6/26/2013 | Adam Mertz

[blueyon]

Tornado victims unable to get permits to rebuild their homes

Posted on: 10:59 pm, June 26, 2013, by Adam Mertz

OKLAHOMA CITY- Some tornado victims, who lost their homes, fear that they may not be able to re-build. Rhonda Northcutt said she is unable to get a building permit from the city because of where her home was located before it was destroyed.

“It is just unimaginable that I have to go to bed at night thinking that I even have to deal with this,” Northcutt said.

Northcutt and her neighbor Jennifer Wisooker live in a neighborhood near May and SW 149th street. Their homes were destroyed by the May 20th tornado.

According to the city, there are homes in the neighborhood that are located in an area designated as a flood way. The city said it is unable to give permits to build new homes in these types of areas because of FEMA requirements. Even though their homes were there before the storm, Wisooker and Northcutt might not be able to re-build.

[zeugma]

Basically, you are stuck with RV parking or some single-wide trailer. Although I do agree...when the idiots of the city agreed in the first place to allow real estate development on a flood plain...they opened up the door themselves.

It wasn't necessarily a floodplain when they initially built on it. Company I used to work for made lots of money because the government was constantly changing what is, and is not "floodplain".

[CodeToad]

Sounds like the government took their lands and owes them.

[D Rider]

FEMA had water backing up hill on our river property 40’ over the 100 year flood stage elevation.

Yes, the original Maps were intended to be modified through a simple inexpensive process. But... nothing is simple or inexpensive once the bureaucracy settles in. Now those flood limit lines might as well be etched onto stone tablets.

[ncpatriot]

Is there a logical reason for requiring a building permit?

Also I was told a person cannot log their own lumber (from their property) to build a house...u have to buy lumber at a place like Lowe’s Hardware. What is the reasoning for this?

so many things the govt does that does not make sense to me.

[Mad Dawgg]

Give the Gub’ment power over something and they WILL destroy it!

[kiryandil]

Rhonda Northcutt said she is unable to get a building permit from the city because of where her home was located before it was destroyed.

Uppity peasant wench acts like she owns the government's property...