‘Disaster Gypsies’ Lend Ear and Cash to Those in Need

They call themselves “disaster gypsies.” They are the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s front-line troops, the itinerant bureaucrats who travel the country’s tornado alleys and flooded plains armed with a sympathetic ear, a knack for paperwork and, sometimes, an open checkbook.

They arrived in Annapolis, Md., recently to help the victims of Hurricane Floyd. A team of FEMA employees from Missouri opened the state’s newest Disaster Recovery Center in the canteen of an Anne Arundel County office building. They are just part of a contingent of more than 100 employees brought in from the Midwest to bolster FEMA’s local efforts.

After President Clinton’s Sept. 24 declaration that 11 Maryland counties qualified as federal disaster areas, residents became eligible for up to 17 assistance programs from state and federal agencies.

“There’s a lot more help available than people may know,” said Diana Reagan, an upbeat “hazard mitigation” specialist from Jefferson City, Mo.

The center offered “one-stop shopping” for people looking for a helping hand from government. While Reagan listened attentively to tales of soggy basements at one table, Mike Staicer, from the Internal Revenue Service, cheerfully explained how to write off hurricane damage on a tax return--and why folks may not get as much as they think.

At another table, Michelle Valle, of the Small Business Administration, explained to visitors that anyone who has suffered damage may be eligible for an SBA loan with a generous 4% interest rate.

The disaster business isn’t for homebodies. In midsummer, Reagan went to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to help flooded farmers, then moved on to Nebraska, where she worked with victims of a tornado. When Floyd struck, she grabbed her prepacked suitcase and flew to Baltimore. Telephone and mail are the way she keeps in touch with her three grown children back in Missouri.

With front-row season tickets to the nation’s catastrophes, the FEMA team members tend to get passionate about planning ahead.

“There is going to be another hurricane here,” said Crystal Payton, a freelance writer and antiques dealer from Springfield, Mo., who moonlights as a FEMA spokesman. “You can count on it. The time to prepare is now, when you’re fixing the damage from the last one.”

Flood insurance is a favorite recommendation of the FEMA troops. They remind all comers that flooding and backed-up sewers are not usually covered by standard homeowner policies. But Jack Calhoun, a retired Severna Park, Md., homeowner who came in looking for assistance with a flooded basement and a rusted furnace, said he’s not interested in insurance.

“So how are you going to prepare for the next one?” Payton asked.

“I’m going to buy a generator,” Calhoun said.

Payton just smiled.

Reagan, who makes her living listening to sad stories of flooded basements, is passionate on the subject of avoiding expensive repairs.

“Do you know that as little as 7 inches of water can take out your dryer and your hot water heater?” she asked. “It can. I tell people, put your washer and dryer on a platform.”

As of last Wednesday, FEMA had received 1,350 applications for assistance from Maryland residents. FEMA says it has approved $133,000 in grants for damaged homes and apartments but does not have figures for the other kinds of assistance. Nationwide, FEMA grants available to low- and fixed-income households for disaster damages average $2,500, Payton said.