The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved a waiver that will allow Painesville condominium residents, whose homes were decimated by the 2006 historic flood, to finally collect their homeowners insurance policies, U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette (R-Bainbridge Township) announced today.

LaTourette said this waiver will allow settlement offers to be made to the policyholders up to the policies’ building property limits at the Gristmill and Millstone Condominium Associations.  The condominiums were destroyed during a horrific flood in the summer of 2006, but FEMA would not honor the residents' individual flood policies because the condominium associations' primary flood policies were inadequate.  Under federal law, policies for individual unit owners don't kick in until the primary coverage is paid. 

LaTourette has been seeking a waiver from FEMA to help the Painesville residents for more than a year.  Residents had paid their annual flood insurance policy premiums for years, only to find them worthless due to a bureaucratic tangle. After FEMA refused to grant a waiver at LaTourette's request, he sought to make FEMA honor the flood policies through legislation. 

LaTourette secured a provision in the reauthorization of National Flood Insurance Program  (NFIP),  H.R. 3121, that includes retroactive language to cover the Painesville flood losses at the Gristmill and Millstone Condominium Associations.  Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) included similar language in the Senate version of the flood bill.  With a change in law looming, FEMA relented and granted the waiver.

"I appreciate FEMA’s willingness to solve this situation and not waiting for a legislative fix,” LaTourette said. “The residents have waited a long time and this is a nice early holiday gift.”

All residents of Gristmill and Millstone Condominium Association are encouraged to contact LaTourette’s office with their updated contact information and a copy of their assessment letter. This information will then be submitted to FEMA officials who will contact homeowners directly.

“Many of these residents have seen their homes destroyed and their credit ruined,” LaTourette said. “This is not the way government should work.”

Residents with questions should call LaTourette's Painesville office at 440-352-3939.