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Remember Greensburg Kansas?

Recall the devastation?

Many of us were able to see it first hand.

There were numerous people who were uninsured or under-insured who lost everything. Businesses were especially hard hit as Mother Nature took it’s toll devastating incomes, leaving hundreds jobless and leaving business owners suffering from having to file bankruptcy or face judgments and foreclosures.

Here is an example of the anguish of one resident:

“My name is Earlene Smith. my husband drives a semi truck and was driving thru {Greensburg}) the night of that terrible tornado. He survived the tornado (thank GOD) but the rig was totaled. We’ve been suffering ever since. He is no longer able to drive his truck. It’s was totalled and is gone. An insurance policy he thought would protect his rig in the case of a loss failed to do so… We are at a loss. I can’t thank God enough for keeping him safe that night.”



A never ending lineup of families and businesses experienced losses in the Thousands. Many endured losses in the Hundreds of Thousands and some in the Millions. Those with businesses losing hundreds or Thousands or Millions – those without insurance or without ENOUGH insurance are many times unable to receive FEMA or other Government assistance because their income levels are typically too high, they earn more than the FEMA and other agency’s rules allow. The assumption is that they make enough money they can afford the losses. That isn’t always the case.

Consider the experience this family, from Greensburg Kansas endured:

HAVILAND KS -- With so much national attention given to Greensburg after last spring's tornado, it's easy to forget nearby farmers whose properties were demolished by the storm. Steve and Margie Thompson lost everything, as did their son Brady and his family.

After the tornado, the lack of an effective response to several farms hit by the storm forced the cattle-raising Thompsons to take care of themselves. Brady Thompson, wife Jayne and their two young children, Emma and Hunter, moved into a hunting lodge they own in nearby Haviland…

…"We applied for aid through FEMA and we applied for aid through SBA (Small Business Administration) and got denied through both of those," Thompson said. "They took a look at our tax returns over the last three years and said, 'Well, we can't give you no money, you can't pay it back.' "

Here's another story. Very similar to the Thompsons from Greensburg.
It is the situation involving the Thompson family from Florida.

The Thompsons from Florida endured a nightmare when Hurricane Charley hit Port Charlotte Florida. Their business was located there and that’s where their livelihood existed - in the City of Port Charlotte. The family business, valued at well into the millions was totally lost with the exception of some inventory and a couple of computers.

When they arrived to check out the wreckage the next day, a Sheriff was at their warehouse to keep looters from taking more than they already had. Mr. Thompson slept in their warehouse overnight armed with a gun to ward off looters. A generator ran for 10 days to operate a few lights and 2 computers, while waiting for the electricity to be restored. The staff worked to clean up and take inventory of what remained.

There were eight direct fatalities, 16 indirect fatalities, and 792 injuries attributed to the storm. Property damage was estimated at $14.6 billion dollars (2004 USD) on the Florida peninsula alone.

The Thompson’s business received an indirect hit. Their leased warehouse space was overwhelmed when the garage doors blew out and the skylights were blown away immediately following the doors. Walls were blown out and roof panels were torn from the steel structured shell. The semi-roofless warehouse, which contained a newly decorated and freshly remodeled office looked like this beauty shop:


Hair Salon

The surrounding industrial area looked like this:


Industrial Park Area

On mainland Florida, Charley produced a peak storm surge of 10–13 feet and brought over 9” of rain. Imagine 9 inches of rain blowing around a warehouse full of books. The waste and destruction was uncountable. Desolation was everywhere.


Office Building Around Corner

The hurricane hit during the peak of their busiest season, when sales are at their mutual peak and when the warehouse distribution facility is chock full of inventory for the back to school season.


Books A Million Store Around Corner

Over 2 million dollars worth of materials were contained within the facility when hurricane Charley wreaked its havoc on the Southwest coast of Florida. One day before the hurricane hit their property they had unloaded 16 pallets of school supplies and products from one vendor totaling over $400,000.00. Every single product in that delivery was either gone or ruined.

The Thompson’s son was skate boarding the morning of the hurricane and fell, breaking his leg. The ambulance personnel taking the boy to the hospital were very concerned as news of the hurricane taking a sudden turn, heading directly towards the hospital where they were taking him, came across their radios. The Charlotte Regional Medical Center, right down the road from the Thompson’s business and warehouse/office facility recorded an unofficial peak wind gust of 172 mph (277 km/h). The emergency personnel’s fears were realized when not an hour later Saint Joseph's Hospital had its roof blown away and the entire third floor was tossed aside by Charley's strong winds. This was the same hospital where the young boy was unable to receive treatment for his broken leg because the hurricane was bearing down on them. Three days later the boy’s leg was finally set and put in a cast at a facility 70 miles away. Imagine if you will, three days worth of pain. Imagine days and weeks without electricity. Imagine the utter demise of your revenue source.

According to Wikipedia; Towns such as Punta Gorda and Port Charolotte were leveled by the hurricane.


Sign on Interstate

The Thompsons were insured. Their business policy allowed for reimbursement of 80% of their average inventory. Their average inventory was around $800,000.00 but their inventory during the peak season was upwards of $2,000,000.00. Out of the millions in inventory, around $700,000.00 was salvageable. $1,300,000.00 worth of inventory scattered about the Florida peninsula was uninsured. They received an insurance payment of $60,000.00.

The damage was so complete there was nothing to do but walk away.


Truck on Side

Hope was existent in that their home was spared even though their neighborhood was under 3 feet of water.


CLICK to ENLARGE


Side Yard


Front Yard & Street

This U-Haul truck was parked across the equivalent of an 8 lane highway from this property.
The building you are looking at was a liquor store. You can see the bottles in the debris.
This store was just a stones throw down the highway from where the company warehouse was located. The truck was hurled, as if it were a Tonka toy, hundreds of feet across the highway into the center of the store.


Liquor Store


High School

Nine schools were destroyed.

In spite of the damage, in spite of the backbreaking work to clean up, in spite of the loss of millions, Alexis Thompson was able, in the coming months, to procure a $100,000.00 school supplies grant and donation to Charlotte County Public Schools from the association of vendors with whom the Thompsons did business.

CLICK HERE FOR THE STORY

There are folks in Buffalo who have never endured the kind of loss that the Thompsons have. Most of us can’t fathom losing $1,300,000.00 dollars. Most of us can’t understand these types of devastating occurrences unless we’ve experienced it ourselves. Those of us who were able to visit Greensburg, Kansas after the tornado hit might be able to better understand.

There is a group of people in town who are rambling on about some monetary judgments against the Thompson’s business. I ask these people, if you suffered OVER A MILLION dollars in losses because of a disaster like hurricane Charley might you also have a judgment or two, in absentia against you?
There is no FEMA help for such a high value loss.
There wasn’t insurance to cover the added inventory brought in during the peak season.
There were no SBA loans available to their business.
The judgments people are talking about are entitled: “default judgments” - against their Corporation. I know because I too checked the records. Their Corporation was dissolved. Yours would be too if you had losses like they did. In a Corporate suit, the debtor is only able to look to the Corporation and its assets for payment of the debt. If your Corporation endures losses as mentioned, there is no more Corporation. There are no Corporate assets. Get that in your head people. These are not judgments against the owner of the Corporation or Board of Directors – it’s against the Corporation itself. A default judgment is simply because the other party failed to appear in court. Why even go to court?

Here’s a scenario if one were to appear in court:

Defendant's Attorney:
Well your honor, Hurricane Charley took the inventory, which this lawsuit addresses, and scattered it about the peninsula of Florida. None of their products are salvageable or able to be sold to satisfy the debt. They’ve offered settlements but…

Judge:
Sorry Mr. Lawyer - pay the man!

Defendants Attorney:
Your honor, my client settled all of their debts with 41 companies who had outstanding invoices with my client. Only two companies wouldn’t negotiate a settlement. All of the other companies were understanding and were willing to negotiate with my client and I. Even today they have excellent relationships with their suppliers and continue to do business with them – that is, with all but two. My clients suffered $1,300,000.00 in losses your honor and they have offered these debtors to settle for a lesser amount but they are unwilling. On top of that they’ve placed almost $60,000.00 in fees to the outstanding debt and are being extremely unreasonable.

Judge:
They don’t have to be reasonable. Judgment for the Petitioner.

Why even show up?

It’s exactly like the judgments against many townspeople in Greensburg, Kansas. There are hundreds, and hundreds of people in the court system in Kansas as a result of the tornado leveling Greensburg. These people are receiving monetary judgments against them regularly. These same people are forced to file bankruptcy. They couldn’t possibly be expected to be able to pay back all of their losses. Many simply left Greensburg and started their lives anew. I can tell you that I wouldn't continue to make payments on a house that didn't exist any longer.
People all over America are experiencing a similar thing, not because of natural disaster, but because of the economic crisis. What's happening? An abundance of foreclosures & judgments. - Judgment for the Plaintiff!

Are you able to fault these people for leaving their devastation behind and beginning anew with what they have remaining?

Now you know, as Paul Harvey always said : “The Rest Of The Story."

Ask: Is an explanation really necessary?
Does this really matter?
Will this change the way these people feel?

Answer: Highly Unlikely

Few know of their plight. Few care. However, when the entire story is told, thoughts might change. Just Maybe?

Hurricane Charley Article on Wikipedia where the statistics are located.

For the entire Greensburg Thompson's Story CLICK HERE

Note: Personal Photos added by Inside Buffalo