Katrina victims may lose ruined home

Jeff and Merideth Wright do not want your sympathy, simply your ear.

The Nevada City couple and their two young children did not feel the strength of Hurricane Katrina, but their Gulfport, Miss., home did, ruined by 100-mph winds and a sea that surged through it.

They now find themselves embroiled in a battle to save their financial status because the bank still wants payments for a destroyed home that can no longer be rented. Their homeowners insurance is paying only 20 percent for wind damage and they had no flood coverage - as most in the area didn't - because of its Lloyd's of London cost and recommendations against it.

"The storm surge came in, and the insurance company said we cover wind, not water caused by wind," said Merideth, 34. "I don't want this to be 'Poor Jeff and Merideth.' We're losing a home, but at least my things weren't in it."

"Our kids are OK and we're OK," said Jeff, 36, a U-2 pilot out of Beale Air Force Base who, ironically enough, flew over the battered Gulf Coast after the storm, taking pictures so federal disaster teams knew where to begin. "But now it's the holiday season and it's out of sight and out of mind for America."

"They are great folks, and I'm just sorry this happened to them," said Sherry Stultz, a friend still living on the Gulf Coast who met Merideth at birthing classes. "Most of the homes that had been there are gone.

"There are thousands of people who didn't have flood insurance because it wasn't required. People are declaring bankruptcy left and right, and America just doesn't know about the financial trouble it's caused. It's scary, it really is."

Merideth said foreclosure may be the best the couple can hope for, but even then the bank might still sue for the rest of the money. The bank has suspended their payments since the late August disaster and will re-evaluate the situation in February, perhaps giving the couple another year.

But even if the reprieve comes through, the 100-year-old home that sits one block from the beach will still be an expensive pile of rubble. At least the new roof they put on survived for the renters, who were about to purchase the home.

"There's not much damage to the roof, but the whole house collapsed underneath it," Merideth said. Next door, "her house still has a car sitting in the bedroom."

Merideth said a federal Small Business Administration loan to rebuild the home is a possibility, but it would roll the old mortgage into a new one that would create twice the payments. Another problem is the gouging of homeowners in the rebuilding effort, Jeff said.

The disaster has also taken an emotional toll on the young couple.

"Our daughter was born in that house," Merideth said. "That was our home, the first one we bought. We bought it because we loved it, and I put a lot of myself into it, We're lucky, but I cry about it on a daily basis."

Merideth plans to see her parents in Texas soon and also plans to visit the rubble and retrieve some beloved items. But the Wrights won't live on the Gulf Coast again for fear of another storm.

Jeff also wants no part of the dangerous Air Force flying job he had when he was stationed in Mississippi. He was a hurricane hunter.

<I>To contact senior staff writer Dave Moller, e-mail davem@theunion.com or call 477-4237.</I>