CHARLOTTE — As you drive down one neighborhood along the Catawba River in northwest Charlotte, each home is marked with a paper slip. But the color of the slip could mean starting over for some families.
“They have a red, and we know they’re not coming back,” Whitney Olivares told Channel 9′s Almiya White on Wednesday.
Olivares lives on Riverside Drive, and each slip is a reminder of the loss they’ve suffered. Homes with red slips mean they’re currently uninhabitable.
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“It’s really depressing ... seeing everybody that lost their homes,” Olivares said.
Her home is stamped with a yellow slip.
“Which means that we aren’t necessarily up to code to get electricity back and do all that stuff. Now, we’re currently living in our home -- we’re camping [inside],” Olivares said.
She said they’re going on two weeks without power. The first two levels of her home took on excessive flooding.
One street over on Riverhaven Drive, Justin Rose’s home is considered unsafe. You can see a red warning on his house.
“I’m going to have all my new permits pulled, get all new electrical, get all new HVAC, new hot water heater,” Rose told White.
He’s not alone. According to Mecklenburg County officials, 84 houses in this community will need permits approved before they can be occupied again.
“I’m going to be out of this house for probably over a year,” Rose said. “My entire first story is gutted. I just finished it. I don’t have a kitchen or living room.”
As of this week, homeowners in the neighborhood can now apply for assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“With FEMA coming in, I was able to secure another house that I can move my family somewhere,” Rose said. “It was pure and utter relief.”
FEMA will assist with temporary housing, basic home repairs, and personal property loss. Some homeowners told me they do have flood insurance, but that it’s not covering the damage.
(VIDEO: Henderson County homeowner records video of basement flooding during Helene)
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