 It's a horrible thing, but you certainly learn a lot from the process. River came up over the road for quite some time. We had eight inches on the main floor of our house. The north wall and the south wall were off and it looked like a dollhouse. The water level on the main floor had reached about two and a half to three feet. Do we walk away from the house? Can we afford to even rebuild? View what's in front of you in the case of a marathon, not a sprint. The University of Minnesota Extension and North Dakota State University Extension Service have developed Recovery After Disaster, the Family Financial Toolkit to assist in financial recovery from disaster. The toolkit is free and available at this website. These tools will help you think through the situation that you're in to establish priorities and decide what needs to be done and help you to act with purpose in moving forward after the disaster. Following a disaster, insurance can be a key piece of the puzzle for a successful recovery. Well the first thing was they offered reassurance, you know, that this is covered, your policy covers this type of a disaster, so rest assured we'll take care of you. Basic homeowners insurance covers the structure of the home, personal property, loss of use and other structures on the property. He was a lifesaver, he immediately got us money so we could start making decisions right away. Within days we had cash flow. Renters may also purchase insurance to cover personal property and loss of use caused by a disaster. Additional insurance policies would need to be purchased to cover damage caused by floods, earthquakes and hurricanes. They are not covered under basic homeowners insurance. I didn't know anybody else that had flood insurance and I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want to say well I'm okay, but I had a lot of friends that didn't. It was very difficult watching them struggle with their finances and trying to figure out how they were going to pay for this and what they were going to do. It is important to recognize that your life will never be exactly the same as it was. Consider what you want your new reality to look like. Knowing your insurance agent and your insurance coverage may help you frame your new reality. I had no clue and thank heavens he did. He knew everything that I needed to do so that was very reassuring. A community arises out of a disaster stronger, more deeply connected and great believers in themselves that whatever we face we can face it together.