For years, Martin Apprich was told that he didn't need flood insurance. He knew there was a slim chance, a less than 99% probability, that his Sarpy County home could flood. That didn't matter to him, he still wanted it.
And for the fifteen years he had been paying for coverage, Apprich tells NewsRadio 1110 KFAB he never had to utilize that insurance. Then the day came when he did need it. "Two tenths of 1% chance of flooding within the given time period, but I look out the window every morning and I see that lake, and I see that river and guess what? It came up and met me on the 17th of March."
As Apprich stood in the floodwaters that had encroached on his Hawaiian Village home, he made the call to his mortgage company to let them know, he was right. That 2/10ths of a percent chance that he would get flooded, happened and he needed to cash in on his flood insurance. "Our mortgage company, in my opinion, arbitrarily decided at some point in January 2018 that not only did our house not require flood insurance, they chose not to notify me."
Apprich stood in his flooded home, in hip waders, shocked by what the voice on the other line was telling him. He had no flood insurance. "Had I been provided that information, that they were going to allow the policy to lapse, then I would have taken decisive action at that point to get a policy in place. But if they don't afford me that opportunity within that grace period, I can't get the policy back enforced."
He said he didn't notice in the mortgage payment that the $500 per year flood insurance premiums had stopped being paid out of escrow. Since FEMA told Apprich coverage lapsed, he's had to pay for all of the cleanup costs, a bill that totals more than $11,000 currently, with more flood repair costs to come.
Apprich hopes to find out who made the decision so he can send them and their lawyer the photos. The Nebraska Department of Banking will investigate the lender's role in the lapsed policy.