• FLOODS of '08 VIDEO
You could call it the red-tag wasteland. Nearly 500 homeowners are still in limbo; their homes have been tagged with red placards. It means the houses are unsafe to enter, but not cleared for demolition.
2 months to wait. Larry’s Hemann’s house deemed unsafe to enter.
"There was just nothing you could do," he said. “I kept running around all over the place, talking to this city representative and that city one, they just send you on to the next guy, nobody had any answers.
The red tag means no entry. No entry means limited FEMA assistance. Limited assistance means delaying needed repairs. And no repairs, leads him right back to no entry. It was a vicious cycle until Hemann threatened to sue and pleaded with city inspectors to get inside. That did the trick, and Larry’s now busy trying to catch up.
"Mold was five foot, solid black up the walls, mold on the inside walls, everything in it was solid black," he said. “It would have been nice if we could have got in there sooner."
Mold specialist Dustin Murray with Flood 911 says that moisture level is Larry’s house is creating a perfect environment for even more mold growth inside.
"You definitely have some work ahead of you," he said to Larry.
While Larry is busy cleaning, he is unsure about what’s to come.
"I just have my doubts the city's going to put a yellow placard on it,” he said. “I just think they're doing to find it structurally unsafe."
Larry just hopes he's wrong -- and that his home can be saved.
"You figure, this is what you work your whole life for so it's just not something I want to walk away from.Red Tag Wasteland
