Around 97% of homeowners in North Carolina do not have flood insurance according to the commissioner of the North Carolina Department of Insurance. This is an issue taking center stage as homeowners scramble to figure out how to pay for the damage sustained after Hurricane Helene dumped major rain causing flooding and landslides. On Friendship Church Road in Boone, personal items, electronics and more are scattered in the yard of what’s left of the home where Scott Richardson and Meta Gatschenberger once lived. “It came down so fast, it brought mainly trees and boulders,” Richardson said. “It probably went through there in a couple of seconds.” The couple says the debris is slowly drifting closer to the edge every day. “That’s the most urgent concern. That’s what keeps us up at night sometimes,” Gatschenberger said. “There’s some large boulders back behind the house where the landslide was that may let go,” Richardson said. On top of the public safety concern, the retired couple lives on a fixed income. They learned their insurance policy won’t cover repairs. “They said, I’m sorry your claim is denied. It’s land movements, it’s a landslide. So no, not covered and then the next day, they called us back and said, we’re going to have to cancel your policy because your house is condemned,” Richardson said. North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey says 97% of homeowners in the Tarheel state don’t have protection for flood and landslides. He says that number was even larger before Hurricane Florence which prompted many coastal homeowners to invest in the insurance. “Homeowners insurance does not cover floods. It does not cover earthquakes,” Commissioner Causey said. “There’s really no policy in existence that covers landslides or mudslides when the side of a mountain comes down.” He says some policies might cover parts of the damage. “Let’s say you had a tree limb that blew on your roof. It punched a hole in the roof. Then it’s possible for that roof damage caused by a tree, limbs or what have you to be covered by that homeowner’s insurance policy,” Causey said. Causey encourages homeowners to apply for disaster assistance online through FEMA. “FEMA has encouraged people to go ahead and file a claim whether you think it will be covered or not,” Causey said. “The folks from FEMA, as well as folks from the state of North Carolina and our legislators, have assured the people that help is on the way, that they will be getting help in the form of direct cash compensation to assist.” Richardson and Gatschenberger already had a FEMA assessor visit their property. Between federal help and their gofundme page, the couple hopes to cover the cost of their mortgage on the destroyed home and the rent at their current hickory apartment. They say their rent is more than two and a half times the cost of their mortgage. “It was our retirement savings and so that’s all gone,” Gatschenberger said. “It’s just one day at a time right now.”