Top Stories

Couple could be homeless if no agreement with FEMA

CENTER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Larry and Charlene Vicario have seen their fair share of floods in their home, documenting where the water reached on the basement walls.

"The water mark was up to here,” Larry Vicario said. “A couple more inches, it would have been slapping the belly."

Their property is in an area now considered a "Class A Flood Zone,” and they've spent years trying to sell the house, in part because the flood insurance went from $250 dollars per year to $8,000.

"As soon as you told them what the flood insurance they had to pay on the house was, they turned around and walked away,” said Larry Vicario. “It made my house unsellable."

TRENDING NOW:

Larry spent months negotiating a deal with FEMA and Center Township to buy the house through the Repetitive Loss program. but now they're facing another roadblock.

The Vicarios must move out immediately after the government closes on the house.

The problem is, they can't afford to buy a new house without that closing money, leaving open the possibility they could soon be without a home.

"All we fought for and we finally see light at the end of the tunnel and then they blew up the end of the tunnel," Larry Vicario said.

Center Townshp is working with the Vicarios to find a solution.

A spokesman said, in part, “We're hoping to get the money by the end of the month and close on the property by January."

"A month from now we can look back and laugh about this,” Larry Vicario said. “But right now, I'm so far down in the valley the valley can't get any deeper. I want to get back up."