Many of New Orleans' affluent homeowners, who thought they had done the right thing by properly insuring their investment, are finding that technicalities are keeping them from securing enough from their insurers to rebuild.
Such is the case with Eric Maskau, whose house, like most on Bellaire, swallowed less than 6 feet of water. It was enough to destroy the first floor, but not the second. The second floor, however, got wet, too. Water seeped in through the vents, pushed in by the hurricane's 140 mile-per-hour winds, he said. The roof was damaged and windows were punched out - damage, says Moskau, which should be covered under the wind-only policy. Allstate told him it was all due to flooding.