St. Louis (KSDK) -- A state committee on disaster recovery holds a hearing in Maryland Heights to get feedback from Good Friday tornado victims on the recovery efforts.
Officials from various cities pretty much sing the same tune. Federal and state aide have some red tape attached, so the financial relief is slow getting to them.
They also testify before this committee of state reps, but they need even more help. Sometimes it's the little things in a disaster that few people think about, creating the biggest mess months later.
Ferguson Mayor James Knowles described two of his biggest headaches to the interim committee on disaster recovery. First, the trees.
"FEMA does not consider damage to trees as damage," said Mayor Knowles.
The twister took out 100-year-old oaks. Eighty trees down, covering 40 streets alone. But many homeowners' insurance policies don't cover tree removal, and can't afford the $3,000 fee to remove the remains of the old oaks still standing.
"They'll just stand there until they die and that'll be a long process for people who don't have that insurance backing," said Knowles.
And if that isn't undesirable enough, he has more than two dozen homes hit on Good Friday that are boarded up now with no hope of being rebuilt because they are foreclosed homes.
Knowles says the banks are unaware, offering no solution in sight.
"They don't know they own the property, it's some investment wing of Bank of America or Dutch Bank," said Knowles.
Those are just two of the problems. Others stand up to speak about more problems. One affects every victim.
St. Louis County Assessor Jake Zimmerman is asking for new legislation that requires resources for tax assessors to find victims, rather than expecting victims to adjust their property values on their own.
"If you live in a house that's worth $150,000 and tomorrow a tornado comes and destroys the garage, I don't know what your house is worth without looking into it more, but it ain't worth $150,000."
Assessor Zimmerman says there will be a lot of people who will be getting inaccurate bills for their property tax.
If your property was damaged and the value has gone down, don't hesitate to call the county to get that in order so you're not over-billed.