After visiting the bare cement slab that used to be their home, FEMA inspector rejects family’s tornado damage grant application for “insufficient damage”

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — The tornado turned Jonathan Stewart’s house into a pile of rubble on April 27, nothing but bricks and debris scattered ovei a concrete slab.

Days later, an inspector from the Federal Emergency Management Agency came to Stewart’s address in Pleasant Grove, and took some notes and pictures. Three days later, Stewart received a letter stating he didn’t qualify for a FEMA grant. One of the reasons: Insufficient damage.

‘Based on your FEMA inspection, we have determined that the disaster has not caused your home to be unsafe to live in,’ the letter read. Read more