A St. Petersburg couple who had both flood and homeowners insurance before the 2024 hurricane season says the money they received from their insurer and FEMA was nowhere close to enough to rebuild. They shared their story, still standing on an empty lot nearly two years later.Watch report from Nadeen Yanes St. Pete couple had full insurance and FEMA aid, but still can't rebuild after 2024 hurricanes'IT JUST CAME IN TOO FAST'Jen and RJ Garbowicz lost their home first to flooding during Hurricane Helene, then had roof damage in Hurricane Milton."It was coming in through the floor, coming in through the walls. It was just bubbling up. It just came in too fast. I actually got electrocuted a couple of times," RJ said.He said he ultimately had no choice but to stop trying to save the home. "So I called it quits. I can't keep up," he said.Then 13 days later, water poured in again through the roof as Hurricane Milton took force.'WE DID ALL THE RIGHT THINGS'The couple paid between $18,000 and $20,000 dollars a year for both flood and homeowners insurance. They are still in legal discussions with their homeowners insurance company over one claim.Their flood insurance, through FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program, paid out the maximum of $250,000."Which is great," Jennifer said.But RJ added that the couple is only getting $50,000 of that to rebuild, "Because we had a mortgage, they took the money, and they're holding it." FEMA also required the couple to rebuild under the 50% rule. The $250,000 payout was nowhere near enough to cover demolition and rebuilding. They turned to FEMA for additional help."I appealed four times by sending the same documentation over and over, and finally, after the fourth time, I got an approval, so we got a total of 33,000," Jennifer said.That FEMA disaster grant approval was not nearly enough. So the couple turned to an SBA loan. But the money there is being withheld too."Well, you have to first cover the difference between what insurance monies you received and the total cost of the build and subtract out the loan. So you have to cover the gap with your own cash," RJ said.And then the couple said that before they could receive an SBA disaster loan they had qualified for, they now had to repay that $33,000 grant to FEMA."It's really unfortunate that we did all the right things. We took all the right steps. We had insurance, we did everything as homeowners that we were supposed to do, and at the end of the day when we were counting on it, it didn't work like we thought that it would," Jennifer said.AVERAGE FEMA PAYOUTIn June, Tampa Bay Anchor Nadeen Yanes traveled to an insurance workshop where Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie spoke as a guest. Guthrie also served on the President's FEMA Review Council. He nearly urged insurance companies to make sure policyholders understand that FEMA will not make homeowners whole. "Let's just be very, very candid. The average person is going to get a $4,500 payout from this, from FEMA," Guthrie said.FIGHTING FOR FEMA REFORMThe Garbowicz traveled to Washington, D.C., as part of the Extreme Weather Survivors group to push for both FEMA and insurance reform."Everyone here today knows that disasters don't end when the news coverage does," a speaker at the event said. "The important thing for us was just to get the conversation going, get the message out there," RJ said.The couple met with lawmakers to advocate for the FEMA Act, a House proposal that would completely reform the agency. Key provisions of the bill include: Makes FEMA and independent agency by removing FEMA from under the Department of Homeland Security Creating a universal application process for disaster recovery Processing FEMA grants faster, providing money to homeowners before recovery rather than as reimbursement Facilitates investment, mitigation efforts, and damage prevention before a storm hits'WE NEED LONG-TERM SOLUTIONS'"Long-term disaster recovery, as you can see, doesn't end a day, a week, a month, or even in this case a year after the storm. It's many, many years of recovery, and we need long-term solutions," said one of the speakers at the Extreme Weather Survivors group in DC.The couple says those reforms would have helped them rebuild sooner, instead of still standing on an empty lot nearly two years after the storms. They estimate they have another 18 to 24 months of rebuilding ahead."It's been a long time coming, two years, and we probably still have another 18 to 24 months still left," RJ said."The important thing for us was just to get the conversation going, get the message out there," Jennifer added. "Just tell our story as much as possible because I think that's what it's going to take. It's going to take interviews like this, getting out there and really putting pressure." ...read more read less