美国国家公共电台 NPR Their Home Survived The Camp Fire — But Their Insurance Did Not

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Californians who live in an area devastated¹ by wildfires have new protections as of January 1. If their home survives a blaze, their property insurer must maintain their coverage² for at least a year after the disaster. But as Pauline Bartolone from Capital Public Radio learned, the new law has come too late to help the families reeling from last year's Camp Fire.

PAULINE BARTOLONE, BYLINE³: Tamara and Tom Conry get a rush of emotion when they look at their old neighborhood in Paradise. It's an apocalyptic⁴ landscape of burned up rubble⁵ mixed in with the few vacant homes that survived.

TOM CONRY: So much of it doesn't make any sense. This house is here. This house is not.

BARTOLONE: The Conrys' home was barely touched by November's blaze. Fire officials say about 1 in 10 buildings in the town are still standing⁶. And at first, the couple was dead set on returning.

TAMARA CONRY: So we'll go ahead and wipe the feet but just know...

BARTOLONE: But as Tamara shows me the inside of their house, she explains they have their own steep climb to normalcy. The home is contaminated by ash and smoke. And their deck was scorched⁷. Their homeowner's insurer covered their temporary housing. But recently, Tamara got some bad news. The company, American Reliable, decided⁸ not to renew their policy.

TAMARA CONRY: Getting that letter just was like a slap in the face. Right now when it's going to be the hardest time ever to get insurance at any kind of reasonable price, that's when you non-renew us.

BARTOLONE: The Conrys say trying to make their home livable again has been stressful enough, and finding new insurance has just added to that headache.

TAMARA CONRY: Sometimes, I feel like it would've been easier if the house had burned down. And then you're moving on.

BARTOLONE: Tom and Tamara are not the only ones with this problem. The state's Department of Insurance says they've heard from other Californians in fire areas who lost their insurance.

AMY BACH: Their situation can almost be worse sometimes than people whose homes are gone.

BARTOLONE: Amy Bach with the consumer advocacy group United Policyholders says she knows people in this situation, too. If your house burns down, California law says your policy must be renewed for at least two years. But that doesn't help the Conrys.

BACH: They're sort of competing with the total loss victims for attention and dollars. But they also don't have the same protection that a total loss victim has to keep their insurance.

BARTOLONE: American Reliable's parent company, Global Indemnity⁹, didn't respond to multiple requests for comment for this story. But Mark Sektnan, the spokesperson for the property insurance industry, says companies have to always reassess the risks.

MARK SEKTNAN: They just want to make sure you don't have too many policies concentrated in a particular area because then if there is a loss, it can have negative implications for the company.

BARTOLONE: One insurer already went belly¹⁰ up because of the Camp Fire. But Sektnan says there are about 50 insurers in California, so homeowners in fire areas are likely to find another option. They should expect to pay more, though.

SEKTNAN: And that's to insure that, you know, people in the high-risk areas should pay a higher amount for insurance than people who live in low-risk areas. Otherwise, people like where I live would end up subsidizing these people.

TAMARA CONRY: Watch your step on that.

BARTOLONE: The Conrys recently found a new homeowner's policy - a last resort plan California law provides for people like them. They're paying more than double what they did before. But the devastation¹¹ in Paradise and the insurance headaches have been too much for the Conrys. They've recently decided they're not going back. And they've put their house up for sale. For NPR News, I'm Pauline Bartolone in Chico, Calif.

1 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

2 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 apocalyptic   

adj.预示灾祸的，启示的

参考例句：

• The air is chill and stagnant,the language apocalyptic.空气寒冷而污浊，语言则是《启示录》式的。
• Parts of the ocean there look just absolutely apocalyptic.海洋的很多区域看上去完全像是世界末日。

5 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

6 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

7 scorched   

烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦

参考例句：

• I scorched my dress when I was ironing it. 我把自己的连衣裙熨焦了。
• The hot iron scorched the tablecloth. 热熨斗把桌布烫焦了。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 indemnity   

n.赔偿，赔款，补偿金

参考例句：

• They paid an indemnity to the victim after the accident.他们在事故后向受害者付了赔偿金。
• Under this treaty,they were to pay an indemnity for five million dollars.根据这项条约，他们应赔款500万美元。

10 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

11 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》