MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. — A Madeira Beach family said they have been stuck in limbo for months because their flood insurance company isn't offering them enough money to rebuild their home that was devastated by Tropical Storm Eta. 

"We can't fix this house," said Doug Pifer, 54. "And the insurance won't give us the money to replace it with an appropriate structure which has been flood mitigated."

The reason Pifer can't fix his home on the 13000 block of Boca Ciega Avenue is because of FEMA's 50-50 rule.

"If the damage to the structure of the home is more than 50 percent of the value then it has to be flood mitigated," said Doug. "Which means torn down and then rebuilt up in the air above the floodplain." 

Last November, Tropical Storm Eta flooded hundreds of homes in Madeira Beach and caught the community by surprise.

"We had at least 17-to-24 inches of water through our whole house," said Christine Pifer, 45. "We had standing water for a couple of days and it has destroyed our entire home."

City inspectors determined the Pifer home was more than 50 percent damaged and will only issue a demolition permit.

"We cannot get a permit to fix the house," said Doug. "We can only get a permit to tear it down." 

Pifer said they have a $250,000 flood policy with Wright Insurance that costs $2,400 per year to maintain but the company has only offered to pay the family $42,000.

The reason Pifer can't fix his home on the 13000 block of Boca Ciega Avenue is because of FEMA's 50-50 rule. (Josh Rojas, Spectrum News staff)

"They're only going to do a direct damage only. Which is only anything that the water actually touched," Doug said. 

"Since the city inspectors came and did their adjustment on the house and everything, said it's $197,000 worth of damage. I'm about $150,000 short of being able to fix the house."

Madeira Beach floodplain manager, Linda Portal, said about 50 storm damaged homes need to be torn down and many of those families are in the same situation as the Pifers. 

"It's really been devastating. In fact, some people had just recently closed on the property," she said. "So, they're mortgaged out and then they lost the house."​

Portal said at least 360 homes in Madeira Beach experienced some kind of flooding from the storm. The floodplain manager said the community would've gotten a lot of support had TS Eta been declared a major disaster.

"We were looking for Governor Ron DeSantis to at least declare it on a state basis," said Portal. "They determined that it was not major because there wasn't 18 inches of standing water in the homes."

As for Pifer, he wonders why FEMA created a rule the agency doesn't back up.

"I can't get anybody to answer the question of if it's a FEMA 50-50 rule, with a FEMA backed insurance, why they won't pay for the policy?" ​he said. "It makes common sense to me that if you have a flood insurance policy that you pay for and your home is completely damaged by a flood, then it should pay out the policy and we should have a new home." 

Wright Insurance policies are backed wholly by the federal government and administered through the National Flood Insurance Program, managed by FEMA. 

Wright senior communications manager Rob Langrell told Spectrum Bay News 9 due to privacy reasons he cannot discuss the Pifer policy but will put the family in touch with senior management.

Doug said until a decision is made his family will be stuck in limbo.

"Now I have to find a place to rent," he said. "I still have to pay my mortgage and it's just really been hard." ​

This is the latest setback for the family who've seen a string of bad luck.

"We had a business that went under from the coronavirus," said Doug. "Everybody had COVID. We had a flood. All of this happened within the last 8 months or 9 months of the year."