HOUMA — The wind-versus-flood debate – meaning which caused the damage – was all the rage three years ago when Katrina and Rita forced impacted residents to review their insurance policies.

But among the biggest industry shockers this go-around involves a special hurricane deductible attached to some homeowners policies.

After hurricanes Gustav and Ike battered Louisiana’s coastline this month, many homeowners expected to see the traditional deductible of $500 or $1,000 on their policies. Instead, many found a new kind of deductible based on a percentage of their home’s insured value.

For Steven Evans of Houma, that special deductible on his Allstate policy is $18,000. He said he has an unused home-equity loan to put toward the sum but will need to consider other means to make up the difference.

Evans said his child’s college fund and his retirement are likely to be pilfered, but he’s “lucky” – lucky to be living in a camper next his home and lucky that the damage from Gustav won’t drain his savings completely. Still, some assistance would be helpful, he said.

That’s why Evans said he did the most logical thing. He made the same move as his neighbors and friends: He turned to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. However, FEMA told Evans that his home, despite the mold and water damage caused by a destroyed roof, was “livable” and he would not be eligible for any type of assistance.

“The ceiling fell in our dining room and in my daughter’s room,” Evans says.” They say that is livable.”

Now Evans finds himself alongside other working families who never thought they would need assistance from the government. It’s a gray area, a place where even bureaucracy slips between the cracks.

On paper, many middle-class families exceed FEMA’s income requirements, but with the loss of clothes, food and everything else left behind in their homes, they contend their salaries aren’t worth what they used to be.

“My main question is what is the government going to do to help people like me, that aren’t eligible for most if not all of the assistance?” Evans said. “I am only asking this because I need help financially to get past this and I feel that we – the middle class – have the burden of supporting all of these programs but we are turned down when we need to use them.”

During the days directly following the landfall of Hurricane Gustav, next-door neighbors became news sources and rumors about assistance spread quickly. For instance, some families were under the impression that they could rely on FEMA to pay for their deductibles.

“Generally, FEMA is not going to pay for your deductible,” said Jim Stark, director of the FEMA Louisiana Transitional Recovery Office.

As a result, coastal residents are finding they can only count on themselves, according to Don Hingle, president of the south central region for Whitney Bank. Since deductibles are higher than what they were during the 2005 storm season, he said fewer claims are being filed in an effort to avoid increased rates.

In short, Hingle said many residents suffered significant damage, but not enough to justify paying an inflated deductible. Among the only options left is throwing cash, whether personal or borrowed, at the problem.

“Everyone, just about, is going to pay out of pocket,” Hingle said. “That hurts. Basically you’re self-insured unless your house gets flooded or you get hit really hard or a tornado hits your house.”

Al Trautman knows this all too well, as do his neighbors in Lydia, a small community just south of New Iberia. His story from Hurricane Rita three years ago isn’t uncommon. Three feet of water tore through his house, creating a panoramic view of his backyard from his bedroom.

It took four months for an insurance adjuster to even show up at Trautman’s home – not that it helped any. Like others in the region at the time, he felt bamboozled by the insurance industry and the federal government, neither of which could offer assistance.

So he rebuilt on his own, which turned out to be an inspirational experience, Trautman added, until Hurricane Ike took a westward approach toward Texas just days after Gustav, passing Louisiana’s coastal communities along the way and pushing its waters behind Gustav’s own lingering surge.

Now Trautman, along with hundreds of other folks from down the bayou and up the street, are starting over from scratch. But it’s a bit harder for him – following Rita, due to all of the restoration work needed to his home, Trautman opted against getting hurricane insurance again.

Trautman, who recently turned 66, called the decision an “error” in an interview this week and, since Ike made landfall, he has attempted to secure FEMA assistance for the apartment he is renting with his wife. But the process took on a familiar tone.

“FEMA told us that they won’t be able to help us out with that,” Trautman said.

As for how insurance issues might impact future hurricanes in south Louisiana, state Insurance Commissioner James Donelon said it’s too early to tell. But there was enough widespread damage in other states from Gustav and Ike to have a “chilling effect” on companies wanting to write policies near the coast.

“If I had to say where I expect this to end, I would say that we would be on hold for a year, with companies taking inventory of the two storms and effects on their bottom lines and resuming their writings on a more aggressive basis a year from now,” Donelon said. “Right now it’s way too early to comment on that.”

The chairman of Louisiana’s Senate Insurance Committee says he will ask companies to use the percentage deductible for named storms only once for homes or businesses hit by both hurricanes this year.

Senator Don Cravis, a Democrat from Opelousas, says he, the chairman of the House Insurance Committee and Donelon are considering a bill to make such a limit mandatory.

Many insurance companies are setting deductibles for named storms as a percentage of a property’s value – up to 5 percent. That could mean payments of up to $10,000 – $5,000 per storm – for someone whose $100,000 house has a 5 percent named storm deductible and was hit by both hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

Donelon told the committee on Friday that he could support a one-storm limit. But he said banning the special deductibles entirely would keep many companies from selling insurance in Louisiana.

Aside from insurance issues, there have been other shockers experienced through the recovery process for Louisiana’s resident. In the Baton Rouge area, where there are still residents without power, there’s been a call to action by the region’s congressman for FEMA to help with the cost of generators.

They can run anywhere from $800 to $5,000 or more, depending on their output, and the financial burden grows with the need for fuel. But as it stands now, if you want cash from FEMA to cover the costs of a Gustav- or Ike-series generator, you’ll have to prove that it was needed to “power a medically required appliance or piece of equipment.”

U.S. Rep. Don Cazayoux, a Democrat from New Roads, has asked FEMA – and the agency is considering the request – to allow all residents to be reimbursed for generators if they have incurred a loss of electrical power for more than seven days. He argued that a lack of electricity leaves “many of our most vulnerable citizens at risk.”

Lawmakers are also asking the feds to improve and expand the Disaster Food Stamp Program since so many residents have lost the contents of their freezers and refrigerators.

Any assistance at all would be welcomed, Trautman said, because even a little goes a long way, whatever kind of relief it might be. For instance, he said, after long days of gutting his house, Trautman likes to enjoy a scoop or two of ice cream with his wife. It’s a taste of normality, if nothing else, and helps to bring life back into perspective.

A helping hand from the insurance industry and federal government could do have same affect, Trautman said, although he framed it as only a Cajun could, in a language FEMA and insurance giants definitely wouldn’t understand.

“It would really help us get rid of that coullion,” Trautman said laughing. “That’s all.”