Flood victims, many trapped in tiny FEMA campers - some for more than a year, are making a last ditch appeal to Laura Bush, Oprah Winfrey and Montel Williams for help. They hope the First Lady and TV hosts can do what the President and Congress have been unable to do shine the light on wrongdoing within FEMA and help victims receive past due compensation.

EMA reneged on its agreement to conduct an independent review of victims’ flood insurance settlements written by FEMA’s business partners - private giants like Omaha, Nationwide, Travelers and nearly one hundred others. The Senate found the insurers as well as Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), the company that runs the privatized National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), approved low-ball settlements which resulted after the companies used artificially low numbers for settling the victims’ flood claims. Some were shorted more than one hundred thousand dollars.

The insurance is sold as full replacement cost coverage and premiums are fully paid by the policyholders without government subsidy. FEMA responded by quietly assembling a team of reviewers comprised of many of the same adjusters and adjusting firms associated with the mishandled claims. Many victims say they were never notified, others were told their insurance was only “a form of assistance.”In a recent report requested by Baltimore County, MD, fraud detection expert Steve Kanstoroom found conflicts of interest between the insurers, FEMA and the DHS Inspector General’s office.

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