Tasty Bits, a South Louisiana boy, offers these tips to hurricane victims:

If you know anybody who has been affected, here are a few tips to pass along:

1) GET FLOOD INSURANCE. (for everybody)
2) Have somebody help them go through their things, and keep them from tossing everything. Five years later, they will wish they still had some of the things they tossed.
3) Warped, splitting, cracked wood can be repaired. Dry it as best as possible, and get a furniture restorer later.
4) American made sofas cannot be replaced, but they can be re-covered.
5) Reputable contractors will have a waiting list, and they will be more expensive. Make temporary repairs, and wait for a reputable contractor. A local contractor should have been in a previous year’s phone book.
6) Get the roof repaired as fast as possible, but use an established roofer. Wait for a reputable roofer.
7) A carpenter is not a contractor. A butcher and a surgeon cut muscle, but a butcher is not a surgeon.
 The place will be crawling with scammers. Scammers will promise twice much as a reputable contractor. The scammer will purchase the building material in the day, and the materials will be stolen that night.
9) The Insurance Company is not your friend. The settlement will seem high, but everything will cost twice as much. They will also include cheaper materials – stain-grade fir vs. paint-grade pine.
10) The government is not your friend. Once you get into and understand the system, it is a lot easier, but it takes time and patience. Also, the people who cheat have much less to lose. Do not take their advice.
11) People will need 6’ long tables with the plastic tops. The more surface space the better. Folding chairs are helpful also.
12) Plastic totes work better than boxes, and you can use them for years afterwards.
13) A used sofa is better than nothing, and a $250.00 Big Lots sofa works great.