Irvine resident Frank Peloski, who was trapped in his home for 26 hours during the 2010 floods, holds up his eviction letter in front of his trailer on Thursday morning.--NEWS PHOTO IAN SORENSEN

DRP issues  eviction notices to three families with no homes to go to
GILLIAN SLADE
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Eviction notices have been served on the Irvine flood victims still in temporary housing, by the Disaster Recovery Program (DRP), even though none of the three families have homes they can move into yet.
"The letter in the mail said we have to be out by March 31," said Jaime Chatfield on Thursday morning, as she was mudding drywall in her house with an instruction manual at her feet.
"We will not be ready by then."
James and Jaime Chatfield together with their four children have been living in a mobile home provided by the DRP. Their home was uninhabitable due to black mold after the basement was flooded. They are frantically trying to prepare at least a bedroom for each of the children before they are evicted from their temporary home. There is no money for a furnace so they've installed a thermostatically controlled heater in each child's bedroom but there have been setbacks too.
"The supporting beam for the main floor gave way," said Jaime, pointing out the gaping hole on the floor. "James is trying to get a replacement."
Frank and Lynne Peloski have been living in one of the other DRP trailers and were first told they had to be out by Dec. 31 but were given an extension to March 31. They have no house to move to. Their flooded house could not be repaired.
"I'm trying to organize some trailers to live in," said Frank. "We've ordered a kit house to be shipped from California but it will not be here in time and will still have to be assembled."
"There was seven-and-a-half feet of water in the basement and 22 inches on the main floor," said Frank pointing to photos of enormous cracks in the foundation and walls. "The foundation walls cracked in five places. The cement floor heaved up."
The DRP offered them $75,000 compensation for the house and $25,000 to demolish it and clear the lot. Frank says they will still be out of pocket about $30,000.
"We won't get any money until we have paid first," said Frank. "We've said they'll reimburse us within 30 days."
The Chatfield's house had to be stripped of siding and drywall to rid it of mold. They were told only the basement qualified for repair under the DRP but have not received any compensation even for that.
"A contractor quoted $17,500 and a DRP official said we didn't need four inches of concrete, three would do," explained James. "(The DRP) whittled it down to $10,000 and then the contractor was not interested. When we said we would do the work ourselves to save costs they reduced it to $6,000."
James says the victims who complained got virtually nothing and many walked away with very little because they did not have the determination to fight the system.
"The amount of time dealing with these officials was simply not worth the time," said James.
rank says he is grateful for the temporary housing provided at a cost of $1 a month with free utilities but the system has been very frustrating.
The cost of each mobile home for temporary housing was $75,000, according to information supplied to the News when they were first installed.
"If they had given us that money we would have been able to move into our own home long ago," said Jaime.
The News left a message for the government communications spokesperson about the eviction notices. The call was not returned before press time.
If you have a comment about how the Disaster Recovery Program has handled the flood victims' claims, the News would like to hear from you. Please send your letters to the editor: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it