This is a terrible story from a friend in Manhattan. The coop apartment that he owns and lives in was flooded when a hose sprung a leak and caused water to gush into his apartment for several hours.

 If any one has any advice for this friend please let me know. It's also a cautionary tale: make sure you have homeowners or renters insurance.

My heart goes out to this friend, who is struggling through this situation bravely and valiantly. But still. It's awful to be without a home (like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone). In his own words:

 "A couple of months
ago I went out to dinner with friends and got back kind of late. Obama was in
town and the traffic was bad. When I arrived I found that my apartment was
gone. 

"A renovation in my
upstairs neighbor's apartment had sprung a leak causing water to gush through
my ceiling for several hours.  Okay so nobody's perfect.  Take
me for example, I didn't have homeowners insurance. All right mea culpa, I
know, pretty dumb.  Let me be a cautionary tale to all the rest of you and
all that. I thought watching water pour through light sockets into my
apartment was going to be the bad part. But apparently not.

"You see I’m not a
corporation which is what the contractor's insurance company would be up
against if I had homeowners insurance: I’m just a person who would like to live
in my home.  Weeks are turning into months and nothing has happened.
Evidently the insurance company doesn’t feel the need to pay a mere person.
 They sent various adjusters to check the damage and they all agree: it’s really
bad. I guess they don't like to write big checks. I myself don't like not
having an apartment. Floods are all over this town, they tell me shaking their
heads. (There was even an NYT article about it recently.) Chill out, the
insurance company tells me, they are still investigating. Investigating? We all
know whodunnit. There is no mystery here, no controversy, just another case
of a big company getting away with what it can.

"So now I am faced
with suing the company which will cost a third of what was going to be spent
restoring the apartment, a process that will take about two years.  Next
time I go out to dinner I hope I just get mugged, they can have my whole
wallet, no problem."