Federal Emergency Management Agency employee Robert Alvey, right, walks with homeowner Ivy Liggins, foreground, and Michelann Ooten of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management on Thursday after FEMA assessed her home in Tulsa, Okla. FEMA was assessing damage from last month's ice storm.

Oklahoma City ? Billie Sabin was playing a game on her computer last month when a thunderous crash shook the small home in northwest Oklahoma City she shares with her husband, Warren.

A large elm tree, laden with ice, uprooted from her back yard on Dec. 10 and fell onto the couple’s home, sending a huge branch poking through her kitchen ceiling.

“It felt like the whole house was shaking,” the 64-year-old Oklahoma City woman said. “It scared me to death, and then my husband said, ‘Well, the tree fell.”‘

On Friday, federal, state and local officials got a firsthand look at the damage caused to the home as they traveled through the city to survey the wreckage from last month’s ice storms.

The two-day storm knocked out electricity to more than 600,000 homes and businesses and led to the deaths of nearly 30 people. It also caused millions of dollars in damage to homes, cars and other property.

The Sabins didn’t lose electricity and they paid to have the tree removed, but a giant hole remains in their kitchen ceiling, making it difficult to cook and heat the home.

“We had to put a kids’ wading pool in the middle of the kitchen floor to catch all the water that was dripping. Pans didn’t do it,” she said. “For two weeks I couldn’t really cook or anything because I didn’t want to go in and work in the kitchen and have it fall in on me.”

The teams, including representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Small Business Administration, visited Tulsa on Thursday as they try to determine if the damage qualifies Oklahoma for individual assistance that would allow homeowners to be reimbursed for uninsured damages.

The assessments will be sent to Gov. Henry, and it would be up to him to request an individual assistance declaration from FEMA.

“We’re really just out doing the fact finding today,” said FEMA spokesman Bob Alvey. “There’s no hard and fast benchmark that determines whether or not the individual assistance will be added. It’s a culmination of several things and there are a lot of factors involved.”

One key factor is whether the homeowners or businesses have insurance that will cover the losses. Another variable is if the state can absorb the cost, which Alvey acknowledged would be difficult since Oklahoma set a dubious record last year with eight presidential disaster declarations for ice storms, flooding and tornadoes that pummeled the state in 2007.

Sabin said she recently received a letter from her insurance company that damage resulting from ice was not included in her homeowner’s policy. With preliminary estimates for repairs at $30,000, Sabin said she would have a difficult time paying for the repairs.

“We would have to pay for it out of our pocket, which would hurt,” she said.

Michelann Ooten, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Emergency Management Department, encouraged homeowners with damage to first contact their insurance company and to document and keep receipts of all repairs that are made.

“Even if we receive additional assistance from the federal government, your insurance is the first line of defense,” she said.

Alvey said he couldn’t provide a timeline on when a decision would be made on approving individual assistance, but said Oklahoma’s experience with handling disasters should help expedite the process.

“We have tried very hard to do this as quickly as possible,” Alvey said. “We don’t want to let this linger. People need help now. They don’t need help in 6 or 7 weeks.”