LeonardS, please provided an authoritative reference for your comment that "you have to live in the area defined in the disaster declaration to claim a casualty loss." I have seen several secondary sources make this comment, but when I go to IRS Publication 547, Casualties, Disasters and Thefts for use in preparing 2021 returns, page 3, I find this on-point quote: "Federal casualty loss. A federal casualty loss is an individual's casualty or theft loss of personal-use property that is attributable to a federally declared disaster. The casualty loss must occur in a state receiving a federal disaster declaration." If the IRS wanted to limit deductibility of a disaster casualty loss to the area defined by the disaster, they would have said that. Also, since thefts are typically not the immediate result of a federal disaster, a theft that is attributable to a federally declared disaster (say, because of lotters due to no power and no police protection) is deductible, and further supports the "attributable to" distinction.
