Hello. We were involved with a major ice storm that was declared by President Bush as a Major Disaster area. We had severe tree damage on our property that was not covered by home owners insurance that needed to be removed in order to be able us to access our driveway & home safely and as well as to enable the utility companies access to replace and repair electrical and phone wiring and also to prevent any futher damage to our home. The overall cost of this has placed an obvious burden on us financially, could I use funds available in my 401k as a hardship withdrawal to pay for this? Is this considered a casualty loss to principal residence because of the loss of property value?

Thank you for your time,
AA