I spent today at the Jersey shore helping my mom clear out her house. She got flooded and had 4 feet of water in the first floor. The worst part is, she just finished a full gut renovation in May.
The whole community still has no power. While I was there, from 10:00AM until 7:00PM, I did not see a single utility truck, FEMA, Red Cross, or any other official of any kind. What I did see were three different crews of people who stopped by the house to offer us food, water and hot coffee. All volunteers from churches in the area. After a couple of hours in a foot of water in a cramped crawl space beneath the house in 40 degree weather, the hot coffee was a very welcome comfort. I don't know how the people who were really badly affected by this storm, who have nowhere to go other than their own busted up, flooded house with no heat, hot water or electricity, are able to handle this day after day. I went through boxes and boxes of old pictures that were ruined. My wife's wedding dress was there for "safe keeping" as well. Years of memories and personal items I never took with me when I moved out years ago, but my mom had saved....it was tough. I am heading back again tomorrow to do it all over again. I have lots of friends who live on Staten Island and New Jersey who lost everything. I had no idea of any of this until Thursday because I had no TV or internet access until then. I will be volunteering with the clean up on Staten Island as much as possible over the next couple of weeks. Here is a pic of the pile of stuff my mom and I tossed from her house. This was when we were about half way done today:
This is the first time her neighborhood has flooded in over 100 years. However, after Katrina, the insurance companies that will provide insurance in this area will no longer provide content coverage for the items in your house. Flood insurance covers structural damage, sheet rock, etc. Homeowners insurance will not cover flood damage to the contents of your home either. Good times.
I'm not trying to bring everyone down, but the affects of events like this don't tend to be understood by people until they have it happen to them. I'm a very happy-go-lucky kind of guy normally but this storm hurt a lot of people I care about. If the deadline doesn't get extended, I might not finish because I will be busy helping out where I can in Staten Island and south Jersey. Lots of people who need a lot of help in those areas.
And to get you back to your regularly scheduled not caring, a pic of the uke:
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