Flooding Victims Wait For Decision On Aid From FEMA
LITTLE FALLS, N.J. (CBSNewYork) – Help could finally be coming for residents in Little Falls, New Jersey whose homes were flooded during a recent storm.
Nearly two weeks ago, flood water left behind inches of mud, and likely mold, it many houses. Some have been deemed uninhabitable.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials are surveying the damage Thursday.
Residents hope to receive federal money to help them recover.
"The water started flying in here, I just got out of here because I didn't want to get electrocuted," said Joe O'Connor, who lives on Little Falls Road.
For brothers Joe and Don O'Conner, cleaning and rebuilding will be a task they might have to do without any help. They say they could not afford flood insurance.
"It's either eating or buying flood insurance, so the option is not to buy the flood insurance," said Don O'Connor. "You gotta eat and buy medications."
Neither brother have seen FEMA inspectors in their neighborhood.
"We had five and a half feet of water in the time it took him to walk a block," resident Dana Gutschmidt said. "What three, five minutes... that fast."
The water is gone but the destruction remains. For Gutschmidt, who lives on Cedar Street, it's almost everywhere you look.
"From the water and all the moisture, the ceiling started sagging. So we just ripped it all out," she said.
She said it cost about $60,000 to fix.
"That's not including the two cars that we lost and all the stuff inside that we lost," she said.
Gutschmidt said she saw FEMA agents in the neighborhood Thursday.
"They clicked a couple pictures. The one lady smiled at me, and they kept walking," she said. "What is that doing, what have you guys been doing for a week and a half now?"
"I only was allowed to move back into my house yesterday," she added.
CBS2's Marc Liverman spotted officials walking up to wrecked homes, assessing from the outside and tallying some of the damage.
"He said no they're not allowed to go inside, they just assess from the outside. So what is that doing?" said Gutschmidt.
She and her neighbors hope the agency will declare the area worthy of federal help.
A little bit of hope could be found elsewhere, too, Liverman reported. One homeowner placed the word "believe" on the rubble in front of his property.
"It's believe the spirit will be back. That's what that's about," resident John Reilly said.
FEMA has not said when it will make a decision about the assistance.