Little Ferry Residents Slowly Pick Up The Pieces Following Sandy
LITTLE FERRY, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Many homes again have power in Little Ferry and Moonachie, but the recovery effort has just begun for residents.
Streets remained littered with water-logged furniture, carpeting, insulation and wall board on Wednesday.
Residents said the hardest part is coping with losing things that cannot be replaced.
WCBS 880's Sean Adams reports
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"My wife's parents just died within the last two years and everything that she had from them is totally gone -- memories, pictures, movies, memorabilia," Moonachie resident Bob Panachino told WCBS 880's Sean Adams.
Panachino said it feels like life is in a state of limbo, but added he is trying to keep perspective.
"This is our Katrina. And you know what, I consider myself one of the fortunate ones because there's other people that they've totally lost their house," he said.
Many residents have already filed paperwork with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for disaster relief, but said bills continue to pile up while they wait for answers.
"They're helping. It's a slow process but we're waiting. It looks like things are moving along," a Little Ferry resident told Adams.
Officials estimate 80 percent of the homes took on water when a berm breached.
"Emotionally, you just can't explain it in words," another resident said.
Some residents are still driving rental cars because theirs were destroyed in the flooding. But the residents all seem steadfast in their goal to rebuild, Adams reported, despite waiting on insurance claims to come in.
"I had to put in the boiler and the heater in on my own, that was $6,000," one man said.
"Emotionally, physically, we're all drained. But life goes on. We've got to keep moving," a resident told Adams.
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