Tourists and Vultures In the Aftermath of Sandy
We took what we could by hand that morning (Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012). We returned later in the day to find that we weren't allowed to drive down there anymore even though the water had receded to about 1 foot in the street. The police were blocking people from driving down as there were too many tourists and vultures (i.e. people who want to see and people who want to take). My wish of the tide taking the debris out was not granted. We had even more now... hey check out that jeep in the driveway!
We had taken a few plastic bags and bins so that we could take some stuff with us but walking a mile back and forth with heavy items wasn't really working for us. We had to wait until the water receded fully and we could see the debris in the road before driving a truck down there.
We went back to my parents house to start making phone calls; insurance company - their phones were out. FEMA, DEC and Waste Oil removal services - no one was ready to help yet. They all took my information and told me they'd get back to me. We had no internet access, cell service or cable at my parents house but we did have electricity and heat... unlike most of Long Island. To get internet access from our iPods, we had to drive up a few blocks into a supermarket parking lot... it was like a haven for access. Cell service, 4g card, everything worked there. I don't have a clue why but I wasn't complaining... cell service and internet access were like gold at that time.
Although none of the other service providers (that I actually pay for) were available, we were able to get a POD scheduled to be delivered the next morning at my parents house (at a pretty penny might I add). The guy on the phone said it was the last one he had on the island and with none of the bridges and tunnels open, it would be a while before another would be available. Not sure if that was his sales tactic (I was buying anyway) but I did hear later on that people were waiting a month for a POD.
With the oil saturating our house, we needed to do everything we could to salvage what we had upstairs. The smell was terrible and everything inside and out was being damaged by the minute. I did what I could at the time, make phone calls and try to save what was left.
On Wednesday we returned to find more debris but less water. Not sure what to do first, we started cleaning outside. Moving the debris away. Here's an interesting picture of the flood level in our garage (42"). The lines you see there are markers from previous storms. The dirt/water line is from Sandy. The other picture is of the pile of debris we had outside of our driveway. We just kept on dragging stuff over, hoping someone would pick it up. The Village of Babylon did, using a big backhoe a few days later.
J went to find a truck to rent to bring our stuff to the POD. After 2 hours of searching, he found one and we started to vacate the premises. Family came out to help (my sister, his brother, both sets of parents). My mom watched the kids for us, everyone else started packing and cleaning; we ate halloween candy and pretzels for lunch as it was the only thing that was available. We wore masks so that we could breathe and booties so that we wouldn't ruin the upstairs carpet... what good that did as the smell of the oil alone has saturated everything now.
I posted for help on Facebook to see if anyone had any boxes or bins we could use to get everything out of the house but most people didn't have internet access so it was a futile attempt at first. In two days we removed all of our "stuff" furniture and all from upstairs and then we started the demo.
All I could think about was where were we going to put our stuff and where were we going to live? My parents had one bedroom open for us. All of our stuff that couldn't fit in the POD was in their already packed garage. Our clothes were in their dining room, our electronics in their living room, OH and we had tons of other people living there too because everyone was displaced due to the storm. My brother-in-law with his dialysis machine, my aunt, my cousins would stop by from time-to-time as they were hopping from house as well.
I can't even begin to tell you the devastation I felt and saw. I don't think I slept those first two weeks just trying to get organized. This wasn't going to be a 1 month thing, not even 2 or 3. This was 8 to 10 months of hell we were facing and I didn't know the half of it.
To be continued...
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