On October 29, 2012, Superstorm Sandy struck Long Beach, a beach community of 35,000. By the time the storm dissipated, hundreds of homes and apartments were left damaged, some permanently. Because the storm also disrupted essential services such as heat and electricity, many Long Beach residents were forced to stay at shelters or with family and friends. A handful of residents chose to remain in their homes despite the lack of utilities, including running water, out of fear that their homes would be burglarized and their few remaining possessions stolen. Still others accepted the help of the Red Cross and other disaster relief agencies and received food, clothing and shelter for a short period of time. Superstorm Sandy was declared a disaster in several states including New York. The federal government dispersed disaster aid to all affected areas through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds.
In the years since Superstorm Sandy, the City of Long Beach recovered significantly; homes were rebuilt, roads repaired, utilities reinstalled and even the famous boardwalk was replaced. Throughout the City of Long Beach, life has returned to normal for most of its residents, but not all. Some tenants of Long Beach's Channel Park Homes public housing development, operated by the Long Beach Housing Authority, have been waiting for more than four years for the replacement of their floors, kitchen cabinets and other items that were damaged by the floodwaters. The stories of three Channel Park Homes residents are highlighted below and are based on interviews conducted during March 2016 by Nuzhat Quaderi, ERASE Racism Community Organizer, and Benjetta Miller, ERASE Racism Social Work Intern. Benjetta Miller was the primary author of these narratives.
Mr. Isabelino Morales and Mrs. Margarita Morales
It is difficult to imagine Mr. and Mrs. Isabelino Morales' neat, cheerfully decorated apartment as possibly containing environmental health hazards. When we visit the Morales family, we are greeted warmly and welcomed into their home. Mr. Morales tells us he is a retiree who has been an active member in his community. He talks passionately about attending tenant meetings to gather information about the activities in his complex, including the efforts of the Long Beach Housing Authority (LBHA) to complete the renovation of storm-damaged apartments. Mr. Morales shows particular concern about the cabinets in his home that were waterlogged due to Superstorm Sandy's flood waters. The cabinets, not replaced as promised by the LBHA, still require regular cleaning with a mixture of bleach and water to remove mold that reappears on the surfaces within weeks of being cleaned. The stove that was soaked in contaminated flood waters has also yet to be replaced.
Through our conversation we learn that during the storm the Morales' apartment had between ten inches to one foot of water on the main floor. When the water finally receded, Mr. Morales and his wife found their floors covered with raw sewage. To make matters worse, without electric and gas services, the Morales were forced to leave their home for several days until the utilities were restored. The horrors of those memories are etched clearly on their faces as the couple recount having to leave their home. Mr. Morales said he was forced to throw away most of the furnishings in their home because they were soaked with water and covered in brown sludge. Sadly, the Morales' also had to discard many personal items including irreplaceable family mementos.
After the storm the Morales were horrified to find their tap water was brown and odorous. To this day, they run the water until it clears up and can only use the tap water for showers. In fact, the couple purchases bottled water for drinking and food preparation. Mr. Morales reported that their budget is severely strained due to this unforeseen but necessary expense.
According to Mr. Morales, it took the LBHA three to four months after Superstorm Sandy to finally arrive at his home to conduct repairs. He points to the wall in his living room at a section that is approximately ten inches up from the floor and says, "this is where they replaced the wall," indicating the lower portion of the wall where it was cut and replaced with new sheetrock. Looking closely we can see where the wall was removed, and it is clear that the cut was not made at least a foot above the water damage as recommended by FEMA and health experts. Mr. Morales says he is not satisfied with the work that was done for several reasons. The floor moldings were not installed evenly and were not caulked, leaving large cracks at the base of the walls. To make matters worse, LBHA did not replace the flooring or the two steps in the staircase which were submerged in the contaminated floodwaters. As the conversation continues, Mr. Morales runs his hand along the wall, describing the chalky texture. When he lifts his hand off the wall it is easy to see the fine layer of dust that he believes is a result of the poor quality paint used by LBHA. It is clear the couple see this dust as a health hazard, particularly to Mrs. Morales, who only recently began suffering from respiratory ailments.
Mr. Morales believes his wife's health is adversely affected by the lack of appropriate remediation in their home. Mrs. Morales sees a pulmonologist once a month, has difficulty breathing after walking short distances and climbing stairs, and uses an oxygen tank. She shares that sadly, she can no longer participate in many of the activities she formerly enjoyed because of her chronic respiratory condition. Mrs. Morales says that she had enjoyed relatively good health before Superstorm Sandy. It is clear from our conversation the couple is seeking only the basic remediation they are owed so they can finally put the past behind them and feel comfortable in their home once again.
Mrs. Willie Mae Parker
Mrs. Willie Mae Parker, mother and grandmother, has been a resident of Channel Park Homes for over twenty years. With a warm welcome, she invites us into her home on March 11th and shares the story of her experience before, during, and after Superstorm Sandy.
Mrs. Willie Mae Parker, her late husband, and her daughter, Natasha, were all at home when Superstorm Sandy hit the shores of Long Beach. Mrs. Parker tells us that prior to the storm she and her family had discussed leaving until it passed, but they thought the damage would be minimal. Unfortunately, she soon realized that the storm would cause far more damage than they had anticipated.
On the evening of October 29th, after everyone had already gone to bed upstairs, Mrs. Parker noticed that water was seeping rapidly into her living room from under the front door. She rushed upstairs to alert her husband and daughter, but by the time they went downstairs to retrieve their personal items, more than six inches of water had accumulated on the main floor of their home. "The water was pretty high by the time we made it downstairs; I know it was because the water went into my boots as soon as I stepped off the stairs," says Mrs. Parker. The Parkers salvaged whatever food, water and household items they could carry, taking the items to the upper floor of their home for safekeeping. Mrs. Parker recalls trying to contact her daughter in Georgia who had been worried about the family's well-being, but that only one of the telephones in her home was working. The Parkers remained upstairs in their home overnight without heat, lights and water. Willie Mae says, "We stayed awake for a long time looking out of the window and we saw water everywhere." The family remained upstairs until the storm had subsided and the waters began to recede. The next day, when the family went downstairs to survey the damage to their home and community, Mrs. Parker tells us that residual water sat throughout the first floor of her home and contaminated flood water was in her kitchen cabinets, refrigerator, and stove. The family lost all of their furniture, computer and other electronics. Willie Mae wrinkled her nose in disgust as she told us about the brown putrid water and sewage pooling on the floor and saturating the contents of the main floor of the home.
Realizing she couldn't bear living in these conditions, Mrs. Parker and her daughter left their home to stay with her son and his family across town. Mrs. Parker tells us that although she tried to convince her husband to leave with her, he and another son remained home to prevent looters from entering in their absence. Willie Mae remained across town for approximately one week, during which time she and other family members returned to the apartment daily to remove the standing water and discard their damaged property. The family was without lights and heat for more than two weeks; it took weeks after the storm before her refrigerator was replaced. She says she was also told that her stove was working, nevertheless, she was extremely reluctant to use it since it had been inundated by water during the storm.
Sometime in November, more than a month after the Superstorm Sandy, LBHA finally arrived to replace the walls in the Parker home. Mrs. Parker tells us she was concerned about the possibility of mold growth on and behind the walls. The LBHA workers cut away and replaced several sections of the lower portion of her walls on the main floor of the home but neglected to replace the walls in the bathroom on the first floor. Willie Mae recalls someone from LBHA telling her that since the outer walls on the main floor had been replaced the walls in the bathroom were okay and did not require replacing. When asked whether the walls supporting the baseboard heating system in her living room were replaced, she said she believes the walls were not addressed.
Unfortunately, to this day the cabinets and the stove in the Parker kitchen have yet to be replaced. Four years later, Mrs. Parker, feeling uneasy about using cabinets that had once been sitting in flood waters and sewage, is still forced to use other areas in the kitchen to store her cookware. During the work week Mrs. Parker is also responsible for taking care of her two- year old grandson, who was recently diagnosed with asthma. Willie Mae says her grandson is not allowed to play outside out of fear physical exertion may cause him to have an asthma attack.
Melissa Miller
Melissa and her husband are raising their two daughters, ages nine and seventeen, in Channel Park Homes. The day Superstorm Sandy hit, the family decided to remain in their apartment rather than seek shelter with their relatives. Melissa describes how the flood waters began pouring into her home through the windows and door. "The ocean and the bay met and all of a sudden water was coming in from everywhere." Melissa notes that during the time her family has lived in Channel Park Homes, sewage has occasionally overflowed into her front yard from a sewage drain located in close proximity to her front door. "But this time was worse...as the water rushed in so did excrement. The water rose to the top step of my staircase and it was like the first floor of my home became a sewer. I [have] suffer[ed] from panic attacks for years and the shock of what I saw that day caused me to have a panic attack." The Miller family was forced to leave their home after Superstorm Sandy moved out to sea and they stayed with relatives for three weeks. Melissa recalls, "It was hard for me to forget seeing raw sewage floating in my home." Her husband handled the cleaning of their apartment and eventually the family returned home.
The Miller family's home was among the first LBHA repaired. Water, electricity and gas services were restored and LBHA provided a new refrigerator. "I had asked for a new stove but they said, 'Your pilot light is on and the stove is working so you don't need a new stove.'" Melissa tells us she use to enjoy preparing nutritional meals for her family but since the storm she has been afraid to use the stove. "I remember my stove sitting in all that sewer water, and since they won't give me a new stove, I use all types of disinfectant to clean. One time I was burned while trying to clean my stove and I got frustrated, I'm wondering what happened to the money that was supposed to help us after the storm? I have the same stove, the same tiles and they are starting to crack and no one is coming to change them." LBHA cut out and replaced half of the walls on the main floor and the wood under the kitchen sink; however, the wood floor moldings were not replaced. Despite Melissa's daily cleaning of all wood surfaces with disinfectant, an odor emanates beneath the kitchen sink that makes her nauseous. Melissa requests that LBHA remediate her home using the money the government set aside for her community.