When federal agencies cease to have a heart, expect the wounded masses to sport theirs upon their sleeve.
Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine, Senators Mario R. Mattera, Dean Murray and Anthony Palumbo, and Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico were among the local leaders who voiced their displeasure with FEMA’s decision to deny additional relief requests from Long Islanders impacted by the Aug. 18-19 floods.
“Families throughout Suffolk County have laid out tens of thousands of dollars to fix their homes, remediate mold damage, and replace lost possessions,” the senatorial triumvirate wrote in their letters this week to Governor Kathy Hochul, who indicated she would appeal the FEMA ruling.
“In the wake of this disaster, it is unconscionable to us that the federal government would turn its back on struggling families and seniors in their time of need, but that is precisely what is happening.”
The late summer-set 10-inch tally of rainfall did not just devastate homes across Suffolk’s North Shore, an area the Governor swiftly designated with the “State of Emergency” stamp at the time. In addition to the estimated $100 million in damages accrued by the Towns of Brookhaven, Huntington and Smithtown, the wash-out of Stony Brook’s Mill Pond destroyed all of Harbor Road.
The collapse of the Stump Pond dam inhibited hikers of Smithtown’s beloved Blydenburgh Park as well; considerable blockage in the surrounding area threatened local library attendance and small business commerce like never before.
Funds were requested to assist approximately 2,000 homeowners, who applied for legislator-lobbied relief under the presumption that help would be on the way. Many of these affected residents did not have flood insurance, because why would they?
Common townsfolk and their elected representatives alike know full well that weather events of this magnitude do not come around often here, and that a proper defense must be put into immediate place for when they happen again.
In the immediate, homeowners with ravaging damages are rallying for six-figure amounts to repair their homes that may only qualify for up to $50,000—nothing more—in state-issued grant relief.
Meanwhile, several Suffolk County residents who experienced substantial physical damages and related emotional turmoil still find themselves hanging in the balance of recoil; for on technicalities alone, their strife was deemed not enough for the federal government to assist, yet just enough for them to be rebuffed.
Jennifer Vlacich, of Rocky Point, recalls that in the wee hours of Aug. 19th, at approximately 4:30 a.m., she was getting ready for a road trip with her 14-year-old son, Julian. She opened the basement door for her cat to pass through, only to find a sight she had never seen—even through Hurricanes Sandy and Irene, amongst others.
“Things were floating past me.”
Documenting the aftermath of the horror through photographs once their safety could be temporarily assured, Vlacich surmised that over 5 feet of water had befallen the nether parts of her home’s foundation.
Immovable stalwarts of the home like her washing machine and dryer were among the items now floating by her waistline. 60-plus years worth of memorabilia were knocked from the shelves and indefinitely out of commission. Her father’s Army footlocker. An extensive Barbie collection from childhood. The TV set—everything was ruined.
Vlacich called her mom, Helen Cavasin, to confirm what was happening, their insurance company soon after that, and made the additional calls to have the water drained at once. Her end-of-summer road trip, meanwhile, was rendered over before it began—she found her Nissan Rouge to be flooded up to its dashboard.
“When I originally started the car, it was smoking,” Vlachich said. “I turned it off, and it was totaled.”
Vlachich’s mother’s car—parked on the side of the home—was also totaled. Along with their shed. Their lawn mower, tools, Christmas decorations and tree. And their garden. Everything was gone.
Except, of course, what little hope remains.
“As days go by, still all these months later, we are still realizing all that we lost,” Vlacich confided in an interview with The South Shore Press. “We maxed out our credit cards to pay for the water drainage; I’ve written, e-mailed, called, gone in person to the Town of Brookhaven's offices to request a drain to be put in—we live at the bottom of a huge hill, and next to a drainage ditch.”
Vlachich confirms that the Town eventually came and put asphalt down—and that was about it.
As politicking with regard to the issue remains in full bloom, Vlachich remains relatively hopeful that the flowers in her family's beautiful garden will soon flourish once again.
“Will there be relief? We were so hopeful,” she said. “Since the Town won’t put in a drain, we were quoted by three companies to put in our own drainage, a sewer pump or a drainage pump—each cost over $20,000.”
Vlacich says that even though President Joe Biden declared this area of Suffolk a disaster, FEMA would only pay for a certain amount of infrastructure repairs, and not hers. She actually had paperwork in at one point with FEMA to replace her workout equipment and medical supplies used for physical therapy, as she is disabled.
But so far, no cigar. As the puzzled public has since come to learn, FEMA isn’t looking to foot the bill over anything.
“All we lost apparently wasn't enough, all the money we paid out, solutions to make sure this doesn't happen again… isn't important enough to receive help,” Vlacich believes. Though grateful for the GoFundMe made in support of her family home’s woes—she would prefer the government stop refusing them.
It’s not as much as Vlacich and her family deserve, but as of this current moment, her local government stands beside her, and others like her who are suffering from similar plights.
“This was not a standard or heavy rainfall event,” said Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico. “This was rainfall akin to a natural disaster of almost biblical proportions. The people most affected, especially but not limited to Rocky Point, should be helped by FEMA because most would never have dreamed of having to procure flood insurance."
Panico concluded his statement by declaring the Town—along with Senator Anthony Palumbo and Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio—would join the State of New York in appealing.
“Why isn’t our loss enough?” Vlacich emphatically asks. “Why isn’t the debt we went into enough? Why are we not as valued?”
To donate to the GoFundMe campaign organized to provide relief for Jennifer Vlacich's estate, visit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-jennifer-and-julian-after-flood-damage