Howell Residents Share Concerns with Congressman

It has been two days since heavy rains flooded a cul-de-sac on Mariners Cove, but still residents continue the process of cleaning up and figuring out what their next steps will be.

On Tuesday afternoon Representative Christopher Smith came to talk to the residents, learn about what happened to them and share what he can do to help them. Joined my members of the Town Council and other administrators, many of the residents are still wondering what is next for them.

One of those residents, Madeline Novello said she has lived on the otherwise quiet street for 10 years and said she had never seen anything like the damage that Sunday's storm did. "The street started to flood and then it receded and then the next thing I knew it was too late," she said. A second wave of water came rushing toward her house as both sides of the Manasquan River poured into her house. "It came so fast there was no stopping it," she said. 

Novello said before she knew what was happening there was four feet of water in the house and on Tuesday there were people tearing down the walls as part of the extensive cleanup efforts underway.

One of the biggest problems residents of the community are finding themselves in is that they are not listed as being in a designated flood zone. Because of that insurance companies are saying they will not pay for the damages. "Right now all we're doing is gutting the house and we'll go from there," Novello said. 

Another resident, Marcio Mescia said that in the six years he has lived in his house he has seen flooding, but not to the extents that it reached on Sunday. "Sometimes we have it more, sometimes we have less," he said. 

Fortunately for Mescia, he was not home at the time the storm hit the development which he said likely saved his car at the least. Many of his neighbors were not as lucky and the damaged cars could still be seen on the street and in driveways. When Mescia got back to the home around 11:30 Sunday night he said emergency responders took him by boat to his house to rescue his dog.

With no family close by and nowhere else to go, he said once the waters receded he and his wife and son had no choice but to move back into their extensively damaged house. "Upstairs is fine, but downstairs everything is gone. All the appliances are gone, the wood flooring is gone. It's a complete loss."

Like many of his neighbors Mescia said even if he wanted to move at this point it would be difficult to sell his house if potential buyers knew that there was no flood insurance available. Some residents on the street said knowing that something similar to what happened on Sunday can happen again they would prefer to cut their losses and sell their houses. 

For Smith, the longtime member of congress said he was glad to be able to meet with his constituents first hand and offer whatever help he could. That includes helping with mortgages on houses many of the residents can no longer live in. Smith said with the permission of the homeowners he would ask the respective mortgage companies to give the residents some relief on their upcoming payments.

Mayor Robert Walsh said he hoped with the combined efforts of the federal, state and local governments, a solution could be reached to prevent similar problems from happening in the future. "We have to do everything we can to ensure that this doesn't happen again," he said. 

One of the possible solutions to the problem that has been suggested is dredging the river to keep it clear from drain clogging debris. Walsh said he was not sure that would solve the problem. "We were told that would not solve it," he said. "I would hope that it would be that simple, but I do not believe it would be that simple. There's a lot more involved than just dredging it."

Deputy Mayor William Gotto said he believed the township did well in responding to help the residents when they were in need. "I think what happens is people kind of get used to seeing the town do things when there are these kinds of emergencies and we don't want to have to get used to it but we are getting better at it," he said. "I know that there's always things that we could always to do more and do better, but I think we're doing a lot."

Sunday's storm was another example of a major weather event the township has faced in the past 12 months. That has included storms that have dumped more than two feet of precipitation on the town, two near wind , and the from Sunday. Add to that the that was felt all the way up the east coast and Gotto said the township has had a lot of learning experiences. "We are more prepared now than we were two years ago to deal with any issue mother nature can throw at us," he said. 

Even still, Gotto said there is still more work to be done. "I think that the residents definition of being more prepared means don't ever let it flood. Our definition of being prepared is when it does flood what do we do and that's where we're at right now," he said. "Hopefully we'll be able to get to the point where we never have to talk about this again, but as far as the response and how we deal with it on an emergency basis we've had a need to have to get good at it."

In addition to the members of government who came out to lend assistance, local businesses also contributed to help the residents in their time in need. That included  provided breakfast for the residents and the people helping them clean up from the storm. Fredo's, another restaurant in Freehold also provided food later in the day while D also provided donuts and coffee to help the people in the neighborhood.

The donations were coordinated by Tracy Wasesky and Allison Berrebbi, who live in the same development but did not realize how bad the storm was until the next day. "We have good friends that live in this house that was destroyed," Wasesky said. "It was horrific." 

Berrebbi said it was a particularly bad storm because the rain kept coming and did not let up. "It wasn't stopping like it normally would and then go again," she said. Both agreed that the companies they approached about helping out eagerly provided whatever they could to help the residents who needed the food.

While the cleanup efforts continue, the residents of the street clearly have a lot of work to do still and a long way to go, but two days out the spirit of community is strong as they work together through these difficult times.