What Happened Exactly One Month Ago Today?

Today is an auspicious anniversary: It was exactly one month ago, on August 28, when Hurricane Irene hit Bloomfield.

Though most residents lives’ have gone back to normal by now, there are still signs of Irene’s destruction.  In Watsessing Park this week, gigantic felled trees are still strewn across the park grounds, and the grass is an unnaturally bright green.  In the brook, rags and debris cling to tree branches while nearby, vegetation still lies smashed against the ground. 

But for the people of Bloomfield, the real story of what happened that day is evident behind closed doors, where homeowners are still struggling to recover, salvage or repair what they lost.  And all too often, what was lost is measured in uninsurable property damage and irreplaceable personal belongings.

Mary Ann Smith, a Bloomfield resident of 35 years, says her most painful memory of the storm was losing all her grandchild’s baby pictures and photo albums.

“We can never get those back, or have them replaced,” she said.

Smith and her husband Howard are still trying to clean up the massive amounts of debris that has rendered their once-tidy basement an unrecognizable mess.  The Smiths recall how, as they struggled to cope without electricity for five days, their basement filled with 21 inches of water.  At the same time, a neighbor’s tree took down their power lines and ripped the brand new siding off their newly-renovated Halcyon Park home.  Now everything, they said, is covered in mold and mildew.

“We had to take the grand kids and move out of the house,” Mary Ann said. “It completely disrupted everyone.  And to see the damage to the exterior of the house, after we just had it done, is upsetting. Now we have to wait to get that fixed.”

Because some insurance policies don’t cover damage caused by floods or natural disasters, tehre are plenty of homeowners who are never able to replace things they lose in a storm.  Although the Smiths did have some insurance, they have to present insurance companies with receipts before they can get reimbursed, which means they have to pay for all teh repairs up firnt.

And some repairs are not covered by their insurance.  They will simply have to pay for them outright. 

Jamie Menake, a Bloomfield resident for almost 4 years, can relate to the Smiths’ frustration.  She said this is the third time her basement was damaged due to a storm, but this time it was by far the worst.

Sewage backed up and poured out of the pipes into her finished basement, she says, causing an “unimaginable” smell. 

“It was completely disgusting.  I was just worried for my family’s health,” she says with a shudder.

As a precaution, Menake and her husband Doug went for tetanus shots and she banned her children, Jack, 2, and Kate, 6, from going down the basement at all.

Like the Smiths, the Menakes were only partially insured and will have to bear some of the costs of repairing the basement themselves.

“I’m so sick of this,” Menake said. “This has to be the last time we go through this.  I can’t live like this anymore.”

Though Menake said she has been waiting weeks for the work to be finished, she realizes she is fortunate to have the work getting done at all.  Even now, a month later, many people are finding it next to impossible to find plumbers and repairmen to help them fix the extensive damage.

Bloomfield contractor Derek Konasiewicz, 33, who has spent the past month replacing water heaters, ridding homes of mold and mildew, and installing state-of-the-art sump pumps, has made the best of a bad situation.  For him, business is booming.  He is still charging customers his pre-hurricane fee (a fee that is, by his own description, “beyond reasonable”) but he acknowledges that there are plenty of contractors ready to pounce when they see a desperate homeowner.

“A lot of companies are taking advantage of homeowners by charging outrageous fees,” says Konasiewicz with a shrug.

As, New Jersey law forbids merchants from raising prices by more than 10 percent during a state of emergency and 30 days after the declaration is rescinded.  That 30-day grace period is now offically over.

Happy one-month anniversary, Irene.

New Jersey residents can report price gouging or scams by calling the state hot line at 1-800-242-5846 or visiting www.njconsumeraffairs.com/disaster.