Long-Term Help 'Ready to Go' for Displaced Flood Survivors

When Hurricane hit Parsippany in August 2011, hundreds of township residents were left with shattered lives and damaged homes—some irreparably.

At the time, the thought of many of those in the helping fields was to deal with the immediate crisis, finding people shelter, providing food and services to keep victims afloat. But before long, it became apparent to many that recovering from a flood of Irene's magnitude would require much: commitment, money and time.

"It's a marathon," said Rev. Donald Bragg, pastor of . "Because of our experiences I knew that however things were handled in the shorter run, it would be a year and a half or more before people were truly up and running and that the enthusiasm would wane."

Bragg praised Parsippany's emergency services providers for the job they did immediately following the storm.

"They were awesome, they really proved themselves, especially for the three weeks or so where it was critical down there," he said. "We here at the church have been helping out with Katrina [relief in New Orleans] since it happened. This will be our seventh or eighth trip down there. We were also in Tennessee last year to help with Nashville, because they had horrible flooding down there."

So, knowing that real trouble lay ahead, a year ago, Bragg talked with Mayor James Barberio.

"He was very receptive to this kind of thinking from the beginning," said the reverend. "Everyone was saying, 'Fix the crisis, fix the crisis.' But I told him that a year and a half from now, everyone's gonna forget, all the resources will be expended and then there will be lots and lots of people who can't get back in their homes."

Bragg said what was needed was a mechanism in place to address long-term issues.

"Unfortunately, neither the town, county or state had fully functioning long-range recovery plans [at the time]," he said. "It has taken a long time to get those up and functioning. We've been to the point of almost utter frustration over the process but it turns out that Parsippany and Morris County are way ahead of the curve, so we've been helping set the tone for all our surrounding communities."

According to Mayor Barberio, Bragg indeed was the spark.

"He opened my eyes to the need coming down the road, which is now here," he told Patch. "The township of Parsippany-Troy Hills is focused on long-term needs through this committee. I thank Rev. Bragg, the town officials and the organizations doing their part. We're in this until the end."

Bragg said the local committee was organized based on national models.

"It's a pretty well-functioning committee," he said. "The summer's been a little slow, but we're still functioning. But we realized immediately that we would not be able to handle this alone, so we went to see what the county was doing."

On the county level, Bragg said most of the long-term flood relief work was being done by the newly formed Morris County Disaster Recovery Committee, which includes churches and nonprofit groups.

"All the major denominations—Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Catholic Charities, Lutheran Services, etc.—have been on the ground here to help," he said. "Lutheran Social Ministries accurately and early on assessed that New Jersey really was not prepared for the long-range thing, so they hired Kathryn 'Trink' Schwartz to get a committee up and running. They deserve the credit for causing the county to function.

"Trink was like a one-woman arm. We tied in with her to fast-forward the whole process."

Bragg said the local committee is now "set up and ready to go."

"We have quite a bit of money and resources," he said. "Catholic Charities did the preliminary casework for us, but in Parsippany we moved ahead with our own system. Just this past week, we've got 12 families that we've met wit. The stories are just like we predicted: [One family was] charged $20,000 to clean out their 
That doesn't leave them enough money to finish the rest of their house.

"All the stories are like this. They got way overcharged for the clean-out, then the contractor came and took the rest of their money and put drywall up over existing mold and mildew, so that's got to all come out and the house is basically useless."

"Some spent all their FEMA money," added Gen Otinsky, Bragg's assistant.

"There are a lot of really good contractors, very reputable people, but there were a lot of people who were just taken lock, stock and barrel," Bragg said, offering composites of Parsippany flood survivors' experiences. "Add to that the fact that people got back into their homes but hadn't gotten permits and then learned the house had to be raised, so they won't get their insurance unless they move out again and then raise the house and then repair it a second time. 

"What we're looking to do is have enough resources and the ability to help them within the next year. It'll be another year before a lot of them will be able to straighten out their lives."

If you remember last year's  and , Bragg notes that those efforts were needed desperately and valuable, but were focused only on short-term needs.

"People were able to get some groceries, paper towels and all, but in the end, it didn't get them into their homes. Now that help is gone and the money is gone," he said.
 
But there is assistance focused on the long term, thanks to the committee, which includes volunteers from various faith communities as well as civic organizations such as the Kiwanis Club of Greater Parsippany, Rotary Club of Parsippany-Troy Hills, the Parsippany chapter, the Woman's Club of Parsippany-Troy Hills and township representatives.

"They've been in the front line since the beginning," said Bragg. "They stand together on this."

"Many of the families are still going through the agonizing rebuilding process, whether it is in building permits, even to rebuild or not, buy-outs, etc.," said Michele Jennrich, who represents the Kiwanis Club on the local and county committees. "There is much work still to be done and we are working with the committee to help with what we are calling the unmet needs of those still in trouble, [dealing with] things not covered by FEMA, insurance or other avenues of help.  

"Our members want to help [and are willing to] get our hands dirty to help in our community."

Joseph Jannarone Jr., president of the Sons of Italy, dealt with the matter at the group's Aug. 21 gathering.

"We raised $842 by passing around a basket to help with more gift cards," he told Patch. "These people are in serious need and we are with the committee to make sure that help is there for them for however long it takes." 

"This committee has its own life now," said Bragg. "'s has said, 'What do you want?' The same thing with the : 'Do you want people? Do you want money?' They've done a lot, even on their own."

And some flood survivors are getting back on their feet, said Otinsky.

"A lot of people, through insurance, through FEMA, through resources and family, are making it," she said. "Those aren't the people we target at this point. We're looking to help the ones with long-term issues who can't make it without some help. That's really a long process, figuring out who really needs the help."

Some of the help involves finding creative approaches to stretch a dollar for cash-strapped people. Bragg said some homeowners get the most bang from their [Federal Emergency Manaqement Agency] or insurance dollar by getting help through the committee from volunteers to handle repairs when possible.

"What we're looking for are those who'll say, 'I have only $10,000 left and I need $20,000 in repairs,'" the reverend explained. "So we find volunteers to do the work and get them back into their house for the $10,000 or whatever they have left.

"This has been a hard process, and we're starting to see a significant amount of people who, when it's all said and done and all the smoke clears, aren't getting back into their houses."

Here, Morris County can provide some long-term assistance through its . 

Through the program, which is funded by the Morris County Preservation Trust Fund, the county helps municipalities acquire irreparably damaged flood-prone properties with the intent of turning the land, once the homes are demolished, into open space for perpetuity.

Program objectives are to provide natural open space areas for floodwater storage, to decrease the loss of life and property risk, to lower costs for the governments involved and to give hope for a new beginning to those stuck with flood-prone in which they can no longer live safely.

Freeholder Ann Grossi, a Parsippany resident and former Township Council member, is the freeholder board's liaison to the program. She told Patch that the extensive flooding and damage left in Irene's wake made it impossible not to act.

"It was unprecedented," said Grossi. "We felt on the freeholder board that it was imperative that we do something to help. Out of that, this program came about."

The freeholder said program coordinator Jennifer McCulloch was a primary architect of the Flood Mitigation Program.

"There was a feasibility committee that included Freeholder Grossi and [former] Freeholder Gene Feyl, a number of department heads and Morris County's Office of Emergency Management," McCulloch explained. "We did an awful lot of research. And FEMA and the New Jersey [Department of Environmental Protection]'s Blue Acres have been incredible mentors."

McCulloch said the committee was tasked with finding solutions that would help the flood-affected and be fiscally sound. 

"We did a cost-benefit analysis that showed that it was at least a break-even situation," she said, noting her decade's worth of land preservation experience. "There is a clear benefit to purchasing a home, demolishing it and returning the land to open space."

To date, according to Grossi, FEMA has given Parsippany $7.2 million to cover the acquisition of flood-damaged properties. 

“FEMA pays municipalities 75 percent of the cost of buying the homes from the owners; the program covers the other 25 percent,” she said.

While the program is targeted presently to those in Parsippany and other municipalities still navigating the result of Irene's treachery, Grossi said the effort has longer-term goals.

"One of the goals is to eventually buy more land in the flood zones," she said.

According to the freeholder, the public must be involved in the project and that municipalities must help as well.

"This is not coming from the county down," Grossi said. "It has to start with the municipality up. Municipalities that want to participate have to visit the flood zones and determine where it would be good to restore an area back to its natural habitat, to what it was before. The idea, over the long haul, is that we may be able to create natural [flood] barriers."

The idea, she said, is to move people out of harm's way should another Irene threaten the area in the future. 

The county program, like the Parsippany long-term committee, works in conjunction with the Morris County Disaster Recovery Committee. Working hand-in-hand, the local committee and the county committee help flood survivors address unmet needs not met by relief systems such as FEMA, Red Cross, the federal Small Business Administration and other disaster recovery programs.

One of those organizations is , which provided long-term help including crisis counseling and financial planning assistance. That group's involvement with Parsippany ended Sept. 1.

But for some, the crisis is ongoing, and Bragg said the committee's work will continue until it is no longer needed.

Freeholder Grossi agreed, noting that whatever one's politics, sometimes the only proper response is to lend a helping hand.

"You have to have some kind of social conscience," she said. "You have a responsibility to other people who can't do as well as you can do."

To contact the Parsippany long-term flood relief committee, contact Parsippany Presbyterian Church at 973-334-7958. If you need to reach the Morris County Disaster Recovery Group, get in touch with Rev. Paul Olsson of St. Paul's Church in Morris Plains at 973-285-0884. For more information on the Morris County Flood Mitigation Program, call 973-829-8120.