Phase 2 of Post-Irene FEMA Elevations Underway

Dignitaries and Parsippany citizens gathered Tuesday morning to witness the start of a new chapter for a Lake Hiawatha family and for the township.

More than a year and a half after Hurricane Irene devastated sections of the Parsippany community, and after three severely damaged houses were lifted above the 100-year flood plain last year thanks to a $7.2 million Federal Emergency Management Agency Flood Hazard Mitigation Grant, three more residences are in line to be raised in the hope of allowing families to go home again.

The first of those families is the Young family: Kayne, Tiffany and their two young sons. Work to raise their Irene-damaged Lake Shore Drive house, part of FEMA's second phase of elevations, began Tuesday morning. This round of raisings will also include 49 Lake Shore Drive and 1 Mohican Place. 

Kayne Young, a near-lifelong Parsippany resident like his wife, said his family feels fortunate to be the first in round two, however, he insisted it took hard work, tenacity and a lot of pain to get to this point.

Since Aug. 28, 2011, when Irene brought massive amounts of water from the Rockaway River through lower Hiawatha streets, his family has been stuck in a cramped one-bedroom apartment in the township and dealing with rent payments, other bills and a mortgage that still must be paid each month. In the interim, the 39-year-old father developed a heart ailment that forced him onto disability, and his wife was laid off from her job with Jersey Central Power and Light.

On top of all that, he said it was very easy for town officials and staffers to ignore them.

"We had to make sure we were in their faces," he said. "My wife went to the wall to make sure they knew we were determined to get back into our house."

Young said he's gone back and forth on whether he believed town government cared. 

"I remember the first community meeting after the storm at the [Parsippany Police Athletic League building]," he said, shaking his head. "I actually saw [a town official] fast asleep. Knocked out cold. He really cared, didn't he."

But persistence paid off, he said, giving thanks to U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen and Michele Sylvin, Mayor James Barberio's confidential assistant, for their care, concern and assistance; and to his wife for never backing down.

"We had to fight to be here, so this is a relief," he said, noting the constant phone calls and visits with FEMA staff and the many community meetings held for flood survivors. "They say we could be back home before the end of the year, maybe by September. That will be more than two years.

"That's too long," he continued, adding how hard the situation has been on his sons, one now 6 years old, the other one not long from heading to Parsippany High School. "They need their space, their own room, especially my older boy."

This round of elevations will be the task of 1 Sound Choice of Pompton Plains, which won the job through a bid process.

Owner Ryan Herd, of Pequannock/Pompton Plains, knows people can be skeptical when they find out that his main job is installing audio and video systems. But he said he himself had been flooded out numerous times in the past five years—spending months on end living in a recreational vehicle when his own home was uninhabitable—and decided to go into the elevation business "to know I am making a measurable difference and to help."

Herd said he is so serious about making life better for people who live in flood-prone areas that he is now a member of the Pompton Plains Flood Advisory Committee.

"Once people know my story, they understand," he said. "I know what they're going through. And I'm going to do whatever I can to get them back home."

Barberio hailed the start of phase two, noting the long process. He said the reason that Parsippany has been able to earn the privilege of receiving the FEMA grant is because "we did everything right, we followed the rules."

Joanne Bergin, a shared-service liaison who represents municipalities including Parsippany in dealings with FEMA, said the mayor was absolutely correct.

"Parsippany is not in a repetitive flood area," she said, noting that the township compiled a list of 52 severely damaged homes that proved to FEMA that it truly needed the agency's assistance. "But the engineers, the building department, they followed all the steps to the letter. That's why this is happening today."

Asked why it took a year and a half for the money to come in, she said that because four layers of government are involved, there is no way to make the process speedy.

Last year's FEMA-funded elevations took place at 17 Chesapeake Ave., 67 River Road and 6 Seminole Ave.; a home at 60 Lake Shore Drive is under construction now. 

Among the dignitaries in attendance were Town Council members Michael dePierro, Jonathan Nelson, Vincent Ferrara and Paul Carifi Jr.; District 26 Asw. BettyLou DeCroce; and District 40 Asm. Steve Rumana (who is known as "Mr. Flood" for his work dealing with flooding in Wayne) and the Rev. Donald Bragg of Parsippany Presbyterian Church, who volunteered as an emergency responder during Irene and serves as head of the town's Long-Term Flood Recovery Committee.