6 Months After Sandy, Thousands Homeless In NY, NJ

[Purveyor]

MANTOLOKING, N.J. (AP) -- The 9-year-old girl who got New Jersey's tough-guy governor to shed a tear as he comforted her after her home was destroyed is bummed because she now lives far from her best friend and has nowhere to hang her One Direction posters.

A New Jersey woman whose home was overtaken by mold still cries when she drives through the area. A New York City man whose home burned can't wait to build a new one.

Six months after Superstorm Sandy devastated the Jersey shore and New York City and pounded coastal areas of New England, the region is dealing with a slow and frustrating, yet often hopeful, recovery. Tens of thousands of people remain homeless. Housing, business, tourism and coastal protection all remain major issues with the summer vacation - and hurricane - seasons almost here again.

"Some families and some lives have come back together quickly and well, and some people are up and running almost as if nothing ever happened, and for them it's been fine," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a news conference Thursday. "Some people are still very much in the midst of recovery. You still have people in hotel rooms, you still have people doubled up, you still have people fighting with insurance companies, and for them it's been terrible and horrendous."

MORE...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SUPERSTORM_6_MONTHS_LATER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-04-27-12-32-46

[840high]

1. Where's the help they were promised?

[sandy78]

2. This is what happens when Republicans vote to cut spending and shrink our government

Less help for people that need it

[hack89]

3. One big issue is everyone is waiting for new flood zone maps

it is a state and federal issue.

[Thinkingabout]

4. Sad as it may seem, the truth is people affected by these storms sometimes does not have a home to

Return to or a home still not repaired. My heart goes out to everyone who are still facing challenges. I live on the gulf coast and have experience of aftermath but I have always had a home to go to.

[SoCalDem]

5. Actually, it's almost impossible to rebuild a lifetime's accumulations

in 6 months..even IF all the promised help materializes.

Bear in mind too, that MANY of the people who were harmed were also probably sitting on piles of debt...debt that is still owed even if a job disappeared with the storm (along with the regular income)

People who were paid hourly and still HAD their jobs, were seriously affected (in their wallets) by all the time they would HAVE to take off to tend to their losses.

NO AMOUNT OF INSURANCE can cover everything, and they are notoriously s-l-o-w at paying out, even though their mugs are all over on the media when they are there right after the "event".

It costs a LOT of money upfront to finish the demolition and to haul it away, and then there is the extra cost of just LIVING while going through this.

Many will NEVER fully "recover".

Probably the luckiest were renters who could probably just move elsewhere and make do with borrowed "stuff"