Rot, and Truckloads of Goodwill,Many Long Island residents thought the storm would be a repeat of last year’s Hurricane Irene — dire warnings, but no real damage on the ground. So when floodwater surged into their homes, destroying their basements, washing away their cars, and threatening to drown them, Rabbi Boruch Ber Bender found himself at the epicenter of the disaster. A month later, his phone is still ringing off the hook.
“What large lovely houses ” I think with admiration as the car glides down a wide street in tonyLawrence New York. Set back from the ample lawns are pillared plantation-style mansions mock Tudor domiciles conservative Colonials. The landscaped bushes and trees look a bit threadbare but that’s to be expected on a chilly sunny day in late fall.
They are fabulous houses … but it seems there’s nobody home. Nary a car pulls out of a driveway; nobody emerges to walk a dog. And the curbs of these elegant homes are piled high with trash sometimes veritable mountains of garbage. A few of them have dumpsters parked outside loaded with damaged furniture broken boards and pieces of sheet rock.
Just four weeks ago you wouldn’t have recognized this place as a street at all. When Hurricane Sandy came barreling throughNew York this entire block was submerged under several feet of charging floodwater. The water has receded but the homes inside are destroyed.
“Here it was so flooded that Hatzolah couldn’t even get in” indicates Rabbi Boruch Ber Bender the director of Achiezer a community services organization that unexpectedly found itself at the epicenter of local relief efforts. “The cars were floating. There was a house that caught fire but nobody could get to it. It just burned down.
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