One family's Sandy story from Peter King's District (Long Beach)

[HockeyMom]

The woman is a friend of my daughter's from church. I was supposed to visit with her when I was in NY, but then Sandy hit and we were unable to reach her.

This woman is 84 years old and lived alone is a small ground floor apartment near the water. Her son also lived nearby and owned a business on the island. When Sandy hit, he rushed over to his Mom's to get her out. She was standing in knee deep water in her apartment and was refusing to leave without her belongings. Her son literally carried her out of the rising water in her apartment. The water eventually rose to 8 feet and everything was destroyed. The same for her son's apartment and his business. They both escaped with the only the clothes on their backs.

Both Son and Mom have moved in with with her daughter farther inland. Their apartments are contaminated and they cannot return. My daughter just received a phone call from the woman 2 days after Christmas.

She said she couldn't call any earlier because besides everything else that happened with Sandy, her son tried to commit suicide a month a ago. He was so despondent after losing everything, and all the bills piling up from his business that he has no way of paying. Both are totally dependent on his sister for their survival. Mom told my daughter she just cannot stop crying. "My entire life is gone and now I almost lost my son too".

Real people. They, and so many others, need help NOW.

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. tragic.

[redwitch]

2. Heartbreaking.

And the jerks in Washington couldn't get it together to help them?

[JustAnotherGen]

3. Thank you HockeyMom

I know there is some snark floating around about Governor Christie and Rep. King - but New York and New Jersey came through for Team Obama. We consistently pay a higher amount into the Fed than we take back. And every second the clock ticks makes it worse. New Jersey is incredibly reliant on our shore visitors. We could be putting people back to work now IF we had the funds to rebuild. And we need to start NOW to have a snowball's chance in hell of being beach ready by Memorial Day. What just happened to us was absolutely criminal.

[LisaLynne]

4. Thank you for sharing this story.

It puts a very real face on the suffering. And it's just one story. There are far too many others.

There was a woman in my town who committed suicide after a fire in their apartment complex destroyed everything she owned. Losing everything like that puts an incredible strain on people. The uncertainty is unimaginable. And in Sandy's case, you are surrounded by others who can't help because they are in the same position. Absolutely disgusting that the teabaggers would even think of holding off on the aid. They have blood on their hands.

[Scurrilous]

5. Kick