Poplar Village Flood Leaves Sorrowful Wake
By GARRETT STASSE
The flood damage at Ocean Townships senior housing complex has all but overwhelmed staff and residents.
But residents and businesspeople in three towns have rushed aid and services to Poplar Villages low-income residents who lost everything and face an uncertain near-term future.
Manager Ursula Kerecman estimates building damage alone at more than $1 million. Of 93 apartments, 23 have been condemned, and it will be at least until Christmas that some of them can be made habitable. Some units are better than others and could be reoccupied in a month. Others might take much longer, she said.
For now, tenants are scattered among family or in apartments donated by Middlebrook at Monmouth or Asbury Towers in Asbury Park. She cant tell them when they might return; all but one wants to, she said.
Poplar Village was partially built on a flood plain and floods are fairly common. But the week-long rain that lashed the county two weeks ago set a record for destruction and disruption that eclipsed even the December 1992 storm.
The four-foot-high wall facing Poplar Brook was no deterrent to what she described as a flash flood. Water rushed in, ruining pumps, walls, insulation, wiring, water heaters, appliances and floors. Some 30 cars floated in the parking lot, destroying the only transportation most owners had, she said.
The water damage was three to four feet high, she said. It was pretty much a total loss for our residents who lost beds, couches, appliances, clothing and personal property. Only three had tenant insurance.
Its very, very difficult to believe the force, the power of the water. Its sad to see what it can do to peoples lives, and these are old people who only want to have a few quiet good years. They were uprooted and lost all their belongings.
She has one particularly vivid memory of the devastation eight days of rain can cause: One woman returned to her apartment to see what was left.
She rescued her pictures and I saw her trying to dry them on the lawn. You could see other photographs floating around, Kerecman said.
Township officials, employees and volunteers, aided by residents and business owners, are doing what they can.
Members of the Township Council, the Human Services Department, the Oakhurst Fire Department, the Police Department and others spent days there, helping relocate tenants, rescue belongings and trying to repair some of the damage. Kerecman said Councilman Christopher Siciliano, a local businessman, has been there at least once a day since.
Siciliano contacted numerous businesses seeking donations. So far, Walts Sleep Shop, Route 35, Eatontown, has donated six bed sets; Mike Maxwell a township businessman and member of the Oakhurst Fire Co. is donating furniture; Fred Stern, a township resident and owner of Sterns transport, Wall, donated a trailer to hold donations; the Pop Warner Football Association donated $1,100 in snack bar proceeds; Robby Silverstein of Middlebrook donated the apartments, and the Greater Ocean Township Chamber of Commerce is looking for donations of goods and services.
Her husband Al and son Eric, a township police officer, refurbished the pumps to ready them for future floods, among numerous other tasks, she said.
Without them I could not have gotten through all these years of flooding on a regular basis. Ive had tremendous support from my family, she said.
People have been dropping off lamps, clothing and other items, but it will take more to make her tenants whole again, Kerecman said.
They just have to replace everything and thats a problem because this is low-income housing and its very difficult for people on Social Security to replace a couch or TV.
They also need rugs, tables, and chairs and more, she added.
To donate call Social Services Coordinator Gwen Morgano at 732 531-4145. Quality, serviceable items are requested. Poplar Village doesnt have the manpower or facilities to collect items, so Kerecman is asking that they be brought to the complex.
There was dread in Kerecmans voice as she contemplated the future. Theres a waiting list for apartments as it is, and she created a second list to transfer those in the flood zone to higher ground when a unit becomes available. But she knows more floods are coming as will the stress.
The township is inching closer to having the Army Corps of Engineers build a retention basin in Joe Palaia Park that could at least ease the flooding, Mayor William Larkin said. But that could be four years off. For now, Kerecman is beginning to think about how and when shell get 20 stoves, 20 water heaters, 20 refrigerators and other items the next flood might wreck.
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