Middletown's Forgotten Wet-Siders

If you've been watching or listening to news reports since Hurricane Sandy blew through 6 days ago, you have been seeing and hearing a lot about those that seem to have been forgotten by federal and local officials.

I keep seeing reports from NY's Staten Island and Queens of residents complaining that relief agencies have forgotten them in favor of those living in Manhattan. Their loud complaints to local news media covering the devastation in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, brought swift responses of help from the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA. The same federal response however can't be said about relief efforts for those that live in Middletown neighborhoods on the "wet" side of Route 36. They seem to have been forgotten in large part due to the devastation along the Jersey Shore.

(The Goodell-Wilson home on Church St.)

I've been getting requests from a few wet-sider friends asking me if I could post something about their plight, in hopes that someone will listen to them and speed up some relief efforts.

One such person is Danae Goodell-Wilson, she is a single mother of a 14 year old daughter who lives on the wet-side of Church St. in Belford.

(The Goodell-Wislon basement)

Danae and her daughter have been trapped in their home for days because Danae's cars  were under water and won't start. Her house smells like mold and sewage (it's everywhere) and has pretty much become a cave, a shell, where they keep their belongings. She and her daughter don't have much of a choice right now, they don't have any family in the area to stay with and they can't leave and go to a shelter because they have pets. She's in a classic Catch 22 situation.

Danae has file a claim with FEMA but has heard nothing, she tried calling 4 times yesterday to get some information, to find out what the rules are for temporary housing and transportation but was hung up on every time with the excuse that those on the other end of the line were too busy. All they will tell her is that she will receive a letter with some type of decision concerning to her circumstances in two weeks, which is unacceptable.

So, she sits in her house waiting, with no clue as to what to do. Not the township, the federal government or any charities are willing to do anything more at this time, than tell her to leave her pets behind and go to a shelter.

All she wants are some answers to her questions and a little help to figure everything out, but no one seems able to do so at this time. It is extremely frustrating.

Logically, she can't continue to stay in her home for much longer but she is fiercely independent and has no real place to go. Hopefully someone will come to her rescue soon.

My heart goes out to her and all the others in a similar situations as her, over on the wet-side of 36 living along the bayshore.