Page 11 | Greenwich Sentinel
Areas of Town Devastated, Still in Shock By Albert Huang & Beth Barhydt It seems ever yone has a stor y from the night of September 1, 2021, when Ida arrived dumping 8 inches of rain within hours. Most stories include flooded basements or small streams and ponds appearing in their yards. S ome , l i ke on D e a r f ield Drive, include a sink hole under the road which made the front page of the Sentinel last week. On Sunday, Stephanie Dunn Ashley, CEO for the American Red Cross Metro N Y Nor th
Chapter, and a resident of Cos Cob, had been with the teams, going door to door and speaking with neighbors. She had just returned from giving out flood clea nup k its a nd su r vey ing da mage in the Pem ber w ick section of Greenwich. The stories she heard and the damage she saw left her visibly shaken. “It’s really heartbreaking to speak with families that have emptied the contents of their home on to their front yards. The families are worried and unsure what to do, and this is where the Red Cross can help,”
she said. Residents ranged from angry to grateful. Some were still in shock. Overall neighborhoods are coming together to help one another. "Usually we get an automated emergency call," said Stephanie Belmonte, who barely escaped her first f loor ap a r t m e nt w it h h e r 1 ye a r old daughter and 5 year old son. "There was nothing from anybody. It is a good thing we weren't sleeping." She was grateful though that no one in her family was hurt. Things can be replaced she said,
"but it is still a devastating loss. My son, who is f ive, doesn't really understand the fact that t h is k i nd of st u f f happ en s. He ju st k nows t hat he lost everything." Stephanie lost all her furniture, her high chair, her c r i b s , h e r c h i l d r e n's t oy s , everything - now in a pile in her front yard. She wanted to get it out of the house quickly to avoid the spread of mold but says she cannot completely get it into a dumpster yet because the insurance company is insisting on seeing it upon inspection. "With insurance, there is a lot of
being left on hold." She did manage to save her son and daughter's beta f ish, Sparkles and Pikachu before the water engulfed everything else it took about 20 minutes before the water was overhead. " There has been a lot of crying," she said. "We all need to take turns when someone needs to step away from the kids so they don't see it." Ne a rly a we ek a f ter t he stor m h it, a not her woma n, Suzanne, was still pumping muddy water out of her home. One resident, Matt Slater, who had moved in just a
few mont h s e a rl ier, was i n remarkably high spirits. Although his entire basement was ne a rly su bmerge d a nd two workers from landscaping companies peeled off drywall, collected insulation, and ripped out carpet that was ruined by all of the flooding, he remained optimistic. "Everybody's been great. The neighbors have been great," he said. His neighbor across the street, whose slightly higher elevation spared them from da mage, have b een g r i l l i ng burgers and hotdogs every night and feeding the others who
