And, no, it’s not a town on the Jersey Shore
Maryann Morris, 43, walks through her gutted single-story home in the Lost Valley section of Manville, damaged by the remnants of Hurricane Ida.
By Karen Yi, Gothamist
When the remnants of Hurricane Ida barreled across New Jersey, Maryann Morris had just started to settle into her newly purchased home on a quiet residential block in Manville.
Less than a year after she moved in with her 7-year-old daughter, Ida’s floodwaters inundated her basement and sloshed up another four feet on the first floor.
“There were still my daughter’s baby blankets and stuff from the hospital when she was born,” Morris, 43, said. “There were presents down there that she hadn’t gotten to open from her birthday.”
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Seven months after the storm, Morris and her daughter, Ember, are still living in a nearby rented apartment as they wait to settle an insurance dispute and receive a government loan to start construction. Morris said her insurance company agreed to cover part of the repairs but it isn’t cooperating with the U.S. Small Business Administration, which will make up the rest.
“I have run out of ways to answer my daughter about when we’re going home,” Morris said. “Because I don’t even know.”
The recovery for Morris has been slow; the inside of her house is completely gutted. But even when she returns home, she’ll have to decide whether it’s safe enough to stay. She’s one of 200 home and business owners in Manville who received letters from the Somerset County borough telling them they have to elevate their properties or sell to the state’s buyout program, known as Blue Acres.
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