Life in the Past Is Reality for Some County Residents

Psychologists tell us not to live in the past, it is not good, they say. We are supposed to move on, forge ahead, and things will get better. Sometimes, not to live in the past is difficult, especially when it presents itself anew each day.
Take the many residents of this county who sustained property damage during the blizzard, then floods that inundated us earlier this year.
A story in last week’s edition recounted the woes of one Court House community that is living daily with reminders of the past. One resident of that pleasant neighborhood told freeholders what it was like there, when the waters were high.
Some families got to their homes in a boat. Others moved out, and one remains out of their home, due to the damage the waters caused them.
We cannot imagine, most of us, that is, what it is like to have all our possessions ruined. We see it frequently on the national news after a tornado or flood strikes the South of Midwest. We pity those poor souls who are aghast at a pile of rubble that once was home. We often hear them say what we, as Americans, are taught to say at such times, “We are lucky to be alive. Thank God, we are alive. We can rebuild.”
While that is true, imagine if you had not been able to “go home” from March until now. What would your life be like if you were living with family who, at first, welcomed you, but then, whispers when you are out, “When do you think they will leave?”
Suppose you were paying a hefty mortgage on a home that looked presentable on the outside, but was laden with dangerous mold on the inside, what would you do?
After a while, even neighbors would get weary of you telling your tale of woe about denied insurance claims, or contractors who said they would show up and never appeared.
Think what life would be like if that flooding from last spring, caused by who knows what, ruined your drinking water and moved a community’s sewage waste all over the place. What then would life be like?
Imagine much of your clothing ruined. Your furnace and hot water heater, gone. The walls warped by moisture, the floors uneven because of water damage.
How could you not live in the past? Moreover, what would be your plans for the future?
Homeowners went to freeholders seeking aid from the County Engineer’s Office, specifically, that it would meet with the Middle Township engineer’s office to see what could be done to remedy this awful situation in Court House.
County Engineer Dale Foster knows the problems, and offered in a conversation last week, that the scope of the problem is real and county wide. In addition, yes, he sympathizes with each and every homeowner who has suffered.
Water, such a common, necessary element to life, is like fire. In too great a quantity, it is lethal, and can cause problems.
At this time, when people are looking at enormous bills to pay for damage, many are looking for someone to blame.
To be sure, the chief reason for the flooding was development in many places where fields and forests used to be. Those natural “sponges” used to absorb rain and snow, filter it down, and make it available for drinking and more.
Prosperity came our way, and the county’s population grew. Many people wanted to have a little slice of “our” heaven. Soon, those horse pastures and farmlands were sprouting lovely houses with swimming pools and driveways and roads to get there.
Water, that unknowing simple thing, is forced to go to the lowest place. If that place had been a vacant field, it would have disappeared.
If that field is covered with something that does not let it filter down, it forms ponds, either in someone’s back yard or across a road or driveway. Water, you see, has no respect. It does not differentiate between rich or poor, nice cars or old cars, septic fields or flower gardens.
We have all heard stories of some who filed claims with FEMA, and got money almost in return mail. We may have also heard other stories where the process fell upon hard times, and, instead of getting their claim approved, were rejected for odd reasons.
Thus, many live in the past, looking at water damaged rugs and walls, and some other things.
As did the homeowner from Secluded Hollow Road who went before freeholders last month, many county residents live in fear that the coming fall and winter will spell more trouble for them.
They fear a return of the floodwaters. They shudder at the thought of listening to pumps churn in a somewhat vain attempt to relay the wet stuff to an even lower place where it won’t return in someone’s yard of basement.
Have you taken note of the increased amount of “for sale” signs that seemed to sprout up almost like toadstools in a damp yard? Do you wonder, as I do, if those sellers are hoping that, in the present dry spell that a willing buyer will come along and “take it off our hands?”
Maybe that is just a part of the reason, or could the sales be a sign that New Jersey and Cape May County have simply become too unaffordable for them?
We all know people — family, friends, and acquaintances — who packed or are packing their vans and heading south, mostly, where taxes are lower, and life seems better.
It is not good to live in the past, but sometimes it is unavoidable.
I hope that answers will be found to cure the problems of these, my fellow county residents. We will all be better served with improved drainage, but we must admit that Nature has the upper hand, and to that great force, we are subservient.