I hope this message finds everyone in good health. I am writing to give everyone an update on how we are doing and where we are at in the rebuild process. 

We are just 6 weeks from the storm. We have been able to move back into our house  and have been living in the house for the past week. We had been staying at a hotel in the next town over for the prior month while we worked on getting the inside of the house repaired. That work included the completion of mold remediation and the building back of those rooms that were damaged. The New furnace and boiler were installed. The repairing to some of the exterior damage has been assessed and some of it completed.

None of this would have been possible without your help and support. We would not be back living in our house without your generosity. Haleigh, the kids and I will forever be grateful.

There is still much work to be done and the rear of the house and the wall are still damaged. This has led the towns engineers to deem the house unsafe and “red tagged” the house. We have to monitor the rear wall and foundation going forward and any changes to the damage might displace us again. We are currently trying to work with engineers to come up with a plan. This has been a point of contention between homeowners who had walls damaged by the storm and the Town and Village. It seems to be an issue that will not be resolved any time soon and getting things done expeditiously after a disaster does not seem to be on the top of the list with state and federal government agency and offices.

We still haven’t heard anything from FEMA regarding individual assistance. We also haven’t heard anything about FEMA infrastructure monies and wether the town and village would use it to help build back the damaged walls along the brook. 

The time following a disaster, if you’re waiting on help from the government, it’s not guaranteed, slow and frustrating dealing with the bureaucracy 

This is why this fund, or any fund, set up to help an individual family in need is so important. The work required to make the inside of the house livable would not have been possible without your help. If we haven’t thanked you personally yet just know that we truly love you and thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

So as we move along, day by day, here is what i have learned so far. 

• Don’t wait on the government. FEMA actively tries to eliminate you from receiving funds and any other funds administered by government agencies are filled with paperwork and take too long to administer. Still fill them out but don’t expect a quick response.
• You can never have enough water. Stock up for you and your neighbors. You’ll need it as they temporarily shut down water to fix pipes and put in effect boil water advisories.
• Accept help, with anything, when offered from friends and neighbors. As my friend Miles said to me “don’t be prideful, you ****”.  And it’s true. I couldn’t have fixed up enough to move back in without help.
• Get your insurance statement of coverage or denial letter as soon as possible. You’ll need it for any paperwork you would file for monetary assistance.
• Always check in with your neighbors.
• Always remember to pay attention to your family’s needs. Life gets hectic and even a trip to chuck’e’cheese is a great reprieve from the stress of dealing with the post disaster work.

Thank you again. With our love.

Brian, Haleigh, Macie, Zelda, Emrys, Guinevere and Atticus.

Haleigh and I would like to start off by thanking everyone for their support and assistance while we go through this tough time of coping with the damage and heading into the rebuilding process. Words cannot express enough the gratitude we have seen from friends, family and our extended blue family. Having a week since the incident and some time now as the rain begins to fall again and I sit in the empty house with walls and floors having been removed, family pictures and all the things that made our house a home destroyed, I will try to tell you guys what it means to have friends and family that are there for you, even those who we haven’t seen or spoken to in awhile, it is good to know that our love friendship are still there.

A week ago today our lives and town were changed. What started out like a normal rain storm turned violent and deadly in a literal matter of minutes. As we are out in the front of the house watching the rain fall, we started to noticed it wasn’t a normal day. Water started rushing faster to the front of the house. We asked ourselves what is this?Then a loud crash came through the air and we heard it from the top of the mountain. In a matter of seconds a heavy rain runoff turned into a river and started inundating the front of our house with rock and debris. 

After putting the kids upstairs and leaving Macie, our oldest in charge; myself, Haleigh and her father Pete were outside trying to fend off the water with brooms, garbage cans and bags of mulch. Neighbors we haven’t haven’t spoken to yet in the 10 months we have been here came down from their own homes with a long piece of wood and along with other long time resident neighbors, helped us put together a wall to stop most of the water rushing to the front of the house. We will forever be grateful for their help as they left their own homes to help protect the kids and ours.

While the front of the house had our attention the brook in the rear of the house had its own plans. The water came in too fast and too high that it went over and destroyed the walls meant to contain it and by the time we could get to the back, it was too late. It was gone. About 3 hours in as Haleigh and I watched the water quickly and steadily climb up into the house and yard, we seriously thought all help was lost. What are we going to do? How do we keep the kids safe? This is our home and we are watching it wash away. We couldn’t get the kids out as the roads and bridges had crumbled around us. The water crept into the first floor and no matter how much Haleigh and her father tried to soak it up with towels and rags, its slow steady creep just wouldn’t stop. 

     Haleigh and I stood on the front porch of the house, hugged each other, cried and said “what do we do”. Our kids were worried. Zelda being the most practical one of them asked “are we going to die” and Macie told us that this was her nightmare that we would be swept away as she watched from the window upstairs. Being the husband and father, we are supposed to have an answer to keep your family safe. It’s an occupational hazard of cops to always have an answer or a solution and I had nothing. I had Words of reassurance as I tried to remain stoic while inside I had no idea what to do. That feeling is fear and I can say now that I was afraid. To be in a situation where you have lost all control of the scene and be rendered helpless by Mother Nature was a surreal and terrifying experience. I’ve worked in and through disasters before and watched on TV as whole areas were destroyed by natural disasters but to actual experience it, it is not something I want to go through again and will always feel for those they talk to on TV after incidents like this. While we were helpless to stop the rising water, we were going back and forth between our elderly neighbors to make sure they were ok and luckily they were. The damage was done though and now the questions we had during the storm came up again of “what do we do now”. 

     About 8 hours after the first drops of rain fell and 5 hours since the crack in the air that opened up the water, the rain had stopped and the water started to recede, only to reveal the damage left behind. 

The rear retaining wall and all land in the back of the house had washed away, exposing the foundation. The deck was destroyed and falling off. The cellar had 4 feet of water still in it and the yard was filled with debris as the fence and walls that protected our home were destroyed.

     The clean up started the next day. The following day after that we were able to get Haleigh and the kids into a hotel as we were concerned for the mold and structural damage to the house. As we took our memories and items from the home and placed them in a pile outside, a bin that held all our kids artwork and pictures through school was destroyed. Soaked to the point of falling apart and filled with whatever sewerage leaked into the water. As I emptied out the water a picture of Macie fell out of it covered in mud, I cant tell you how I felt when Haleigh saw it and started to cry.

     I would like to take a minute to thank all the friends and family who had offered to help come and clean up or dropped off or ordered food and water to us. It was tremendously helpful. To know that family, and I am including all my friends in that word from here on out, were willing to take the time out of their own lives to help with ours, was a humbling experience.

     Everyone kept saying, it’s only stuff, and at least everyone was safe. I know that is what matters but the process of throwing that stuff out and cleaning up still hurt. Those items were part of our story. They are gone and now just a memory.

      As the initial clean up was slowly moving forward, now came the dealing with the local, state and federal government and insurance agencies. I will spare you from having to read those emotions down in this writing. 

     A quick update on that. The area still hasn’t received a presidential decree of a natural disaster so FEMA assistance is not approved. The state has focused all its resources on the main business area of the town, it worked for a good photo op for the governor and local politicians. It’s the community that has started this rebuild. The Red Cross came in and local volunteers, some whose houses have been affected and those whose houses have not, have volunteered relentlessly each and everyday to help those affected.

     The other day my neighbor and I went to the main area in town to find out some information about what was going on and we came across a Volunteer disaster relief Christian group called Samaritan’s Purse. When I tell you they were a God send, I am not lying. They were able to come up to our area of the mountain and assist the whole strip of house effected by the initial surge of water. They cleaned up houses and removed debris to the curb for us. Lyle and his team are volunteers and they have normal lives outside of their service but the joy I was able to see, and felt, on the faces of those they helped and for themselves, gave me hope. They provided a much needed relief as the long road to rebuilding had just started. As one of the workers had told me after I had mentioned that the chickens would survive (we have chickens) “the chickens will overcome what disasters are thrown at them, but remember it’s the fact that you guys feed and watered them that allowed them to survive, so to the lord fed you” and Lyle and his team gave us a bible before they had left us.

     So this is where we are at today. Walls and floors are gone, mold remediation has started, insurance company hasn’t even been out here yet neither has FEMA or any government officials other then the buildings department guys. Only news crews and neighbors. The house is still not safe, no hot water and the damage to the rear of the house has no plan. The rebuilding of our house into home has just started and everything you guys have helped donate will go a long way. Just seeing those, who I know have their own lives and bills and issues, contribute in hearts and minds to my family brings me tears as my pride gets pushed aside by your love and generosity. I would like to Thank my colleague and friends Rob Mayer and Dlorah Duluc for setting it up. I had no idea he would go through all this to get us the help we need.

So after having writing this on this Sunday morning, while sitting in my half torn up house, I can truly say that , stuff is only that, it’s just stuff. A house is only wood, metal and Sheetrock. Family and a Home are the people who you build your life around, and I can honestly say I feel that more than ever.

Thank you all.

With Love,

Brian, Haleigh, Macie, Zelda, Emrys, Guinevere and Atticus. The Fredrickson’s.