Holly Fordham

In December of 2019 my husband and I purchased our first home together after searching for years. We moved to Manville  – the lost valley – because we found our dream home – which even had a pool! We moved from Middlesex county and were very excited to start our next chapter together in our new home.  

On September 1st, 2021 it was a regular weeknight. My husband and I had dinner. I had checked the water level in the pool and decided it could wait to be lowered the next morning.  After a few tornado warnings we went to bed to only be woken up at midnight by the sound of a siren. I didn’t know what it  meant so I looked online and was told that we should move our cars since there was going to be flooding.  

After we moved the cars, we saw other people walking back into the valley, so we figured we were safe to do the same. After falling asleep for a few hours, I was woken up again by flashing lights outside my bedroom window, right on the bridge. I quickly noticed a wet spot when I put my foot on the floor and noticed my cat who sleeps downstairs was staring at me. Her fur was also wet! Then I looked out the window – through the trees I noticed there were Emergency responders set up at the corner. I tried to rush downstairs, but it was too late – water was already in my home on the 1st floor and already up to the third step on the second staircase in our home. 

I woke up my husband to tell him what was happening, but he didn’t believe me when I said there was water in our home. At  this point outside the water was up to the top of our 6 foot fence outside, and we knew we couldn’t walk out with our cats  because they’d get wet. I screamed out from the second floor  that we needed to be rescued. We tried to grab the most  important things, but honestly we didn’t know what to take with us since we were in shock. An hour and a half later, it was  finally me for the boat rescue to pick us up, and at this point the water was 4 feet high. Thank goodness for the fireman that had us turn off our electric and gas on our way out.  

We left our home by boat and were then taken by a van to our local VFW which was set up as a shelter. We needed to figure out our next move. Fortunately we had flood insurance, so I  called the insurance office and found out that we had lodging  and displacement coverage. We booked a hotel room, but the next challenge was to get someone to pick us up and take us out of Manville so we could get there. The entire process took from 7 am to 4 pm – since the only way into Manville was from Rt 206.  

We had never been in a flood before, and didn’t have any knowledge or information about what to do next. Social media was helpful, and we found out the next day that the water  receded early in the morning. Someone kindly posted a video of our house since it’s right on the bridge where most people enter and exit the town. 

So we came home – and found out the house had experienced 5  feet of flooding. Everything on the first floor was destroyed. We  lost both our home and our workplace since we both had been working from home due to Covid.  

The insurance company didn’t give us much direction when we called them again. In fact, our neighbors who had flooded  before gave us more info than the insurance company. They advised us to rip out and remove all of our damaged belongings  from the first floor so they didn’t collect mold.  

We piled everything we ripped out on the front lawn, and it was still there when the president came to visit Manville – he went  to the house that burned down catty corner from where we live. He said a lot of nice things when he was here – but at this point we feel forgotten.  

While we were able to rebuild and be home within three months; we still have many repairs that need to be done which were not covered by insurance or any programs available to  storm survivors. This gap remains on us as a financial burden.  

Most recently, I received two emails from the state advising me that my home is high risk and not eligible for funding. This hit hard. Our options are now very limited. Either we sell our  home that we love or take a buy out – rather than get  assistance to stay in our home. For us to raise our home and  stay we’d have to pay out of pocket which would add on to our existing financial burden which is not an option and will never be an option.  

What I want to know is why the heck did the policy change after we all wasted our me filling out multiple applications? I had hoped for over a year that I would get funding to raise my home to stay home and be safe. While we are home, we are NOT safe nor properly prepared for the next storm.