Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. We'll end today with a climate story of the week addendum. It's a call in on the 12th anniversary of Superstorm Sandy for any of you who were personally affected by the storm when it hit locally on October 29th, 2012. It was 12 years ago today. What happened in your case? Let's tell those stories for the sake of posterity and maybe for the sake of helping people currently starting to dig out from Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Did the government or your insurance company respond effectively as you experienced it regarding your property damage? Are your issues even resolved to this day? What advice might you have for people now dealing with their issues down south after Hurricanes Milton and Helene? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. 12 years to the day later, some oral history from you on how Hurricane Sandy or Superstorm Sandy, because it wasn't technically a hurricane when it hit our area, affected you or your property and maybe is still affecting you or your property, and lessons to be learned for others. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.

I think we forget because we focus on the property damage from Superstorm Sandy that 90 people died in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Those deaths attributed to the storm and so much damage, of course, to homes, businesses, cars, roads, peace of mind. We were here. I was on the air that night with special coverage taking your calls as my colleagues were reporting and as you on the phones were helping us report this story on beach fronts, power outages, evacuations. Maybe you even remember we heard from Elmo that night reassuring the kids who were listening about the time Sesame Street experienced a hurricane.

Elmo: Big bird's nest got ruined, but we got to help put big bird's nest back together again.

Brian Lehrer: Sesame Street recovered, spoiler alert. Did the rest of us as folks in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina are just starting that process, seeing the damage from Hurricanes Helene and Milton? Did you flashback to your experiences? Do you have a lesson to share about rebuilding, moving forward, even moving away and not rebuilding? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692 It's a call in on the 12th anniversary of Superstorm Sandy for any of you who are personally affected when the storm hit locally on October 29th, 2012.

What happened in your case? Did the government or your insurance company respond effectively as you experienced it? Are your issues resolved to this day? What lessons for the people down south just starting to deal with an aftermath now? 212-433-WNYC. We'll take your calls right after this.

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now to your calls on this 12th anniversary of Superstorm Sandy in our area. Bill in Holbrook, New York, you're on WNYC. Hi, Bill.

Bill: Hey. How are you doing, Brian? Good to hear from you. I was living in Lindenhurst, one block off of the bay. The storm before that, we had to come about three-quarters of the way up our driveway. What I did is I parked all our cars really close to our house, and I figured that if it came a little higher, we would still have about 18 inches of axle to protect us. Well, by midnight of that night, we were standing there watching things explode on the power lines. The water came well up over my belly button in my front yard drowning three cars.

Since I was a renter, I had nobody that was willing to help us. FEMA came and they offered us money for the cars that were running and had license plates on them at the time. They forced my son to co-sign for the FEMA loan even though he had no financial interest in the cars. One of the cars was registered to him with the place, but I had the ownership of the car. The only people that helped us was a guy from the Chamber of Commerce came around and dropped off some dry wood for us to burn in our fireplace because we had no electricity, no heat for almost three months.

Brian Lehrer: Bill, let me jump in because I want to get some other people in here, too. I understand you were a renter at the time. Do you have any idea the state of that house in Lindenhurst, south shore of Long Island on the ocean 12 years later?

Bill: The landlord that owned it lost it and there are new people in there now, and they redid it. We had neighbors that had houses that were actually on the bayside of the waterfront, that 30-foot waves came over the barrier beaches like Jones and Gilgo, and they knocked these houses off of their foundations on the bayside. This wave crossed maybe 10 feet of sand dune and then traveled across the bay and was still powerful enough to knock a house off its foundations.

Brian Lehrer: Wow. Bill, thank you very much. A dramatic recollection of Superstorm Sandy there in Lindenhurst. Gail, not too far away in Oceanside on the south shore. You're on WNYC. Hi, Gail.

Gail: Hi. I live in Oceanside, which is three miles inland from the ocean. If you look at a map, you could see Oceanside is shaped like a hand, and in between your fingers are all these inlets that have water that comes in from the ocean three miles away. When the forecast came, my husband who never pays attention to weather forecasts, he decided to take it seriously, and we moved everything we could from the lower level of our house to the upper level. He told my kids, who were grown kids and had their own cars, he said, "Everybody, get in your cars and drive away from the ocean."

We did, and we all stayed at friends' houses and came back the next day to see no more water, but all the damage. All our neighbors pretty much stayed there and not only had damage to the houses but had lost all their cars and they all needed to replace them all at the same time, which could not be done. I felt grateful that at least I had the mobility to come and go and take care of things, which my neighbors had a lot more difficulty doing. It made us take weather reports a lot more seriously from then on. Also, the worst thing was that the garbage wasn't picked up for over three weeks, which was 4 feet high, 4 feet dense, and had dead animals in it like cats-

Brian Lehrer: Jeez.

Gail: -squirrels, and all sorts of stuff.

Brian Lehrer: 4 feet of water, 4 feet of garbage. Gail, tell me if you relate to this text. Listener writes, "Our Jersey Shore home was flooded to where we chose to demolish and build higher, stronger, better. Took us five and a half years to return, and we immediately noted increased winds and storm activity since. With great trepidation, I do anticipate another event in our lifetime. Despite this, somehow, Jersey Shore home values continue to soar." What are you thinking in Oceanside as you hear that?

Gail: It is funny how memories fade a bit and people need to find housing and if a house is available and it looks stable at the moment, things seem to be okay, except you have to pay for flood insurance, which was not in place before that the same way that it is now. I just paid my flood insurance yesterday, and it has gone up. It's a thing to consider.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much for your call. I'm glad you're doing as well as it sounds like you are at this point. Gary in Jersey City, you are on WNYC. Hi, Gary.

Gary: Hey, good morning, Brian. Thanks so much for all you do. So many memories associated with Sandy. October 29th was the day, that means October 27th, my then partner was discharged from Kettering to home hospice. We live in a high-rise building about four blocks back from the Hudson River and that Monday night, the Hudson River just swept right up. I could see it coming up first the street to the left of us, then the street to the right crossed over right in front of the building.

What I couldn't see is all the water rushing into the ground floor and then down into the basement where all the systems in our building are. Long story short, no heat, no water, no electricity, which means no elevator service, trying to care for a dying person. Really still to this day, a special shout-out goes to the dedicated hospice nurses from Barnabas Hospice who every time their support was needed, walked up to the 13th floor to be there.

Brian Lehrer: Walked up to the 13th floor. That's dedication. Gary, I'm glad you got the chance to thank them on the radio 12 years later. Tony in Bergenfield, you're on WNYC. Hi, Tony.

Tony: Hi. Thank you for taking my call. Long time, first time. I lived in Highlands, New Jersey, right on the ocean. I was alone, separated from my family, and we lost power. The sky was biblical. What was happening in the sky was-- I was terrified. They said, "Put things in front of your windows," and I was holding my windows to make sure they didn't implode. It was just a terrifying experience, and I just wanted to personally thank you, Brian, because you worked some serious overtime during that. Your coverage that I listened to on my battery-operated radio really, really calmed me down and helped me get through it. I just want to extend my heartfelt thanks to you.

Brian Lehrer: Wow. That's very gratifying, Tony. I really appreciate that. Any advice from you for people dealing with Milton and Helene aftermath now?

Tony: Just get ready for the insurance battle that takes place after the damage because that required everything I could-- On the phone constantly, the adjusters, the appraisers, it's just-- The real war begins after the storm.

Brian Lehrer: Tony, thank you very much. The real war begins after the storm. Daniel in Port Washington I think is going to be our last caller. Hi, Daniel. You're on WNYC, and I think you have a model of sorts for people down south maybe, right?

Daniel: That's right. Good morning, Brian. Thank you for taking the call. My story is slightly different from the rest of your callers. I was privileged to receive a phone call from some friends immediately after Hurricane Sandy, and we all just got together impromptu at the high school. We just opened up the doors to the high school with, of course, the school district's cooperation and consent. Before you know it, we had about 500, 600 people all throughout Port Washington who just sought shelter at the school.

We were a group of about six people. Others of us reached out to some of the restaurants that had generators, the police department provided generators. Before you knew it, we were feeding people pizza and other types of foods. We had electricity, people could charge their phone. It was truly a grassroots kind of self-help thing, and I was privileged to be one of the six who really got this thing together.

Brian Lehrer: The moral of the story is get together with your neighbors and start a community effort, right?

Daniel: Absolutely. The police and the school district were just wonderful. I think it was truly a Port Washington-wide community event.

Brian Lehrer: Daniel, thank you very much, and thanks to all of you for your call as well. A climate story of the week addendum on this 12th anniversary of Superstorm Sandy.

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