Interview with Lara Bednarczyk, August 10, 2014

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: My name is Trudi-Ann Lawrence, today is August tenth, and I am at Tuckerton Seaport Museum

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Lara Bednarczyk.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: And your age if you don’t mind?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Forty-six.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: And for the record, can you state your ethnicity?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: White.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay.

LARA BEDNARCZYK: American.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: How long have you lived in your home?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Fourteen years.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: And do you mind sharing the cost of the home when you purchased it?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Um, was it 82,000?

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: And how many rooms does your home have?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Four rooms, two bedrooms.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Is there a reason why you chose that house, in particular?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Nope. It’s just what was available when we were looking.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Is there a reason why you chose to live in Tuckerton?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Because we figured we’d buy our vacation now and just live in it permanently, and we couldn’t afford anything up north, honestly.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay. Tell me about your family, who makes up your family, 00:01:00who do you live with?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Myself, my husband, and my daughter, and we have a dog.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: What is your occupation?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: I am a bookkeeper for a medical office.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay, and how long have you been doing it?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: A year and a half.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: If you don’t mind sharing your- roughly, your salary, or your income bracket?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: We’re moderate income, between us. We’re moderate income.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: What do you like about living in New Jersey?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Living in New Jersey. There’s so much to do and see, and everything’s pretty much accessible, and I love being on the water, honestly. I like being on the ocean.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay. Tell me about the community in which you live in.

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Well, we live in Little Egg Harbor. It’s [pause] like any 00:02:00other New Jersey town, but I guess it’s on the water so it’s more laid back, beachy kind of area.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay. How involved are you in your community?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: I’d like to say we’re involved. I’m a Girl Scout leader. My daughter’s in the girl scouts for four years. I volunteer in the school.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: When did you first hear about the storm coming?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Probably five to six days before it.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay, and what did you expect, what were your first thoughts?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: That it wasn’t going to be anything, like Irene turned out to be nothing [laughs]

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay, so how did you prepare?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: We started packing up things that, if we were evacuated, we were taking with us, and getting everything out of the yard and tying things 00:03:00down that we couldn’t move.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay. How was the availability of supplies?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: We didn’t use supplies, not to pack up.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Did you go to any stores?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: No.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay. Try to get gas?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: We probably went to Wawa and put gas in the car.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay.

LARA BEDNARCZYK: That we did.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Do you feel that you received adequate warning?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Yeah, I would say so. We watched a couple of different websites. So, I would say the warning was adequate.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: And your area received the evacuation warning?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Yes.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: And did you evacuate?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: We did.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Where did you go?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: We went to Parsippany, to my mother’s house. My husband stayed. My husband stayed.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay.

LARA BEDNARCZYK: He had to stay for work. He’s essential personnel so he had 00:04:00to stay for work.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay, take me through the first day of the storm, what happened, where were you, what was going on, what was first sights of the storm?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Honestly, up there, there wasn’t much. I was getting it all from my husband on the phone. He was on the first until after the first high tide Monday morning, and the morning has never come over our bulkhead, and it was halfway up our backyard. And he said, okay, it’s time to leave. And then I begged him. We had evacuations- it was voluntary Saturday night and then it was mandatory Sunday, so we left Sunday in the afternoon. I took my daughter and the dog, and then after that- after that high tide, he was—

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay. While the storm was happening you were up north, but what was going on, like, what were you and your family going through? Was there any thoughts going through your mind?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Oh, what we’d have left when we got back, that my husband was okay and not in the house anymore, my neighbors were still here and that they were okay. You know, many of our friends were still here. Really, I kept thinking, “it’s just a house.” I kept telling myself, “it’s just a house.” It’s not- “we’re safe, he left, it’s just a house.”

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay, so your husband did come up and meet you guys.

LARA BEDNARCZYK: No.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: No?

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Mm mm. Where did he go?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: He went to a friend’s house on the other side of town.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Oh, okay, so he was still in that area? Okay, so did you ever get to sleep that night?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Probably not, no.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: The kids, though, did they –

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Yeah, she slept, I think.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay. When you woke up the next day, what was going through your head?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Where I could find pictures of what happened and was what left down here and how bad it was, what was going on. You know, anyone who posted pictures.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Did you find anything?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Yeah, there were pictures. My husband was sending me pictures of all the boats in the road, and houses that were washed away. There was some 00:06:00stuff on the media but not all the way down here.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay, when did you finally come back down this end?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: The next day, Wednesday.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay.

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Wednesday.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Up there, was there any damage?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: There were trees down. There was no power up there, for awhile, for a long time.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: And when you came back down here, what did you see when you arrived?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Um, a war zone. It was bad. It was- you couldn’t drive through the streets, the houses, like a war zone.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: How did you respond when you saw everything?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: I guess I probably shut down, I put blinders down and did what we had to do in our house, to salvage what we could and to get stuff out, to make sure my daughter was safe and didn’t have to see it, although she was 00:07:00there with us the first day. You know, you do what you have to do, really.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Right.

LARA BEDNARCZYK: It’s kind of a-

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Did you suffer any damages?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Oh, it was a total loss. Our house is gone.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay. Describe the scene, the mood of the community.

LARA BEDNARCZYK: I think at first it was chaos, it was shock, and then things quieted down and people turned out to help other people, and- I always say that people within the community came together to help each other, and I had friends show up to tell us, you know, come for dinner or whatever. I think it was a lot of devastation and a lot of shock.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: How did you get in contact with people? Was your cell phone still working?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Mmhmm.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: What company did you have?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: AT&T. And also Facebook.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Did it go out at any point?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: No.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: So the next day, what happened, when you arrived at your house and you saw everything, how were you going about the day?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: I guess we just went in and started in one room with a garbage bag, and we started going through whatever was wet and not salvageable, putting it in the garbage, whatever was salvageable went outside to be washed.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: So how much water did you have in the house?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: We had three feet of water in our house.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay. And is your home one floor?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Yes.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Do you have an attic space or anything?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: No. Open ceilings.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: And it’s right by the water, right?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: it’s on the water. It’s on the water, yep.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay. Did you stay in the area or did you end up leaving and coming back?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Well, since we’ve been back, we’re staying here up the road. But we’re still looking for some place to go, temporarily.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: How long was the town out of power?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: I don’t really remember. I don’t think it was long. It was probably a few days. I’m pretty sure our power was back on.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay, and how long before you noticed some stores being opened?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: I would say a lot of them opened right away. I would think, I mean, the malls that are on the water, they didn’t open, but, like, the shopping center right here, I think they were opened right away. I think Acme opened. [unclear]

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: I know you said you took garbage bags to clean up. How else to clean up.

LARA BEDNARCZYK: We just piled our garbage on the street and they came with back hoes and dumped it in the dumpsters.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Who did you look to for support? Did you call- immediately 00:10:00call your insurance company, power company?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Just the insurance company, then FEMA. They were first and then the insurance company.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: And how was the response?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: In the beginning, FEMA was good. FEMA was- I mean, I got to them Wednesday morning, I guess, I called them, and our claim was in over the phone and there was someone at our house by the end of the next week. They were- FEMA was pretty quick.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: And what about your insurance company?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: They took a little longer, took awhile, took us a week to get ahold of them, and then they finally came a couple weeks later.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Did your town have protocols or curfews?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: I think we had a ten o'clock curfew. I think we did.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay. Who did you work with, mainly, to clean up your area?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: My house, or--?

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Your house.

LARA BEDNARCZYK: We didn’t have any help. We did it all.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: How did you cope with everything going on?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: I don’t know if I’ve coped with it yet. I think it’s just- you go through the motions, and every once in awhile when you have a few minutes to yourself, you break down and you get yourself together, and you- I mean, I haven’t wanted my daughter to see it or have to see it, so we’ve just been, I guess, going through the motions.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: And how is your daughter taking everything?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: I think she’s been really resilient. I think she’s been doing well. We’ve tried to keep her schedule as normal as possible, you know, keep the Girl Scout troop running through them. She stayed in her gymnastics class. I think she’s been okay, other than the fact that she’s afraid of storms now, you know, thunder and lightning bother her a bit. I think she’s been pretty resilient.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay. How did your community cope?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: [pause] I don’t think a lot of people are coping well. I think people are frustrated, we haven’t gotten answers. It’s nine months and some of us can’t even rebuilding yet, so I don’t know that the community’s coping real well.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: How’s the response of the community, that you received?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: The community government or other residents?

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Community and then government. [laughs]

LARA BEDNARCZYK: The other residents, they’ve been trying to help each other out, you know, take care of our neighbors, when we can’t do anything on our house we go to the neighbor’s house, help them, my neighbors and my daughter and my dog, we’re all out. The government? I don’t think we’ve gotten much help from them. They haven’t answered questions, we still can’t rebuild after nine months. We’re getting closer, but we’re not [unclear] but I also 00:13:00think that their hands were tied, too, because of FEMA.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Did you feel safe in your community when everything was going around?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Yeah.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: There wasn’t any looting or—

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Oh, there was looting. My neighbors across the street, their kid’s jewelry box was ruined, the house was broken into and stuff was taken before they could get back in town. There was looting, but I think I still felt safe.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: And how was the response of the police?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: They were, they were available most of the time.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: How about the religious community, how helpful were they?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: The church that we have our Girl Scout meetings at, they’ve been wonderful. We don’t even go to their church and they’ve been there for us.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: That’s good. Can you tell me about some of the aid that 00:14:00received, both locally and nationally?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Locally, just- honestly, there wasn’t- once we saw a Red Cross truck giving out lunch, but if you didn’t go to the shelters, you didn’t see them. Financially, we’ve gotten help from the local church. I got help from the alumni association at Monmouth. And FEMA, really.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay. How long was school out for your daughter?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Two weeks. It was the week of the storm and the week after.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Did you make any contributions to help, for those that was going through?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Our Girl Scout troop took up a collection for the animals that were affected by the storm.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay. Can you describe your losses, or is it easier to describe what you were able to save?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: They were- pretty much anything below counter-height was gone. You know, I managed to save the stacked stuff on the bed and the counters that we could. We lost all our furniture, it was all underwater. And we lost our house. The house floated like a raft.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Oh, it did?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Yeah, the slab shattered. It lifted above the foundation, and the whole slab floated like a raft. So, pieces now.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Do you think that New Jersey prepared adequately?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Yes and no. I think the shore communities that had experienced knew what to do. I think the state as a whole didn’t really know what to 00:16:00expect. I don’t know if they were prepared for something this massive.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Is there anything that the state could have done differently, do you feel?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: [pause] I’m not sure they could have. I guess they could have done things differently with all of the aid. I mean, they focused on the resort areas and bringing income into the state. They haven’t focused on the actual people that live here.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Right.

LARA BEDNARCZYK: I think that could have been far different.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Do you think anyone is to blame for the storm?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Mother Nature? [laughs] No, not really.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Do you think that- how do you feel about the media coverage? Was it sensationalized, or did it adequately portray what was going on?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Oh, it was sensationalized, big time. I think they focused on the resorts, they focused on the places people know instead of where they really needed the attention.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: And how do you feel about the appearance from the president and the governor, that they made in New Jersey?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Oh, I think the president could have picked better places to go, I think Christie skipped places he should have gone. But I think as a whole, I mean, I respect Governor Christie for being out there and putting himself out there and making the effort he has. I think he made a valiant effort.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Did you opinion of Christie change because of that?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: A little bit, yeah.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: How do you feel about the response from the rest of the country, that New Jersey received?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: I think it was pretty good. A lot of people rallied together and sent people to help. There’s still people here helping rebuild areas. You know, people came together to take up collections or replace things people lost, and immediate needs. I think it’s been pretty nice.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Has this shaped your environmental views in any way?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Yep. I have a new respect for the ocean.

[both laugh]

LARA BEDNARCZYK: I’m having a real hard time with living on the ground again, for another hurricane season. Our house will be ten feet up. I definitely have a new respect for the ocean, yes.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Does this make you change, do you feel like you would move back to Parsippany?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: No.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: No?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: I love being on the ocean.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: You do? That’s good. So, have things returned to normal?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: No, far from it.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: So, you’re no longer in your home. Where are you?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: We’re actually staying in a dorm room on our local Rutgers campus.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: And they opened that up for you?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Yes they did, yep.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: And how has that been?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: It’s been tough. The four of us living on one room with no kitchen or laundry facilities, in a different building. But we’re making do, we’re together and we’re grateful we have them to fall back on. But we’re still looking for rentals now, which are scarce because everything was damaged.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Right. What other changes to your daily life have you made?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Other than being able to cook, we tried to keep things as normal as possible. I mean, there’s no TV. I haven’t watched TV in nine months.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Wow.

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Which has been kind of nice, actually.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Really.

LARA BEDNARCZYK: I get the news from the internet, yeah, there’s no cable in the building, so I try to keep up-to-date on the internet.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Wow.

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Yeah.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: So, do you think things will ever return to how they were before, or will it be a new normal?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: It’ll be a new normal, but I mean, our schedules won’t change. It’ll just a new house. But I think it’ll be close to what it was. I don’t think the area will ever be the same.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Are you planning to rebuild on the same spot where your house once was?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Yes. Yes.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay. Are you still making payments to the home?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Yes.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: And everything that goes with it, like electric and water?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Well, we’ve had our electric and cable and phone shut off. Our water’s going to be shut off this week. But we’re still paying our mortgage, and that’s been a bigger nightmare than the storm ever was.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: I can only imagine. Has this event changed your outlook on the community?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: No, not really.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay. Do you think that the storm had an impact on the presidential election?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: [pause] Honestly, I don’t think so.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: What about the upcoming governor election?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Oh, it’ll probably have a large impact on that.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: [unclear] So, what will you tell your future generations about the storm?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Probably to not be complacent and take every warning seriously, even if it turns out to be nothing, and that you can rebound and you can come back. It might be hard, but you get through it.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: And if you could give a message or a legacy of the storm, what would that be?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: These are some tough questions.

[TL laughs]

LARA BEDNARCZYK: That every storm has its silver lining, and that we’re doing better than we were before the storm.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: What’s a word of advice that you would give to someone, another homeowner, from one homeowner to another, for those in Moore, Texas, I mean, Oklahoma?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Patience. Be patient. I know it’s hard, it’s been hard for us to be patient. But patience, it’ll all work out in the end.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Is there anything else that you’d like to share?

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Nope, not really.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Okay.

LARA BEDNARCZYK: Thank you.

TRUDI-ANN LAWRENCE: Alright, thank you.