00:00:00RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Okay. Could you just let me know your first and last
name, please?
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: Okay. Henrietta Williams.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Perfect. And Ms. Williams, where are you living now?
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: 23 Randall Place, Keansburg.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Your last interview took place about two years ago now.
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: Yeah.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: What has your life been like since? Are you back in your
original home?
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: Oh, well, I was one of the lucky ones. I mean, the water
never came up near me. The water stopped two blocks before where I live.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Perfect. Okay, since Hurricane Sandy, how much has your town
changed, do you think?
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: In some areas, I mean, I'm seeing a lot of houses that had
00:01:00to be put up higher, some higher than others. I guess it goes by the amount of
water that came. And then there are some houses that the people just walked
away from which is a shame.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Definitely.
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: Yeah. Unfortunately.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Do you feel like the same thing has possibly happened with
some businesses in town?
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: I'm being very honest with you, if they were businesses that
were located down at the beach way, I wouldn't know because I really don't go
down there.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Okay. How much of your town do you feel still needs to be rebuilt?
00:02:00
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: Oh, I'm going to say more than seventy-five percent.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Do you feel like the Jersey Shore is back to what it used to
be before Sandy?
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: The Jersey Shore that has the money is maybe back to what it
used to be, but the towns like Keansburg and maybe parts of Keyport and parts of
Port Monmouth who don't have the money and the people who own the homes,
unfortunately, don't have the money to either raise their house or rebuild their
00:03:00house. It's a shame.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Definitely.
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: It's a shame. It really is.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: That's perfect.
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: Now, whether or not… the figure I heard was that we lost
150 families that never came back after Sandy.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Wow.
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: Now, I don't know if that figure is correct. It was just
something I had heard.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Definitely, a lot of people do have that feeling that certain
places of the shore had been rebuilt and now that the municipal government has
rebuilt itself as well, do you feel that they're helping people who… the
homeowners that you spoke about that live in those towns that aren't the popular
shore points.
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: Well, in some cases, I would say, the people who are not
00:04:00educated, okay, those poor people had been ripped off like… it's a disgrace
that they've been ripped off as much as they've been ripped off whether it's
from the government or a contractor that they hired. These poor people just…
they stand in there with their arms out and nothing's coming into them.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Definitely.
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: This town has a lot of elderly people in it.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Do you feel like the town has a plan for if this ever
happened again?
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: Well, let me put it to you this way. I would hope they do
00:05:00have a plan and I would hope the people themselves have a plan because if you've
been devastated by it, to have it happen to you again, it would be very foolish
on your part. But then again, we're talking money.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Definitely.
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: We're talking money and maybe this is all that people can do
and they can't go that one step further which would secure their homes even better.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: The first time you were interviewed, it was Trudi; she talked
to you about the media and their effect during the original emergency time
period following right after the storm. Do you feel like the media is still
00:06:00around and they're still trying to get attention to the Jersey Shore?
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: No. Again, if anything, it's where the money is. You don't
hear anything about Keansburg, Keyport, or Port Monmouth, any of those places.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Since Hurricane Sandy happened, do you feel like you've
changed your emergency preparations?
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: Oh, I did.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: As far as the weather reports and the reports that
meteorologists let out now about storms like this magnitude, do you feel like
you pay more attention to them now?
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: Yeah. The one thing I did do that was foolish was I judged
00:07:00it by Hurricane Irene.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Okay.
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: Hurricane Irene, I evacuated like they asked me to and it
wasn't as bad as Sandy ended up being. I was just one of the lucky ones that I
had damage onto my home, but my damage was basically from the wind.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Definitely. As far as Governor Christie, he was very
implementing right after the storm happened and making sure that he was seen.
Do you feel like he's followed through with the people of the shore?
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: I think he did a lot of media coverage for the town of
00:08:00Keansburg at one point, but I think more of the coverage was done down in
Seaside because that's the big drawer for the shore.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Definitely. As far as maybe just numbers-wise, we definitely
talked a lot about the tourism areas being fixed up a lot quicker and a lot more
than the communities that people lived in, they built their lives in. How much
of a difference do you think there is there to what has been rebuilt in the
tourism areas to the local communities?
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: I think there was more done to the tourism areas. I would
say even any of the house, any of the homes down here that were bungalows that
00:09:00they rented out during the summertime, I don't think… I've seen a couple. I
don't think they've been repaired and I don't think the people have the money to
do the repairs. If you don't repair it, you can't rent it out. So they're
losing money whichever way you look at it.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: And at the same time that Governor Christie was doing a lot
of that media coverage, President Obama was also here for a very short period.
Do you feel like he followed through with his promises of saying that, "New
Jersey will come back stronger than ever," and that, "We will make sure that
00:10:00they're supported through this time"?
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: No.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Actually, just recently, on January 30th, President Obama
issued an executive order directing how property has to now be built in
accordance with flood projections. What do you think about that? Do you feel
it comes at a good time?
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: If you have the money, again we're talking money, if you
have the money to do the repairs that would in cases of rentals and stuff would
let you have your income back again, then fine. But if you don't have the
money, like I said, if there's no money there, how can you rebuild and get your
income back?
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Definitely. Now that the original emergency mode has died
00:11:00down being two years later since the storm, how do you feel about it looking back?
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: One of the things for me, it has made me more aware that…
I said the next time, I would leave my house and I have the kit and everything
that they gave me in case I was… like when I was home, you lost your heat and
everything like that, so you're cold, and a lot of food that was in your freezer
was lost.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Also being able to reflect back, both in preparing for the
00:12:00storm, do you think you would have done anything different as far as preparing?
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: Yes. I would have been more prepared.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Okay.
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: Which there's a lot of things in my home that I didn't have
because you never think of it, like those containers of milk that you buy that
are on the shelves.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Definitely.
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: You buy a couple of them when you know that the storm is
coming so that at least you have that kind of milk, especially if you have
children, for cereal and stuff like that for them to eat.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: And is there anything else over the last two years that
00:13:00you've thought about from Hurricane Sandy or anything that I haven't asked that
you'd like to let me know of?
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: I wish there was some sort of an alarm that could go off
like they have down in Oklahoma and stuff when the hurricanes would come in,
that the people who lived down on the beach way, it's an emergency alarm and it
goes off when your life is going to be threatened. And if that's the case, then
you should listen to it and then get out. I think a lot of people just didn't
pay attention to it because of Hurricane Irene, because they all evacuated and
00:14:00then they couldn't get back in and some people just wanted to get back into
their homes because the ones that went up into the schools and stuff, it wasn't
that comfortable for them, and your privacy is gone. If there was some kind of
an alarm and you've got yourself together and you knew you were going up there
and you knew… "Okay, I know my house is in the flood area, so I definitely
have to get out."
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Definitely. As far as just also with that, do you feel like
00:15:00the weather people and meteorologists could have done a better job at alarming
people of what was about to happen?
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: No, I think they did it. I think people just didn't listen.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Okay, perfect.
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: Good?
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: That's all I have for you. Thank you very much for being
able to meet with me again.
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: Good.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: The second part of our project now is going to be
digitalizing all of these interviews. Would that be okay with you for that to
be made available for other schools and other…?
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: Fine.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Perfect.
HENRIETTA WILLIAMS: Fine. And I'm sorry I didn't send the paperwork back from
the first one.
RUQAYYAH ABDULLAH: Oh, no, that's so fine. Perfect.
