Experienced With Flooding, Family Evacuates Before Water Overtakes Home

When a Nor'easter hit in 2007, emergency crews had to rescue Courtney Raphael and her three children, Kaiulani, Jabari and Kitaka in a boat.

The water came fast then, flooding the street before they were able to leave the area.

Hurricane Irene was no different, but the family's action plan was—they packed bags and drove one of the family cars to the Hillsborough Township emergency shelter, located in the municipal building, when it opened Saturday at 6 p.m. 

"Our house is at 180 Dukes Parkway East," Courtney Raphael said. "We're at the lowest point in the Raritan River, so this will be the fourth time we've flooded in six years."

Raphael's fiancee stayed at the house until Saturday at 11 p.m., ensuring the windows were securely taped and the cars were on high ground. Raphael and her fiancee returned Sunday at about 6 a.m., to see how bad the water would be.

"When we went back at 6 a.m. today, there was already water (in the house)," she said. "We didn't think we'd lose the whole house, but we lost the whole house."

They returned to the shelter, where they knew they were safe. They had began planning for their stay on Thursday night, evacuating their house only two hours after the rains began on Saturday.

"Everybody is so kind, so helpful and very empathetic," Raphael said. "It is difficult because we're not sure what happens to our house. But I think it hasn't been horrible."

Leaving under their own terms, rather than on an evacuation boat has helped the situation too, she said. This time, they were able to bring some of the comforts from home with them, as part of their preparations.

"I think the part of it that made it comfortable was that we brought our own blankets and pillows and sheets," Raphael said.

Though they left once the shelter closed, they said their next steps would be finding housing. When the house flooded in 2007, they were able to find housing through Rutgers University in New Brunswick, where Raphael was an undergraduate student, she said.

Now, she's a graduate student at Rutgers Camden, and she's unsure about whether she'll be able to get housing in New Brunswick—Camden is too far away for her children to attend school in town.

"Our flood policies don't provide housing," Raphael said. "It will be months before our house is liveable. Now, we'll have to look at rebuilding, file with FEMA, contact the Red Cross and put everything in place."

"I've had to rebuild from two levels but I've never had to rebuild from five levels," she said.

But her flood insurance with the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) usually only pays out 10 percent of the personal property claims—and she's still recovering from the last flood.

"NFIP basically has not been very cooperative about trying to help us rebuild," Raphael said. "So we were never able to replace the things from the last flood."

This flood is easily more devastating than the last though. The family's worked through being unable to replace the washer and dryer destroyed the last time water covered the house's first and second floors. 

"When we drove down to Manville around 10:30 a.m. (Sunday), I knew our house had to be in really serious trouble," Raphael said. "I just started crying. It seems like a foolish reaction, but I just wasn't prepared for it."

"I knew the water was going to come into our house," she added. "I never imagined that it would cover the entire house."

The biggest heartache is losing family photos and other treasures.

"I'm just sick to think, 'I could have put my photos in the car,'" Raphael said. "That's just stuff I can't replace. I can't replace baby pictures of the kids or custom artwork from a friend."

As with the last time their house flooded, the family will rebuild, Raphael said. She's just not sure exactly what that process will bring.

"Since I'm in my last semester of school, I'm not sure how I'm going to rebuild," Raphael said. "You have to have money and we don't."

Despite the flooded house, lost belongings and an uncertain journey ahead, Raphael could only praise her experience in the township shelter, she said.

"I'm glad that we live in Hillsborough because the police, the mayor, the emergency services folks have been really great," she said. "I'm glad I'm in a town where people band together during a disaster."