Public Employee Press

DC 37 helps members after Sandy destroys their homes
Devastation row

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

“A 7-foot wave came down the street. Everything I owned was under water.”
— Harold Probanski, Maintainer, Local 1931

Sr. School Lunch Helper and Cook Jane Caravello and her husband Vincent lived 1,500 feet from the Atlantic Ocean shore in the Oakwood Beach section of Staten Island.

Today, an empty lot with remnants of a concrete foundation is all that's left of their home.

Hurricane Sandy washed 13 of the 17 homes on the eastern shore beachfront block they affectionately called "The Poor Man's Hamptons" into another neighborhood a half-mile away.

Caravello and Maintainer Harold Probanski, whose 491 Midland Ave. home was ravaged by the storm - both members of District Council 37 - are among the hundreds of Staten Island homeowners who have been building their lives anew since Sandy devastated the island. The storm killed at least 23 people on Staten Island as it took about 300 lives in North America and the Caribbean.

Caravello, a member of Dept. of Education Employees Local 372, and Probanski, a member of Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Maintenance Employees Local 1931, received modest sums from DC 37 to help them recover from the storm damage.

The union's Personal Service Unit has assisted more than 500 members hit hard by the superstorm. The unit's Social Workers have been screening candidates for aid from the Help Our Own Fund and the new Fallen Heroes Fund as well as counseling many of the storm victims.

"In addition to the practical difficulties, the psychological trauma of severe damage or destruction of a person's home can affect their ability to keep going to work and handling normal life issues," said PSU Director Robert Terruso.

"We are doing all we can to help our union sisters and brothers, especially those who have been hit the hardest," said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts. "I am asking all locals and members to contribute to this effort." (For information on how you can help, or for applications for aid, members should phone PSU at 212-815-1250.)

Probanski said he has been touched by the union and community support he has received. He used to work as a plumber, and his old union gave him $2,000. The owner of a tattoo business in Maine heard about his hardship and sent him a $600 check. He also expressed his appreciation to the TBTA, which he said has been flexible about his work schedule as he deals with his upended life.

The DC 37 members rely at times on dark humor to cope with their tragedies.

"You have to try and laugh a little about this," said Caravello, who, like Probanski, had invested significantly in home improvements over the years. "What else can you do?"

Like a tsunami

Probanski decided to evacuate his one-story, wood-framed bungalow - eight blocks from the water - shortly after he heard the city's warning about the danger of the hurricane on TV at around 6 p.m. on Oct. 29, the day the storm hit. About 15 minutes after he left to stay with his mother in a Staten Island neighborhood that was spared the wrath of the storm, a 7-foot-high wave swept down the street like a tsunami, trashing the houses.

Before the storm devastated their neighborhood, the Caravellos had decided to take their dog Murphy and cat Chewy to stay at the home of one of their daughters on the island.

Sandy's floodwaters lifted Probanski's house 3 feet off its foundation, severely damaging the walls. It collapsed a retaining wall, ruined his newly renovated kitchen, and wrecked the boiler, hot water heater, appliances and furniture.

"The last four years since I moved in, I have spent every dime of my salary on improving the home," said Probanski, who inherited the bungalow from his grandmother. "It was a cute little house," he said, that has been in the family since 1958.

"Everything I owned was under water," said Probanski, 65. "I was 90 percent done with the house. But now I have to put off my retirement for another year."

With the help of volunteers, Probanski cleared out the debris from his house, and then he started making repairs. He didn't have private flood insurance, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency provided $32,000 in assistance. He hired a contractor for $15,000 to rebuild the retaining wall.

But the city Buildings Dept. has declared his home unsafe and is requiring him to get an architect and engineer to sign off on the work before allowing him to return.

"I'm stuck," said Probanski, who is still staying at his mother's home. "I would like to put up new Sheetrock, but I am in limbo and can't move forward."

The storm occurred after the Caravellos had spent the last three years renovating their three-bedroom home.

"We put in new walls, new insulation, a new roof," Caravello said. "Add that money up. You ask, 'My God, I put all that money into the house and now what?' "

All that's left of their home at 115 Kissam Ave. now is a part of the roof and some siding that Sandy dumped a short drive away in marshland amid 6-foot-high grass.

FEMA will cover structural damage. But the couple's insurance company has refused to compensate them for the personal property the storm carried away.

So, before they start to make long-term plans, the Caravellos are waiting to learn about the terms of the state's buy-out offer to coastline residents whose homes were destroyed or damaged by Sandy.

"I will know better if I ever own a house again - which I don't think will happen," Caravello said. "I will live far away from any river, brook or any water at all!"