Red Cross helping families in Howard Beach recover from flooding during winter storm
NEW YORK -- The Red Cross is helping families in Queens recover after Friday's brutal winter storm triggered flooding.
Some homes in the Old Howard Beach section were hit hard.
Emergency vehicles and cars kept splashing along 97th Street, churning up a watery and muddy mess Saturday morning.
"We lost one car, the Caddy," said Vinny Traina, who's been living in Howard Beach for more than 60 years. "We were up to the grass, the water."
Doreen Duldulao endured seven floods at her home in the course of 45 years.
"It's filthy, the filth," said Duldulao. "It was 6:30 this morning. In the morning, I was leaving for work and I said, 'What is this mud?' And the water was just flowing."
Superstorm Sandy was the worst, but this one was a mucky pain that's messing up Christmas.
"I think it's time for me to get out of Howard Beach because I can't take it anymore," said Duldulao. "It's sad the way it is over here."
Christmas Eve was spent cleaning up, so dinner will have to wait.
The American Red Cross reception center inside Rockwood Park School on 88th Street was a place to go for help on Friday and Saturday.
"People just need to go to a place that's warm," said Frank Farance. "We've had about 15 clients and I would say about half of them roughly have needed housing ... Some people just need the cleaning kit to recover."
Sandbagging and scrubbing took priority over unwrapping gifts and feeling festive.
