Six months after Superstorm Sandy devastated the Connecticut shoreline, there are signs of progress in areas like East Haven's Cosey Beach.
"We’ve had drains relined, houses lifted and just catastrophic damage," said Peter Arsich, of Petey's Piping. This house wasn’t quite where it is now. It was moved and put back together, and we keep going from there."
The Cosey Beach neighborhood had spent a year rebuilding after Tropical Storm Irene, only to have Sandy come through last September and delay the process.
The same is true in Milford’s Point Beach neighborhood. Frank Petrucci and his wife are finally moving into their rebuilt home next month.
"We have finally settled with insurance very recently, and it’s pretty much that way with everything. The damage here, the building department is overloaded, everything takes a long time," Petrucci said.
Homeowners in Fairfield are realizing just how long it takes. The beach neighborhoods were flooded during Sandy, and six months later, homes are still being taken down, gutted or raised back up.
"The two neighbors behind me, they haven’t lived in their house since Sandy hit, and they still have a lot of work to do. It’s been pretty significant. The houses coming down, like that one. The neighborhood is really changing," said Tricia Andriolo-Bull of Fairfield.
Many homeowners whose houses were damaged by the storm have their hands tied waiting for federal funding.
"You’re applying for FEMA grants, you’re applying for your flood insurance, you’re applying for your SBA disaster loan, and those are very slow getting out to people, so unless you have the financial resources to do it on your own, the money’s not there," said Fairfield First Selectman Mike Tetreau.
Tetreau says when the money does come, it’s less than expected.
"Here are people who are trying to rebuild, that six months after the fact, are still not in their homes, haven’t gotten the money, and are now starting to realize that when they get the money, it won’t be enough to rebuild their homes and get them back in," said Tetreau.
Tricia Andriolo-Bull says her family had to cut their losses when it came to their rental property in Fairfield.
"Because flood insurance only covers at the depreciated value, you got back almost nothing of what it would cost to replace something, so all of our electrical, all of our plumbing, all of our heating, everything was just really pricey," she said.
