One Family, One Year, Three Floods

Andrew Ziegler's house has flooded five times in his lifetime. Every time it rains he gets scared that he’s going to have to leave his house again.

He is six years old.

The Zieglers live on Fairfield Road, at the confluence of the Pequannock and Pompton Rivers. Andrew's wife, Denise, has lived in the house for more than 30 years. She won’t be back until February.

“I don’t wish this upon anybody,” Ziegler said as she wiped away tears and her voice cracked. “We just got done rebuilding and we’re flooded again. It’s just too devastating to handle.”

Ziegler is staying with her husband and two sons at a family member's house in West Caldwell. The Zieglers were forced to evacuate their home when Hurricane Irene dumped 10 inches of water on North Jersey.

Ziegler’s house has been flooded six times since 2005, including three times this year. The family was unable to live in the house from March to June. On average, every time it floods the family has to move out of the house for five months while it is repaired and rebuilt.

Ziegler said that people repeatedly ask her, "Why don’t you move?"

Her answer is simple.

“I’m not just going to walk away from a house I’ve lived in for 32 years and still have a mortgage on. If you walk away from your house, your life goes bankrupt,” Ziegler said. “At least if I have a chance for a buyout I’d have a down payment on another house and live somewhere else. If I walk away now, I get nothing.”

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water passed a measure Tuesday to give the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers the authority to spend $5 million on home buyouts in the Passaic River Basin, including Wayne.

“I know people are saying, ‘Not on my tax dollars,' but here we are and we’ve only lived at our home four months out of the whole year so far and now we’re out again,” Ziegler said.

The buyout process could be an arduous one. The buyout request needs to be submitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) by Sept. 30. Zeigler said she won’t receive a decision on a buyout until January or February. It will take months to rebuild the house, just so it could be bought out and knocked down.

“Basically, we’re going to put a house up just to knock it down,” Ziegler said. “Isn’t that ridiculous?”

Ziegler’s family lost a lot of their possessions in the flood, including their grill and outdoor furniture, which aren’t covered by flood insurance. Ziegler is more than seven months pregnant with a daughter. The baby’s nursery was also destroyed in the flood.

But Ziegler keeps things in perspective.

“We’re all safe and that’s what matters,” she said.

She understands what is important and what keeps her going.

“Them,” she said, pointing to her two boys as they play. “They’re the only thing keeping me going. I just want them to live in a house where they don't hide under their beds every time it rains. I don't think that's too much to ask."