After Hurricane Sandy devastated Staten Island and other coastal areas of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, a massive cleanup began. While most of the news coverage since then has been about damaged and destroyed buildings and homeowners fighting with their insurance companies to get paid their rightful proceeds, the importance of the contents of those homes is slowly making its way into the public eye. Nearly 1,000 pictures – old, new and everywhere in between – have been found in Staten Island, and a few people have taken the extra step to make sure they get back to their owners.
Pictures Found, Cleaned & Preserved On Facebook
That’s what happened to the numerous photos found near Staten Island’s New Dorp Beach. According to the New York Times, residents of the area who returned to the homes after Hurricane Sandy – or to the empty sites where their homes used to be –began to find photos in the area debris. Since many of Staten Island’s homes were completely destroyed, partly destroyed and uninhabitable, or residents haven’t returned because they haven’t received the homeowners’ insurance they need to rebuild, repair and return, others have tried to keep their precious photos safe in the meantime.
One of those residents, 46-year-old Steven LoBaido, whose Staten Island home was destroyed during Superstorm Sandy, found one of his own wedding pictures blocks away from his house, separated from the album in which it had always been kept. He and others began collecting photographs, which have now been cleaned and posted on Facebook so that others can at least hang onto their memories.
According to LoBaido, they found pictures across eras and occasions, such as first communions, wedding days, family vacations, dance recitals, children leaning over their birthday cakes, school plays, baseball uniforms, marching bands, portraits of family dogs, the Our Lady Queen of Peace School Class of 1961 and the commencement program for the Tottenville High School Class of 1980, among others.
Sadly, only a few people have yet to come forward to retrieve their photos on Facebook’s post of Assemblywoman Malliotakis’s Sandy Photo Reclamation Project. However, the neighbors and the assemblywoman who have gone out of their way to help other neighbors say that the effort was well worth it.
Like A Good Neighbor…
Most insurance companies promise to be there “like a good neighbor.” Unfortunately, when push comes to shove, many insurers simply close their doors when it comes to your needs. If your insurance company has denied your valid homeowner’s insurance claim after Hurricane Sandy, unreasonably delayed your payment, or offered you a settlement that is lower than it should be according to the terms of your insurance, then you may be able to sue them for engaging in bad faith insurance practices.
An experienced New York insurance dispute lawyer can analyze your situation, get your claim paid and determine whether you might be entitled to additional bad faith practices compensation so that you can make an informed decision about what’s best for you and your family. Don’t let big insurance companies intimidate you. Find someone to help you collect everything you’re entitled to.