Two weeks later

I had never visited Vestal, N.Y., before, but on my first and only visit in September 2011, I learned the definition of community.

On Sept. 7 of that year, Tropical Storm Lee caused heavy flooding in upstate New York that caused an estimated $513 million in damages in Boome County alone. Because of its proximity to water, Vestal was among the hardest hit areas in Broome County, receiving a record 9.92 inches in rain.

Photo: Cheryl Mowczan

This Vestal, N.Y., home was ruined by Tropical Storm Lee's flood waters in early September 2011. Residents stripped the exterior walls to try to prevent mold from overtaking the house.

Although I visited Vestal two weeks after the storm had passed through, residents were just beginning to clear the destruction. Because of high water levels in the days following the storm, many of the homeowners were just returning to assess the damage to their home and community for the first time. The town was covered in debris, which only worsened as the residents were forced to strip their homes of posessions — and even first floor walls — damaged by the flood's waters.

It was my first time working on site along real-live flood victims. Many of the Vestal residents who shared their stories with me had just lost everything they owned, and their faces wore both grief and growing acceptance of the storm's aftermath. 

But among the wreckage, many of these residents found hope. When I arrived in the area, community clean-up teams were at work throughout the town, often tackling several houses at one time. The residents and rescue workers from unaffected areas worked alongside one another to remove the ruined fragments of the homes. Relief tents sprang up around Vestal and other areas to provide food, water and other resources to those in need.

I walked around the community with mixed feelings — shock from the amount of damage done to this single community, and wonder at the resilient spirit of the people of Vestal who continued to push forward and collectively move on from the tragic event.