Community Corner

Rebuilding from Sandy a Struggle for Toms River Paraplegic [VIDEO]

Eric Katz faces accessibility challenges if he must raise his Green Island home

With the help of his father, Eric Katz spent over three years renovating the house that allowed him to live how he wanted.

The 30 year-old paraplegic has been in a wheelchair since age 15, but that never stopped him from living an active and independent life. Then Superstorm Sandy struck. His custom home in Toms River's Green Island section was devastated by flooding. 

"I had never even seen water in the street," said Katz from inside his gutted home, the walls half removed and floors stripped bare. "For [Hurricane] Irene, it didn't even come over the bulkhead."

Katz was putting the finishing touches on his lagoon-side ranch just two week before Sandy pushed 35 inches of water into the garage. About 18 inches of water made it inside the rest of the house, destroying everything it touched. 

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"I put a couple of things up high, just in case," Katz said of his storm preparations. "As a joke, I put my vacuum in the slop sink in the laundry room. I didn't think water was coming in."

After Sandy, Katz wasn't allowed to return to his home for a week. When he came back, Katz was met with "disbelief."

Find out what's happening in Toms Riverwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"I saw puddles and soot. There was brown muck everywhere," Katz said. "It smelled horrible."

"That's when I thought, what if it just dries? But it can't, there's mold growing."

Katz, originally from East Brunswick, put his life savings into the custom home. He has always loved the water, having his first experiences at the Jersey Shore visiting a friend's family in Forked River.

But now the years of work put into renovating his home by the lagoon were lost. Lacking flood insurance, the damage isn't covered. 

"And that's when it was like, 'whoa.'" Katz said. "I'm back to square one."

Katz wants to rebuild, but like many others, the current FEMA flood maps have moved his home from an "A" zone to a "V" zone. Just two houses away, neighbors remain in an "A" zone, as do others who are closer than Katz to any potential wave action. 

"I'd have to raise my home six feet from where it is now," he said. "I don't have ramp space for that kind of lift."

Just to elevate his home — not including raising the deck or potential additional ramps — would likely cost over $150,000.

"And that's just a standard lift," said Katz, whose ranch home has two sections, the original portion and an addition. He has applied for a federal loan to help, but it wouldn't pay everything. 

Katz is ready to comply, though he will wait to see if his property returns to an "A" zone when FEMA issues final flood maps sometime during or after this August. Building wheelchair ramps for a home elevated to a "V" zone isn't practical.

And, Katz said, installing an elevator would take away the independence he found in his custom home.

"I don't want an elevator. That's why I bought this house," said Katz, who has been active throughout his entire life, even having been awarded a sports scholarship to the University of Arizona.

Katz has been talking with township officials about potentially adding landfill to his driveway and the garage to construct a steeper driveway. The township wants to see a proposal, but private engineers so far have been weary to help. They tell Katz doing that isn't possible.

"I'm not trying to do anything crazy here," Katz said. 

Faced with the financial burden of rebuilding — whenever that time comes once the FEMA maps have been finalized — friends and family have decided to help Katz through the fundraising Website gofundme.com.

So far, over $5,000 has been contributed. That's something Katz isn't used to.

"I'm never one to take stuff. I'd rather give," Katz said.

Giving is part of why he can't wait to rebuild. Katz, now staying with his parents in Manasquan, often hosted friends during the summer on his deck. After Sandy struck, many came to help gut his house, and he looks forward to the day he can say thank you with a party for them at his home.

"That was already in my mind, but even now that's on hold for however long it needs to be. But it will happen," Katz said. 


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