FEMA opens center in East Haven

EAST HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) -- There are still many people living along the shoreline who are trying to rebuild their homes and their lives after Hurricane Sandy. FEMA has an office in East Haven this weekend ready to help residents.

FEMA employee Verne Kelley spent his Thanksgiving far from his family in Missouri. He was in our state, an area he's gotten to know pretty well over the last two years, though he hopes he won't need to come back.

"Love the state but this isn't how I want to come up here," Kelley said.

He's now heading up the last mobile FEMA center based at the beach house on Cosey Beach in East Haven. He said it's been busy.

"Since noon we've seen 24 people so far today and then we're open 8 to 8 (Saturday) and 8 and 8 on Monday."

The federal relief agency has been up and down the Connecticut coast since Hurricane Sandy hit right before Halloween. A month of filing paperwork and answering questions, a process that many in East Haven are all too familiar with.

After two hurricanes in two years, some people have opted to raise up their houses, but this is not a cheap alternative, and it is definitely not an option for everyone. In fact, some have told us they have no choice but to pick up and move out. Denise LaCroix had six inches of standing water in her home last year and a foot this year.

"It's been horrific actually, living on an air mattress and a dorm fridge," LaCroix said, "but living the dream (laughs)."

She's lost every single appliance and has extensive damage to the infrastructure of her home.  Last year, she says, she did not qualify for FEMA assistance. She came to the FEMA center Friday hoping she'll get some help this time around.  But she says, even if she doesn't, after 30 years here she'll tough it out.

"I'm gonna stay, yeah, see what happens," she said.