"It's like you're homeless," said Joann Dolan, a Hoboken resident.
Joann Dolan seemed lost when Eyewitness News met her.
She's one of tens of thousands of people trying to navigate the paperwork that comes with trying to recoup what you've lost.
"I'm devastated because I don't know where I'm going," Dolan said.
The anguish and stress she feels was shared by so many others at a community meeting in Hoboken.
It's where homes are damaged and belongings lost and piled up on sidewalks.
Frustration is something spilling out into the open as well.
The Mayor of Hoboken says she called for this community meeting to help residents find answers to their most pressing questions.
"It is a very frustrating process but it is here to help people," Mayor Dawn Zimmer said.
Monday night, she got an earful from residents like Gary Ferrari.
He is concerned about what he says is a toxic mix of flood water and oil in his home on Jefferson Street.
"I'm concerned that we're concentrating on flooding but we're being poisoned in my estimation," Ferrari said.
The mayor is realistic about what lies ahead for her city's residents.
It's a process she says; filling out the paperwork, getting a response from FEMA, and hoping things go your way.
"It sounds like a lot. If that was the situation, there are options for them to try and get assistance," Zimmer said.
Joann Dolan says she is exploring her options, and right now the road ahead seems long.
"It's starting to hit me now. Christmas is next month. It's hitting me more than before," Dolan said.
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