Like many Sandy victims, they have relied on family and neighbors for months. Millie Peterson and her husband survived the superstorm when the Moonachie fire department rescued them. But they could not go back home.
She lived in her home for 70 years before nearly drowning as escaped Superstorm Sandy. Now Millie Peterson and her husband Pete are back home.
Eyewitness News was there as Millie Peterson was rescued from her Moonachie home that she has lived in for 70 years. Looking back at what happened during the Superstorm is still frightening.
Millie Peterson said "we would have defefinitely drowned…"
Meteorologist Amy Freeze explains that during Sandy the ocean overflowed filled up the Hackensack River which went over its banks ran down Park Ave and within minutes filled up their living room.
Millie said it was five feet of raging raging rapids outside her home. And then it filled up the front room. "Pete came back upstairs and it was up to here… to his chest."
Fearing they would drown they waited more than 12 hours on the 2nd floor until rescuers came.
Pete Peterson said he held up a latern for hours. He held the light and they saw it… and they were rescued by the Moonachie Fire Department.
Water swallowed the home and everything in it. Ruined. A lifetime of photos and memories washed away. It was unlivable.
Former ABC host of Extreme Makeover Ty Pennington – now part of the non profit Make a Difference Tour which helps those who have served in the military – chose Millie's husband Pete as their veteran to help. Pennington was at the Moonachie home hammering in the final nail. He couldn't believe the water line was up to the windows.
Craftsman volunteer crews descended on Moonachie. And this week, 6 months after sandy. New walls, new Sears appliances, a new start. The Petersons are back home.
Veteran Pete Peterson says he can't thank the volunteer teams enough.
Moonachie was the very first of at least a dozen nationwide stops on the Make a Difference Tour. The Moonachie community continues to come together. There is still work to be done. But what a way to lift spirits! LINK: LINK TO MOONACHIE
LINK: LINK TO TOUR
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