Plainfield to host storm recovery benefit concert as residents clean up
PLAINFIELD, New Jersey (WABC) -- Parts of New Jersey are still cleaning up Friday after deadly storms and the city of Plainfield is looking to bring the community together to support all those impacted by the destruction.
There has been some progress when it comes to cleaning up, but it is a daunting task. All the belongings from basements piled on streets leave no doubt that the storm has left a terrible blow.
The city is using heavy equipment to pick up the piles of debris off the streets as residents continue to clean up from the storm earlier this week.
This has been days in the making for many and residents are trying to recover and assess the damage.
Theresa Gates-Ford's basement is on day three of a deep clean. The basement is still drying out, with fans and generators running around the clock. Everything is ruined, including her husband's dialysis medication. The basement had been a family oasis filled with arcade games, but now that's all gone.
Meanwhile, resident Dylan Ahamad is doing his due diligence to clean out his car. It's a tedious task, but his expertise in auto mechanics is making it possible to save his ride which had water up to the seats.
The city is hosting a concert Sunday, starting at 4 p.m., to raise funds to help residents who are struggling to recover.
Volunteers will also start helping residents who are disabled that need to clean out their homes.
The cost at this point is simply too much to estimate, but the mayor says donations from the concert will be handed out to residents on a case-by-case basis.
The community wants to help the families of the two women who were swept away by the floodwaters on Monday night and did not survive.
"We will have an application process in place and we will be able to assess what level of assistance people need so that we can provide that to the extent that the funds would allow us to do so," Plainfield Mayor Adrian Mapp said.
Mapp says the federal government has been working on a flood retention project at the Green Brook for decades and now the work needs to be completed before any more disasters strike.
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