FEMA gives money to displaced residents

SILVER CREEK, N.Y. (WIVB) - Mobile homes, looked like bumper homes after flood water moved them the middle of an August night in Silver Creek.

Barbara Amrozowicz, Park Manager and resident, said, "Some of them were just piled up into a pile. Nobody touched them. They just rolled like dominoes going down."

Silver Village Mobile Home Park was Amrozowicz's home for than a decade. Then came several feet of water, mud and muck.

The empty lots are where some of the 35 homes in this park once stood. All were destroyed by the flooding in August. A flood that challenged and changed lives.

However, Barbara is ready to move back to the park this month. This is her new home. It sits on the exact same lot her old home used to sit on, minus the muck and mud.

"It's brought the people who lived here much closer together. We were like a family before. And the people who want that family back are all coming back," said Amrozowicz.

Coming back because checks from FEMA nearly cover the price of each new mobile home. The property manager tells News 4 each resident applied for and received the maximum from FEMA, just over $30,000. Each costs about $31,000. The area hasn't been declared unsafe, another reason why nearly a dozen homes are being placed here.

Susan Jamieson has a better understanding now about the power of water. Mold in the basement, debris in her damaged garage. Susan wants out of her Gowanda home. She relies on help from family, friends and church volunteers to make it livable.

"I am having a very hard time dealing with every day life trying to get things done around here," exclaimed Jamieson

One August night, nothing seemingly stood still. Despite losing nearly all of their possessions, some people are trying to prove you can go home.

Amrozowicz stated, "They're not afraid to come back. None of us are."

Not afraid some say because flooding in Silver Creek hadn't happened before and they're pretty sure it won't happen again.