it's been two years since hurricane Ida devastated New Jersey killing 30 people here and destroying homes in its path but two years later countless residents are still struggling to rebuild caught in an endless loop of FEMA and insurance claim denials Melissa Rose Cooper caught up with one mom who's desperate for support I looked out this window and saw that my car was completely surrounded by water that I knew that this was really bad Leanna Jones recounting the devastating moments after Hurricane Ida destroyed her Milford home two years ago Jones who had only moved in with her two children just two months before the storm says they were suddenly uprooted with no place to live it was just like completely completely devastated our new home and really traumatized my kids as well they were so upset and still to this day like every time it rains they get really concerned that it's just gonna happen all over again Jones and her kids are back in their home but they're still struggling to put the pieces together even though she had flood insurance she says the company wouldn't cover a lot of the damage there were things like my porch the front brick is all cracked and it's settled and got wrecked from the pressure of the water that's not covered by my insurance and I didn't know that like it's connected to my house it's a it's an actual structural part of the front of the house and because she had flood insurance Jones says she was denied help from FEMA I took out credit card new credit cards my credit score has gone down so I applied to harp and they've just now come back to me I just got back from vacation and had a letter saying or an email saying unfortunately we can't give you any more federal funds no we can't give you any federal funds um because you're in a flood way and we suggest you apply to Blue Acres which is program that buys you out of your house a thought Jones never dreamed could become a reality yet it's an outcome she and many other Ida survivors living in areas like Passaic and Manville are now also facing it's coming as a huge shock to everybody Cameron Foster is a Communications organizer with the New Jersey organizing project which has been helping Ida survivors get the assistance they need but he says residents are continuing to deal with a broken disaster recovery system what we've heard from the state is that Manville has been designated a high risk area and because of that residents in Manville can't receive federal funding for elevation or rebuilding Foster says New Jersey claims there's limited Federal funding available to assist in the continued recovery process but he believes the state should do more New Jersey's had historic budget surpluses of 8.3 billion this year as well as unspeed arpa funds so if the federal funds Aren't Enough our state has resources and their responsibility to fill the Gap but the State Department of Community Affairs maintains their doing everything they can to expedite the recovery process according to a spokesperson DCA also put together a proposal to reallocate 52.4 million dollars in superstorm Sandy funds for Hurricane Ida recovery the department later this month will submit both plans to the federal government for approval upon approval by Hud which is expected this fall DCA will have allocated a total of 429 million dollars for Ida recovery with Ida it just seems like we're the Forgotten ones um there's things that they could do like I've been paying my mortgage throughout if I could get mortgage forbearance that would be a huge help Jones was able to previously get a Federal Loan which he used to help make some repairs but she still has to pay it back and there's still roughly another one hundred thousand dollars in Damages left that she can't afford to do on her own so she's hoping the state will step in so she can finally fix what's needed and stay in her home for Angie's Spotlight news I'm Melissa Rose Cooper [Music]