For Sandy survivors, a desire to help Texans avoid their mistakes

HOUSTON—As Sue Marticek travels around Texas, she tells people she is from the town “that had the rollercoaster in the water” after superstorm Sandy roared through five years ago Sunday.

She is in southeast Texas now because there are still hundreds of people in her native Ocean County in New Jersey who haven’t been able to return home. The iconic rollercoaster was replaced this year, but recovery from the storm is still not complete.

The problems, which range from contractor fraud to fights over insurance claims, she says, stem from mistakes homeowners made in the confusing, emotionally charged months right after the storm. And with hurricane Harvey – which hit Texas and Louisiana in late August – estimated to have caused three times the damage Sandy did, she wants Texans to avoid those problems.

“New Jersey wants Texas’s recovery to be better than ours,” Marticek says. “For the people who are not getting home [in New Jersey] we have to share [our] lessons, because we shouldn’t have them, and their heartache, go in vain.”

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