Oct 29, 2015

They’ve been unable to return to their home in New Jersey since Superstorm Sandy damaged it three years ago. And a single mother of three, who needs a kidney transplant, is still rebuilding after years of fighting with insurers, contractors and state aid programs. But she’s not even sure she’ll be able to move in to the new home rising 15 feet higher than her old one.

: Retiree Buddy Sammis gestures toward solar panels he and his neighbors used to change their cell phones three years ago after portions of the Rockaway Beach boardwalk washed onto his street severing power lines, as he walks through a neighborhood-run community garden in the Rockaways Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in New York before the third anniversary of Superstorm Sandy. Sammis a longtime surfer, said, “I miss the (old) boardwalk. It was iconic. It was the longest boardwalk in the world, when it went all the way to 126th Street. Now it’s all cement. That’s not going to stop anything. If the ocean wants to take the concrete away, it’ll happen.” (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

: Habitat for Humanity employee Anna Acosta works on reconstructing the deck of a Breezy Point bungalow before the third anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in New York. Acosta and her husband, Reynaldo, have worked on nearly a dozen Sandy-damaged homes, initially as Habitat volunteers, and now as their full time job. “No matter how much work we do, there’s always more to do,” said Acosta. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens) Habitat for Humanity employee Anna Acosta works on reconstructing the deck of a Breezy Point bungalow before the third anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in New York. Acosta and her husband, Reynaldo, have worked on nearly a dozen Sandy-damaged homes, initially as Habitat volunteers, and now as their full time job. “No matter how much work we do, there’s always more to do,” said Acosta. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

: Habitat for Humanity employees Reynaldo and Anna Acosta hurry to complete the deck of a heavily damaged one-story bungalow owned by a 91-year-old resident in Breezy Point, before the third anniversary of Superstorm Sandy in New York, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. The couple has worked exclusively on rebuilding homes damaged by the storm for nearly the entire three years, initially as volunteers and now as Habitat employees. “No matter how much work we do,” says Anna Acosta, “there’s always more to do.” According to Breezy Point Cooperative general manager Arthur Lighthall, 220 Breezy Point homes were completely destroyed by flooding during Sandy. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

: Surfer, photographer and filmmaker Katrina del Mar, who lives near the beach, carries her surfboard down a set of recently constructed steps and benches near Beach 88th Street in the Rockaway Beach section of the Queens borough of New York on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, before the third anniversary of Superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens) Surfer, photographer and filmmaker Katrina del Mar, who lives near the beach, carries her surfboard down a set of recently constructed steps and benches near Beach 88th Street in the Rockaway Beach section of the Queens borough of New York on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, before the third anniversary of Superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

: Maureen Farrell stands on the stoop of her new home in the Breezy Point neighborhood, rebuilt on the site of her house that burned to the ground from a massive fire from Superstorm Sandy in New York, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Displaced since the storm, Farrell just moved back into her house in July 7. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens) Maureen Farrell stands on the stoop of her new home in the Breezy Point neighborhood, rebuilt on the site of her house that burned to the ground from a massive fire from Superstorm Sandy in New York, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Displaced since the storm, Farrell just moved back into her house in July 7. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

: Waves roll in as a woman walks along Rockaway Beach before the third anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in New York. To help prevent erosion from rising waters in the environmentally-sensitive area t heavily damaged by Sandy, new sea grasses have been planted . Other improvements include the construction of replacement and new boardwalk sections and additional public facilities. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation says over $4 million people visited Rockaway Beach last summer. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

: In this Dec. 5, 2012, file photo, men walk past the Superstorm Sandy destroyed Belle Harbor home in New York belonging to now-retired firefighter Robert Ostrander. On the three-year anniversary of the storm, Ostrander is still rebuilding his beachfront home. Construction above the foundation is just beginning. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)

: Retired firefighter Robert Ostrander looks at construction on his new home at Beach 132nd Street in Belle Harbor, a replacement for his former house which was destroyed by a storm surge from Superstorm Sandy, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in New York, before the third anniversary of the storm. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

: A boarded bungalow sits beside newly built homes on stilts in the Breezy Point neighborhood Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in New York, before the third anniversary of Superstorm Sandy. Arthur Lighthall, general manager of the Breezy Point Cooperative, said 220 Breezy Point homes were completely destroyed by flooding during Sandy and another 135 homes burned to the ground during a massive fire ignited by the storm. ìEvery day, itís getting a little bit better,î Lighthall said. “The buildings going up to replace destroyed beach bungalows are being put on high foundations so that future floods will, hopefully, wash beneath the houses rather than bowl them over,” he said. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

: An excavator moves sand into place as work continues rebuilding the heavily damaged Rockaway Beach boardwalk before the third anniversary of Superstorm Sandy in New York, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. A new concrete section of the boardwalk is visible, right, with freshly planted sea grasses, left, to reduce erosion from the ocean. Since the devastating storm, more than $140 million has been invested to repair and restore the beach. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation estimates more than 4 million people visited Rockaway Beach last summer. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

: Newly constructed homes replacing those destroyed in Superstorm Sandy tower on the horizon as Belle Harbor resident Larry Racioppo walks his dog Juno near Beach 131st Street before the storm’s third anniversary, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in New York. A 5-foot-high concrete retaining wall buttressed by sandbags has been added as further protection against the encroaching ocean for the homes on the opposite side of the wall. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

: Clothes hang to dry on the railing of a newly constructed home before the third anniversary of Superstorm Sandy in the Breezy Point section of New York, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. According to Breezy Point Cooperative general manager Arthur Lighthall, 220 Breezy Point homes were completely destroyed by flooding from Sandy while another 135 homes burned to the ground during a massive fire ignited by the storm. ìEvery day, itís getting a little bit better,î Lighthall said. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

: A worker stabilizes a pre-cast concrete slab while a co-worker uses a crane to position it on a berm as construction continues on replacement portions of the Rockaway Beach boardwalk Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in New York, before the third anniversary of Superstorm Sandy. Since the storm, more than $140 million has been invested to repair and restore damaged areas of Rockaway Beach, including the boardwalk, beach buildings, and to construct new facilities for the public. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

: Anti-erosion sea grasses are planted neatly in rows on the third anniversary of Superstorm Sandy in New York, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Since the storm, more than $140 million has been invested to repair and restore the heavily eroded beach and damaged boardwalk. But recovery is ongoing with efforts to provide long-term protection for the vulnerable and environmentally sensitive area. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

: FILE – In this Nov. 3, 2012, file photo, Kiva Kahl pours hot tea for neighbor Buddy Sammis, right, after she prepared it on a wood-stoked fire and cooking setup she and her fiance created in the street in front of their house on Beach 91st Street in the Rockaways in New York. Rebuilding is still taking place three years since Superstorm Sandy, for instance along the Rockaway Beach boardwalk, and includes walls to provide better protection against the surf. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)

: Halloween lights decorate a Breezy Point house before the third anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in New York. According to Breezy Point Cooperative general manager Arthur Lighthall, hundreds of homes in the neighborhood were destroyed by flooding or a massive fire ignited by the storm. “Every day it gets a little better,” Lighthall said. “There is a whole different image here, architecturally speaking.î (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

: A couple strolls on a newly constructed concrete portion of the Rockaway Beach boardwalk near Beach 88th Street before the third anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in New York. Work involving the New York City Economic Development Corporation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is ongoing to provide more long-term protection for the environmentally sensitive area. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

: Construction workers build the framework for a house near the beach in Belle Harbor before the third anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in New York. Homes closest to the Atlantic Ecean were heavily damaged by storm surge and floodwaters from the “hundred-year storm.” (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

: In this Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015, photo, Michelle Petrow looks through building materials in her home, three years after her former home on the site was destroyed by Superstorm Sandy, in Manasquan, N.J. The single mother of three, who needs a kidney transplant, is still rebuilding after years of fighting with insurers, contractors and state aid programs. But she’s not even sure she’ll be able to move in to the new home rising 15 feet higher than her old one: her bank is foreclosing on it because she stopped making payments for a year and a half while she simultaneously rented an apartment. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

: In this Oct. 21, 2015 photo, Bob Collis, left, and his wife, Katherine, right, stand in their trailer in Berkeley Township, N.J. They have been unable to return to their home in Toms River, N.J., since Superstorm Sandy damaged it three years ago. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

: In this Oct. 21, 2015, photo, Bob Collis, left, and his wife, Katherine, right, sit in front of their trailer in Berkeley Township, N.J. They have been unable to return to their home in Toms River, N.J., since Superstorm Sandy damaged it three years ago. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

: In this Oct. 21, 2015, photo, Bob Collis, left, kisses his wife, Katherine, right, in front of their trailer in Berkeley Township, N.J. They have been unable to return to their home in Toms River, N.J., since Superstorm Sandy damaged it three years ago. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

: In this Oct. 21, 2015 photo, Bob Collis sits in front of his trailer in Berkeley Township, N.J. He and his wife Katherine have been unable to return to their home in Toms River, N.J., since Superstorm Sandy damaged it three years ago. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

: In this Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015, photo, Michelle Petrow walks with her dog, Rudy, outside her home three years after her former home on the site was destroyed by Superstorm Sandy, in Manasquan, N.J. The single mother of three, who needs a kidney transplant, is still rebuilding after years of fighting with insurers, contractors and state aid programs. But she’s not even sure she’ll be able to move in to the new home rising 15 feet higher than her old one: her bank is foreclosing on it because she stopped making payments for a year and a half while she simultaneously rented an apartment. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

: In this Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015, photo, Michelle Petrow looks at building materials in her home, three years after Superstorm Sandy, in Manasquan, N.J. The single mother of three, who needs a kidney transplant, is still rebuilding after years of fighting with insurers, contractors and state aid programs. But she’s not even sure she’ll be able to move in to the new home rising 15 feet higher than her old one: her bank is foreclosing on it because she stopped making payments for a year and a half while she simultaneously rented an apartment. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

: In this Oct. 12, 2015 photo, Michelle Petrow stands in front of her unfinished home in Manasquan, N.J. Three years after Superstorm Sandy destroyed her old home, she is still not able to move in to a rebuilt one because it has not been completed. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

: In this Oct. 27, 2015, photo, Chuck Griffin drills holes in a display at a protest across from the Statehouse in Trenton, N.J. Three years after Superstorm Sandy ruined his Little Egg Harbor, N.J., home, Griffin and his wife still have not been able to move back in. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)