community
A Tale of Two Houses
be a busy, upcoming, holiday season.
The Eyrricks registered with
the quickly organized, local CCFR and
started looking for ways and resources
to repair their home. In the initial
months after the flood no one was
really sure what kind of help would be
available from the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA). Many
families, businesses, and community
entities were put on hold, waiting for
answers to questions.
The Clever Cricket was
untouched by the flood waters, one less
thing the family would need to deal with.
The Eyrricks stayed with the
Adams family for a month and a half.
Next they borrowed and lived in a trailer;
eventually they purchased their own
trailer and parked it at their home as they
worked to repair it, living partially in the
house, partially in the trailer. Believing
that they could receive help from FEMA
to lift their home, they worked to put
the house and lives back together. They
took out a SBA loan to do the repairs and
purchased replacement furniture. They
worked with contractors for over a year,
rebuilding the home they loved.
“And then we discovered that
FEMA changed their rules and they
were not going to improve any property
that was in the designated Flood Way,”
explains Camrin. “The maps had been
changed and our house was now in the
Flood Way.”
FEMA
would
eventually
change these rules again and allow
improvements in the Flood Way, but
that was after the Eyrricks had already
changed course.
The Eyrricks now went back
to the drawing board with CCFR and
arranged for a buyout of their damaged
home at pre-flood value. Community
Action Team (CAT) a non-profit that
helps people with affordable housing
and was now managing CCFR, was
putting together a program to develop
several affordable homes on Corey Hill
in Vernonia for people who had been
bought out by FEMA. The Eyrricks,
working with CAT’s Casey Mitchell
were put on the list and were scheduled
to be moved as part of the second round
of new homes.
***
***
The flood had a tremendous
impact on the community as a whole
and on individuals. Everyone deals
with personal disaster differently. The
fear that it could flood again is very
october25
9
2011
continued from page 8
real, especially for people who were with CAT to plan for their new home.
severely impacted, even when it might Camrin had her eye on a particular lot she
seem somewhat irrational. For Kaitlyn, really liked but that lot was already taken.
who had skipped a grade in school that She picked out a floor plan she thought
fall and was adjusting to a new set of would work that was being constructed
school friends and classmates, it meant for someone else; unfortunately that
trouble sleeping. Jacob,
normally laid back and
easygoing, suffered from
anger issues.
“Anytime that it
rained at all, even when
the river is low and there
is no way it’s going to
flood because the river
bed is visible—I would be
checking the river levels
three and four times a
day, really neurotic about
it,” says Camrin. “That’s
how I’ve spent the last
The inside of the Eyrrick’s Juniper Street house.
three years.”
Since the flood the Eyrrick plan would not be available for their
family has lived in a constant state of lot. “I remember daydreaming about it,
flux. During the ‘08-’09 winter a high even though that wasn’t going to be our
water scare sent the whole community home,” says Camrin. “And then I got a
call telling me that one of
the families had dropped
out of the first round and
they asked us to come in
—and it just happened to
be the lot we liked with
the floor plan we wanted!
So it totally worked out!”
Believing they would be
moving soon, the family
stopped work on their old
house, leaving it partially
repaired. Unfortunately
nothing is easy in this
story. The process of
completing their new
Kaitlyn Eyrrick’s bedroom with open walls.
house, working through
into motion—the Eyrrick packed up and all the red tape and paperwork, with
spent over a week living on high ground constant changes and adjustments to
after moving their trailer to friends rules and funding took almost eighteen
Kinnell and John Steward’s house. more months.
Personal items stayed packed away in
Camrin acted as her family’s
boxes. Little used items were difficult to advocate, writing letters, making phone
find.
calls, monitoring legislation through
In the midst of all this family congress and constantly visiting with the
turmoil, Brandon, who had been caseworkers and staff at CCFR.
suffering from periodic numbness in
With the FEMA buyout and
his hand and arm, was diagnosed with grant funding package that CCFR
an undetected birth defect-- a Chiari identified and put together the Eyrricks
Type 2 Malformation. “Basically his were basically able to make a straight
skull is undersized and his brain was trade--their flood damaged and partially
being pushed out and into his spinal repaired home for a brand new home.
column,” explains Camrin. Brandon “The house trade was truly a work of
underwent major neurosurgery, and magic,” explained Camrin.
“Many
things went well. Another major hurdle entities were involved, but CAT’s Casey
negotiated for this family that continued Mitchell in particular should be credited
to persevere.
with making the house swap possible. It
The Eyrricks began working was not a very clear cut trade or an easy
thing to get done.”
Camrin also wanted to recognize
the work of CCFR throughout the entire
three-plus year process. “Everyone’s
flood case and financial situations are so
varied and different, and what CCFR was
able to do for individuals is varied and
unique,” says Camrin. “Unfortunately
there is no easy cookie cutter process
that could be used for everyone’s case.
We are so grateful for all they were able
to do for us.”
“It was a pleasure to work with
the Eyrrick family,” says CCFR’s Dan
Brown. “They were so patient as we
waded through the seemingly endless
miles of red tape to make this project
a reality for them. Through it all they
were always quick to express their
thanks for the work being done on their
behalf.”
Kaitlyn, now eleven, is thrilled
with the new house. “Nothing is broken
or falling down like at our old house,”
she says. “It’s so nice to have a floor
to walk on and walls painted the same
colors and light fixtures that work. “
“After feeling like there was no
hope, we really believe that we have been
truly blessed,” says Camrin. “Things
may not end up the way you want them
too, but they always seem to work out.
It’s just amazing to me.”
***
***
Camrin continues to carry
around what can only be described as a
“sunny disposition” in the wake of the
torrential downpours of December 2007
and offers an interesting perspective on
everything that her family has endured.
“In some crazy way I think that the flood
was a blessing in a lot of ways,” she says.
“It brought us closer to people who were
friends and acquaintances, who are now
like family. It renewed my faith in so
many ways—that there is still good out
there.”
In early October of this year,
when the weather seemed to change and
the rain and those cool, foggy, Vernonia
mornings returned, the Eyrrick found
themselves snug in their new home.
“Sometime around three in the morning
I was woken up by a really hard rain,
and the wind was really blowing hard,”
remembers Camrin. “Since the flood,
that kind of thing would have woke me
up and kept me awake the rest of the
night. Brandon woke up and said, ‘Do
you hear that rain?’ And I said, ‘Yes,’
and went right back to sleep.”
s
Na
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Dr. Carol McIntyre
Naturopathic & Chinese Medicine
Owned and Operated by
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Phone (503) 429.2617
Kitchen Countertops
Fax (503) 429.0941
Fireplace & Furniture
ABSOLUTE@AGALIS.NET
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www.absolutemarbleandgraniteinc.net
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786 Bridge Street
Vernonia, OR, 97064