New Haven Independent

The incident occurred before dawn last Friday after two days of heavy rain that soaked the city. She and her boys survived, although hundreds of pounds of tree, studs, nails, shingles and plaster came within literal inches of her sleeping children inside their public housing apartment.

The housing authority has resettled Webb and her kids in a nearby townhouse, but there was a near total loss of her children’s clothing and furniture. “It’s not Christmas I’m thinking about,” she said, “but sneakers for the kids and a dresser for them, a lamp for their room, another set of sheets because only one survived.”

At 4 in the morning a week ago, her two children, Romelle, 9, and Romyre, just 2, were sleeping in bunk beds in the back upstairs bedroom of 34 Wayfarer St., where a row of the HANH townhouses borders the lush and very wet West Rock nature preserve.

The huge boom woke her up. Not knowing what it was, she rushed into her kids’ room.

She looked with disbelief at the devastation, still not knowing that the immense tree just beyond her backyard had been completely uprooted by the elements and like an arboreal torpedo had entered her house through the roof.

“Mother’s instinct, I scooped up the kids and took them to my room.”

The front of the house, where Webb’s bedroom is located, was not hit. Although she’d never had a problem with her ceiling, she still thought that might be it. But by 5, with water pouring in, she called the Housing Authority of New Haven (HANH0.

Crews began to arrive by 7. In the light HANH officials realized they needed to evacuate the whole row of townhouses to Westville’s community house.

Webb sent Romelle to school that morning on his regular bus to East Rock Magnet. “Thank God his uniforms were in the dryer, in the front of the house so I had something to dress him in. I wanted to act as normal as possible around my kids.”

By 8:30 the property manager and other staff were cutting away at large sections, so the trunk would disengage from the house.

HANH acted promptly in the immediate emergency, said Webb, who’s 26. Staffers rescued some of her living room furniture. They put her up at a hotel near Long Wharf on Saturday. She stayed with her mother on Sunday and by Monday morning HANH had presented her with keys to 90 Wayfarer, nearby, and a new lease. They also gave her two replacement beds for her kids. But that was all.

Later, on Monday, the tough reality of her situation sank in,.Webb went to HANH to ask if there might be some subsidy to replace her kids’ clothes. She was told the accident was an act of God for which HANH is not responsible. “They gave me a place to lay my head and for my kids to lay their heads, but that’s it.

“I’m not quite sure where to turn.” She has spent the subsequent days ferrying what articles have survived and can be salvaged from townhouse to townhouse across the soggy grounds.

The incident could not have come at a worse time for Webb who is living on an extremely tight budget. In fact, at present her total monthly income is $600 in social security payments to her son Romellle, who is largely deaf due to childhood meningitis.

The father of her children is incarcerated out of state. HANH’s rent requirement for 34 and now 90 Wayfarer is $160, leaving $440 for the three of them to live on.

Webb’s mother is supplying meals and food. The mother of her sons’ dad has sent $200 for replacement items for the kids, but that does not go far, especially this time of year. Both grandmothers have their own bills, Webb said.

During the course of the interview in the wrecked townhouse and the new apartment, Webb’s voice quavered. “I’m really not religious,” she said, “but I’m just grateful we’re alive, and we’ll get through this.”

“I just got my GED and I’m two months away from finishing at Sawyer, getting my externship, and soon I’ll be working as a medical assistant. Then we’re out of here.”

By “here” she meant West Rock, public housing. She’s been living there nine of her 26 years, ever since, as a 17-year old, she had her first child. “I don’t want my kids to live here as I have. It’s beautiful and all, with nature so close by, maybe too close! And the people are like one big family too. But it’s so far away from everything if you don’t have a car, and I don’t, and there’s not a whole lot positive happening. I don’t want to hide my kids from poverty, but I don’t want them to live in it either.”

A HANH-hired contractor has recently been out to check out the roof in preparation for replacement.“‘Lady your roof was made with pennies when at least it should have been built with nickels and dimes,” she recalled him telling her. Her neighbors have largely returned. HANH said she will be able to reoccupy her damaged house perhaps in six months

Webb said she’s not sure she wants to if and when it’s offered. “I just may be out of here before then.” In six months, she said, she’ll be able to earn $13 an hour and up from there in the medical field, a field that’s growing despite the recession. She wants to make a new life in East Haven or elsewhere.

Until then, Webb said, she could use some help, in the form of a small dresser for her kids, a few sets of sheets for their twin bed,; a lamp and small TV for their room, sneakers and clothing for average-sized 2 and 9 year-olds.

Want to help? Call Em’ria Webb’ at 415-3255 or her mother Ina at 843-3515.