NYC home that famously battled back from Hurricane Sandy faces another once-in-a-lifetime disaster: ‘Really messed up'

Yahoo

10-03-2025

A Staten Island home that battled back from Hurricane Sandy to 'save Christmas' — winning a visit from then-President Obama — is again partly buried in debris thanks to another once-in-a-lifetime disaster.
Debra Ingenito, the 61-year-old widow who lives in the New Dorp Beach home with her two sons and several pets, said she was watching television in her living room during the early afternoon of Feb. 11 when she heard a tremendous boom.
'It really did sound like something exploded,' Ingenito told The Post.
Ingenito — who had already rebuilt her family's home after Sandy — ran outside with one of her sons.
The pair was shocked by the sight that greeted them.
'The house next door split in half, so half went on top of the opposite-side neighbor's car, and the other was up against our house,' she said.
The crushing weight did a number on Ingenito's Topping Street home, damaging several rooms, including her kitchen on the first floor, partly wrecking her second floor, pancaking a plastic fence, cracking her chimney flue and blocking at least one exterior door.
'There's all stress cracks from the impact,' she said of her home. 'It's really messed up. … I sit here, and when the wind starts going, I hear the creaks and cracks.'
It's the second time an extraordinary disaster has befallen the unfortunate Staten Islander, whose house was battered and flooded by Superstorm Sandy in November 2012.
Ingenito's late husband, Joeseph, made headlines at the time for decorating a 7-foot tree outside their house for Chrismas — all that remained of the mammoth blue spruce that once towered over the family's yard before Sandy's tremendous winds tore it down.
Joe decorated the tree with whatever survived the storm surge, including paper coffee cups, surgical masks, a worker's glove, safety goggles, a random hat and a Hannah Montana bag.
'I just wanted to help the neighborhood keep its spirits up,' he said. 'We're still going to have Christmas.'
The couple vaulted to national fame when Obama even gifted them two ornaments for the tree after reading about their makeshift decorations.
'It's an honor, it's a once-in-a-lifetime deal,' Joseph said of the presidential attention.
His wife called the ornaments 'beautiful' and said they'd be passed down through the generations.
It took two years for the Ingenitos' home to be fully restored, she said.
The house next door was also badly damaged during the storm, according to SILive.
Workers were raising the first floor of the unoccupied next-door home when its foundation gave out and the structure tumbled onto Ingenito's and the other property, a source told the outlet.
The local building department put a stop-work order on it after it fell. SILive said the contractor had been working without a permit and had violated other local rules.
Building officials issued a partial vacate order for Ingenito's home, meaning she cannot use portions of it.
She said she is not going anywhere. She said she is scared someone will rob her home if it's left unoccupied, and also, she has nowhere else to go anyway.
Several people are helping Ingenito deal with the contractors and insurance companies — but this time, she'll go through the crucible of rebuilding without her loving husband, who died in July.
Four months later, her dad passed away on her birthday, leaving her reeling even more.
'Then I had to have this happen, and I'm like, 'Really?' ' she said.
'But you know what, I just have to take it day by day,' the widow said, noting that she has no idea how much the repairs will cost or how long the rebuild will take.
'I just want the house fixed.
'But I'm a woman of faith, and I believe [my husband] was here when that house came down,' she said. 'Because it could have been a lot worse.'