CHESAPEAKE, VA. - Leah Luzunaris husband consoles her as she grapples with losing nearly everything on the first floor of her home Sunday.
"My couch set totally destroyed. As you can see all the water and dirt from right here. Refrigerator totally trashed," Luzunaris said.
But she isn't alone.
"We've lived here for eight years and nothing like this has ever happened in this area," Kimberly Cook, whose house was also flooded, said.
Cook says Hurricane Matthew's wrath forced her family to move upstairs.
'I`m standing in what is our kitchen right now and it`s been gutted. We have no refrigerator, we lost our stove. Our cabinets had to be torn out," Cook explained.
She says it`ll cost more than $10,000 to repair her home.
Now, Cook and her neighbors are planning to attend next Tuesday`s city council meeting to get answers, asking questions about whether the city was prepared.
"This needs to be something that`s made aware of. The ditch in the backyard has never overflowed like that before. Warn people in the future about what could occur, to fix what has occurred to clean out the drainage system," Cook said.
City officials tell News 3 they were out preparing for the storm days in advance.
They say crews are still out making storm repairs but that's all they are able to do.
Homeowners want more; they say they`re seeing what they've worked so hard for on the curb is unsettling.
City officials tell me they've submitted paperwork to FEMA to declare this area a disaster zone. Unless it's a proved, homeowners will have to get assistance through their insurance.
