I will use her first name only.  Nicole.  To get further down boulevard to the tanker on the beach I boarded the 51 bus off Father Capodanno Blvd.  She was the first person I saw on the crowded bus.  We stood for awhile together and then shared a seat.  I asked her to tell me her story.  She did not evacuate. These people remembered Irene last year with only a foot of water so some did not evacuate.  She said the water rose so high in minutes that she had to get on her rooftop where she was later evacuated by helicopter.  She lost her apartment and since has gone through her savings by staying in a motel.  She had been out to government agencies doing her paperwork for storm damage and was on her way back to the homeless shelter before it closed for the night. Her only belongings she has left she is either wearing or carrying in her bag.  She has no family to help her. I will never forget her and I pray for her daily.