A 9/11 survivor is picking up the pieces after her Rye Brook home suffered extensive flooding during last week's storm.
Water flooded Paula Bellini's basement and garage after Ida, nearly destroying the cherished items that help her family remember her former fiancé and son’s father Sebastian Gorki, who died in the 9/11 attacks.
The items include photos of Sebastian and even a piece from the World Trade Center.
"At 9:01, two minutes before the plane hit, the second plane hit, he tells me I’m on the 94th floor of the south tower, I look at the TV and the building is imploding. It was like surreal,” she says.
Bellini escaped one of the towers that fateful day 20 years ago when she was seven weeks pregnant. She soon came to understand her unborn son would never meet his father.
"The security in the building was able to identify which area of the building they were at, it was exactly where the plane hit,” she says.
Loss upon loss has taught Bellini the power of being resilient.
"Today is what we have, today you will be good, today you do good, today you trust that if tomorrow comes, you will have what you need to survive yet another day,” she says.
Bellini knows all too well that tomorrow is not promised to anyone— which is why these pictures of Sebastian are so precious.