Here in California, Hurricane Sandy is but a distant, pre-election, pre-2013 blip on the weather map. But to most of the people on the Eastern Seaboard, the after effects of Hurricane Sandy are still felt on a daily basis.

Take Pat Scala of New Dorp Beach in Staten Island, New York. She’s not so concerned about her own home, but more about the two abandoned houses next door. You’d think the dead animals would bother her—and they do—but what scares her more is the mold growing on the inside and outside of the houses. [Read more…]