Rebuilt Sandy-damaged home wrecked again

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - A house in Babylon, Long Island, that was badly-damaged by Superstorm Sandy has been wrecked once again. An effort to make the home flood-proof went terribly wrong.

The home collapsed at about 9 p.m. Tuesday. The house was sitting on blocks for the last 6 weeks waiting to be raised. The home owner says this Friday work was going to resume.

Randy Stewart has lived in this waterfront home on yacht club road for years. No one was occupying the home since it was in the process of being raised permanently. Stewart was in the backyard and saw with his own eyes as the home he lived in for 19 years suddenly collapsed.

The town of Babylon took the house off the cribbing on Wednesday afternoon.

Stewart's house was damaged by Superstorm Sandy in 2012. He rebuilt back then, but after spending money to fix up the damage, FEMA mandated that he raise it in order to avoid water damage in case of a future storm.

But Stewart said the work was delayed because he was waiting on government grants. He blames New York Rising for the collapse of his home.

Fox 5 news reached out to New York Rising, which told us it is not to blame. It stated that it sent Stewart $163,000 so far, of which $113,000 was to elevate his home.

However, Stewart said he has put a lot of his own money into his home, and insisted he used his own money to raise the house.

Stewart said he plans on rebuilding.