Two little boys who were literally swept out of the arms of their mother during the hurricane have been found dead. But that’s not the whole story, and it gets even sadder: 39-year-old Glenda Moore, the mother of the two boys (pictured above with her husband, Damian), knocked on doors in her Staten Island neighborhood, begging for help during the hurricane. No one would assist her, her sister claims.

“They answered the door and said, ‘I don’t know you. I’m not going to help you,’” said the sister. “My sister’s like 5-foot-3, 130 pounds. She looks like a little girl. She’s going to come to you and you’re going to slam the door in her face and say, ‘I don’t know you, I can’t help you’?’” 

Ms. Moore is black. According to the 2010 Census, Staten Island is 64% white. 

One report describes the situation thusly: 

Police said the 39-year-old mother had driven from her flooded home toward her sister’s house in Brooklyn when the car became stuck about 6:10 p.m. Monday, forcing her to confront the rising water and the relentless cadence of pounding waves as she clung to her boys’ arms.

“As the water swelled she lost her grip of her children and they were swept away,” police said in a release.

Kelly said the mother “was totally, completely distraught. She started looking for them herself, asking people to help her look.”

After the boys disappeared, police said, Moore fled and in a panic climbed fences and went door-to-door looking in vain for help in a neighborhood that was presumably largely abandoned in the face of the storm.

Police said she flagged down an emergency vehicle about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday and authorities began their search. Police said she told them she tried to find help and eventually gave up, spending the night trying to shield herself from the storm on the front porch of an empty home.

And Moore’s cousin, Nancy Jean, told a reporter: 

‘I can’t believe the way she was treated by the people she went to for help,’ she said.

‘The first person she knocked on, she begged them and said: “Please call 911”.

‘They told her: “I don’t know you” and closed the door. She tried another door but they turned the lights off.’

Brandon Moore was 2 years old; Connor Moore was 4. They are the youngest victims of the storm. 

[Colorlines, Daily Mail, AP, NYDN]  

— Dodai Stewart

Image via AP