Flood recovery update | Dec. 29
Vermont Requests federal assessment of December flood damage
December 29, 2023 | By Waterbury Roundabout State officials announced today that Vermont Emergency Management Director Eric Forand has submitted a request for a Preliminary Damage Assessment from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to determine if Vermont qualifies for a federal major disaster declaration following flooding on Dec. 18-19.
The request seeks assessments in Addison, Essex, Orange, Orleans, Rutland, and Windsor counties to determine if the state qualifies for a Public Assistance Disaster Declaration for the storm. If granted, that would provide 75% reimbursement to communities for local storm damage repairs. Additional counties could be added to the request as data collection continues.
“These floods caused significant damage to local roads,” Forand said. “Repair work will strain many municipal road budgets just as the winter season begins, we want to do all we can to ensure towns receive funding from all assistance programs they are eligible for.”
To qualify for a major disaster declaration, Vermont must show at least $1.1834 million in response and public infrastructure recovery costs. Individual counties must also show public infrastructure damages and recovery costs of $4.6044 per capita, which includes road repairs, debris removal, contractor expenses, and municipal employee overtime.
The assessments are expected to begin in early January.
So far, Washington County is not on the list of counties being considered. When asked whether it would be added to the list, Ben Rose, Vermont Emergency Management’s Recovery and Mitigation Section Chief, said that all of the damages reported in Washington County so far have been on federal highway roads which are not covered by FEMA. (Instead they fall under the Federal Highway Administration.)
“We did not have enough FEMA-eligible damages to qualify the county. VTrans staff in the district which covers Washington County had been busy dealing with FHWA arterial road damages, so we are just starting to see the FEMA-eligible damage reports today,” Rose said in an email to Waterbury Roundabout on Friday. “We will have the option of adding counties to the PDA request as additional damages are entered next week.”
In the meantime, state officials still ask that anyone affected by flooding — both property owners and tenants — report their damage in order for an accurate statewide assessment to be made. Reports may be made online at Vermont 211.org.
Assistance available in Waterbury to clean up from December flood
Although volunteers have taken a short holiday break, flood recovery work after last week’s Monday storm continues in Waterbury and in Moretown, cleanup at the elementary school will allow students and teachers to return next week.
Waterbury’s flood recovery coordinator Tom Drake said organizers are assessing needs and will put out an updated signup for volunteers soon. That link will be added to this post when available and it can be found on the town website, waterburyvt.com, in the Flood Response Resource document linked at the top of the home page.
Some important reminders:
Anyone affected by the recent flood should know that the local flood recovery volunteer team wants to help with cleanup, mitigation tasks and any ongoing needs. To ask for a hand, send an email to waterburyhelp@gmail.com or call 802-585-1152 and leave a message. This email and voicemail are monitored daily.
The dumpster on the corner of Elm and Randall was emptied recently. It is available for disposal of items destroyed in the flood.
Anyone with items to dispose of that are too large to move should leave them curbside for town public works crews to collect. If there are damaged/destroyed appliances, mark them for collection and leave curbside as well.
There are properties still in need of dehumidifiers. If anyone has one to lend, they can drop it off at the municipal offices or use the contacts above to let coordinators know about their unit. Any equipment loaned out should be be marked with the owner’s name and they will be returned.
Read all of Waterbury Roundabout’s Flood Updates here.
Read about Moretown Elementary School reopening on Jan. 2 in the Education section.