Addison County, Other Areas Of Vermont, Hard Hit By Storms, Might Not Qualify For FEMA Assistance

Torrential rains in Vermont that caused flooding after
the "Big One" on July 10-11 caused damage, but
that new damage might not qualify for FEMA assistance.

 In this hellishly wet, stormy, disastrous summer of '23 in Vermont, the long string of flash floods since the "Big One" on July 10-11 means that some people in the Green Mountain State might not get the help they need. 

All things considered, the storm damage Addison County from the big July 10-11 storm wasn't so bad - at least compared to severely hard hit counties like Washington and Lamoille. 

However, a series of storms since then have piled up the damage in Rutland and Addison counties since then.  The most recent ones causes serious problems around Middlebury on August 3, and around Rutland August 4. 

So far, though, Addison County has not qualified for a disaster declaration, 

The August 3 storm in Addison County was particularly serious.  Areas in and around Middlebury were inundated when a large, but isolated thunderstorm dumped up to 6.1 inches of rain in three hours. 

Several homes and businesses in and near Middlebury were damaged, and several roads, including Route 116 suffered serious damage. Even some buildings in downtown Middlebury and at Middlebury College suffered losses. 

 The town of Hancock is in the Green Mountains, in extreme eastern parts of the county,.  A number of roads washed out, homes and business suffered damage and people were stranded on the wrong side of gaping holes in roads and driveways where culverts used to be. 

Then on Friday, it was Rutland County's turn to suffer flood damage. Rutland City was especially hard hit. Homes on Clover, Granger and Spruce and other streets suffered damage. Other areas, like Stratton Road, suffered washouts.

Addison and Rutland counties, along with many other parts of Vermont suffered additional flood damage in a series of storms that started July 13.  It's unclear, though, whether the new damage around Rutland on August 4 will be included in the county's existing disaster declaration. 

Other areas of the state, like eastern Chittenden and Franklin counties, might not get help for storm damage in mid to late July. 

The problem is the Federal Emergency Management Agency reasonably enough insists on a firm start and end date to any particular disaster. Usually, the period of the disaster is limited to no more than a few days. 

This one in Vermont is like I mentioned in a previous post - the monster in a bad horror movie that keeps coming back even after everybody thought it had been killed. 

"Typically, FEMA will look at the storm system - one storm system - and that's the event. This is a little different. We have had multiple, multiple systems that have come in rapid fire after the initial event and created more damage. But everything has to come to an end in FEMA's eyes," Vermont Gov. Phil Scott said this week.

Which means that the stuff that happened since July 10-11 might not be included in FEMA's final disaster declaration.  A determination on all this is TBA. 

If Thursday and Friday's calamities cannot be lumped together with earlier floods in July, there might be another out.  If enough damage was sustained in western and southern Vermont, the late week storms could be declared a separate disaster.

Or perhaps FEMA will decide to include everything through August 4 as part of this one disaster. 

That's one reason why it's important for people to contact 211 to report flood damage, no matter when or where it hit this summer.  State officials said at least 6,000 people have contacted 211 to report damage. 

It's not like FEMA hasn't been involved, either. They are helping. As of this week, state officials said more than 4,500 people have applied to FEMA, and the agency has already distributed $11.6 million. 

The constant string of new storms has obviously stressed the thousands of Vermonters trying to recover from storm damage, and state resources. 

Vermont Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison said the state has conducted 216 rescues and 162 evacuations so far this year.  That compares to a quote, unquote normal year of six rescues and 30 or so evacuations.

There's no immediate forecasts of renewed flooding in the forecast, but we are going to continue to be harassed by rapid fire storm systems that will slow us down with showers on Thursday, later Saturday and occasionally next week.