Vermont Governor Phil Scott held his latest update today on the state’s response and recovery efforts in the wake of flooding that occurred earlier this month. He and other officials urged Vermonters to report all damages to assure the state receives federal assistance.
Scott spent the weekend in Orleans County and visited Montpelier, Barre, Waterbury and Johnson surveying flood damage. On Monday was at an Essex farm with Vermont Senator Peter Welch and the state agriculture secretary. The governor noted that so far they know about 10,000 acres of farmland has been impacted by the flooding.
“Senator Welch made it very clear that we need to have firm numbers on losses in order to build our case in Washington for additional help and could be the difference between whether or not Congress provides financial assistance and grants," Scott said. "And everyone – individuals and businesses of all kinds – please report, just report your damage to 211. Even if your basement flooded and you’ve already taken care of it, report it. A few of our counties have not met the threshold for individual assistance and I know they need it. So please help your neighbors and report your damage.”
FEMA currently has 450 people in the field encouraging people to report damages and sign up for assistance.
“FEMA is here for the long haul," said FEMA Federal Coordinating Officer Will Roy. "While we are focusing on individuals right now, we’re conducting assessments on the overall damages to infrastructure and we’ll work with the state to apply for and assist with reimbursement for damage to the roads, bridges, culverts and facilities. Additionally, we’re working with the Governor on establishing a long-term recovery for the state.”
The head of the state’s transportation agency reported that so far it has cost $35.2 million to repair state-owned roads and the effort is continuing. Governor Scott said a lot was learned after Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, but climate change demands more direct actions.
“A lot of what we did after Irene helped," the governor said. "That’s the hardening, that’s the mitigation measures that we need to continue to do. We talk a lot about climate change, right? We talk about reducing our emissions, carbon emissions and so forth. And that’s good work and that’s something that we’re focused on. But it has to be combined with an equal effort on mitigation. There’s going to have to be buyouts. There’s going to have to be replacement and using different technology and different strategies because we know we’re going to flood again in certain areas. We can’t just focus on just carbon emissions. We have to focus on mitigation.”
Nine schools have reported major damage from flooding and 13 more reported minor damage. Agency of Education Secretary Heather Bouchey says it’s currently unclear how it will impact fall openings.
“We’re pretty done with an initial scan of how many schools across the state have been impacted and now we’re trying to get a much better sense of if the impacts are going to affect the opening of schools in about a month or so," said Bouchey.
