As Vermont officials work to recover from two major floods in July, they are also monitoring the track of Tropical Depression Debby as it moves through the Northeast and New England.
Vermont Governor Phil Scott held his weekly flood response update on Friday. The Republican said the latest tracking for Tropical Storm Debby shows it will impact the western part of the state.
“Even though we don’t expect to see as much damage as we once did from this storm there’s still going to be challenges especially in the Northeast Kingdom after many areas saw significant rainfall over the last 30 days,” noted Scott. “To prepare we amended the State of Emergency to include Debby. This allowed us to bring out-of-state resources like swift water teams to help with our response efforts if needed. As well, they’re now staged to assist neighboring states if their needs are greater.”
The latest reports show that 294 businesses were damaged by flooding last month.
Following the July 2023 floods, the state created a Business Emergency Grant Assistance Program, or B-GAP, to help businesses, farms and non-profits recovering from that flood. Agency of Commerce and Community Development Secretary Lindsay Kurrle reported that the state Emergency Board has approved more funding for the program.
“With $7 million approved yesterday by the E-Board and $5 million approved in the last legislative session, that’s a $12 million total investment in repairing property, helping organizations reopen their doors and getting Vermonters back to work,” Kurrle said. “As we speak the Department of Economic Development is working out the details to bring B-GAP back online. But I can tell you that the $7 million approved yesterday will go to help businesses, farms and nonprofits that suffered losses in July of 2024. The $5 million allocated during the legislative session will go to businesses, farms and nonprofits with lingering unmet needs from the July 2023 floods.”
Governor Scott said 16 homes were destroyed and 44 mobile homes condemned during 2023 flooding. He said preliminary data from last month’s floods indicate 26 homes have been destroyed and 121 sustained major damage.
“Because of our housing crisis it’s difficult to find a place for these families to go. With the funding approved by the Emergency Board yesterday a Rapid Response Mobile Home Infill Initiative will be put on a fast track,” the Governor explained. “This program will take existing vacant mobile home lots, complete the site work to make them usable, then order and place energy efficient mobile homes on the lots. Our plan is to place 30 mobile homes by the end of the calendar year and as many as 100 by the end of the fiscal year, helping us to address the urgent need for affordable housing especially in flood impacted counties.”
Scott clarified that sites for the homes will not be located on flood plains and some regulatory requirements have been waived to expedite the initiative.
