Innkeepers are a busy bunch. To save you time, VLA attends Governor Scott’s press conferences and takes notes for you. Below is the summary from 7/25/23.
Governor Scott and his team gave updates on flood response and recovery efforts today and continued to encourage Vermonters to report all damage to 211 or 211.org. Scott said that he was hoping to have the details finalized for ACCD’s business grant program on Thursday, and that administration officials would be testifying at the joint legislative hearings on the flood response taking place that day. Scott also said that Vermont’s Congressional Delegation is working on putting together a supplemental request for federal funding assistance.
NOTES:
- Governor Phil Scott:
- Spent time in Orleans County this weekend – and looked at damage at Ethan Allen facility and heard about ripple effect the temporary closing will have on the region and the hundreds of employees and families.
- Was also in Barre, Waterbury, Johnson, and Montpelier – clear how much work is ahead of us.
- Yesterday, joined Sen. Welch, Sec. Tebbetts and others for tour of farm in Essex. Total so far – 10,000 acres damaged. Message that we got yesterday – producers need to report damage. For equipment and structures, report to 211. For crops, produce and livestock, go through Farm Service Agency (FSA).
- Sen. Welch made it clear that we need to have firm numbers on losses to build case for additional help from Washington. Re: Disaster Declaration.
- Everyone report damage – call 211. Or go to 211.org. A few counties have not met threshold for designation and I know that they need it.
- Commissioner Morrison:
- SEOC activated July 9 – umbrella for all partner resources including the National Guard, FEMA, the Red Cross, 211, and more. If you see one of those partners in your community – you see the state of Vermont in action.
- Initial response and rescue phase 211 rescued.
- 74 haz mat team responses in early phase.
- Served over 100 displaced Vermonters in 13 shelters.
- Have assisted municipal partners – larger shipments of bottled water to 31 towns, PPE to towns and relief orgs, dam engineers to inspect dams, connecting communities to drone services to survey damages. Deployed rapid assistance teams to field. Debris removal contract – 228 tons removed so far on state contracts. Transportation for groceries… mobile pharmacy capabilities established.
- If your community has new or ongoing needs, community members should raise requests to local leadership who will aggregate and prioritize. They will contact SEOC to make request for assistance.
- No backlog with 211 calls and hasn’t been since Saturday evening.
- Gen. Roy:
- FEMA has 450 personnel in field – including 14 survivor assistance teams going door to door across the state.
- Established 7 mobile registration centers across the state.
- Two disaster recovery centers (Rutland, Waterbury) can go to sign up for assistance.
- Provided bottled water, providing bulk water to communities with water disruption.
- As of today, have visited over 6,000 homes and 330 businesses – approved over $42 million in funding for residents impacted by the storm.
- Inspected over 1,000 homes for damages and provided rental assistance for over 350 people. People who have addresses not in designated area – can call FEMA for assistance at 180062FEMA.
- If you have applied to FEMA, but haven’t reported yet, please call 211.
- September 12, 2023 is deadline to apply for assistance.
- FEMA here for the long haul. Conducting assessments on overall damage to infrastructure. Will be assisting state in reimbursements and long-term recovery.
- Sec. Flynn:
- $62 million in cost so far to state-owned roads and rails
- Seven roads remain closed – 12 miles.
- US 302 in Barre City,
- I91 in Hartford (10a ramp northbound),
- VT 131 in Weathersfield,
- VT 12 in Montpelier
- VT 30 at Bridge 42 in Jamaica – temp bridge will be put in – no timeline yet
- VT 110 in Chelsea- north of Upper Valley Road – needs bridge installed.
- VT 113 – Bridge 11 in Vershire. Temp bridge will be brought in.
- 10 state roads remain partially open.
- 129 roads have reopened since storm began.
- AOT working with 50 contractors throughout Vermont.
- Working with 13 towns. Pushed out $6.9 million in town highway grant funding that otherwise would not have gone out until October.
- DMV – Montpelier office remained closed to public. Online, mail, and support for business partners supported internally from location on State Street. Dummerston office closed through August. Other physical locations for DMV remain open to the public as scheduled. Registration and license renewal extended 60 days.
- Any mail that may have been at Montpelier post office on day of flood is inaccessible – impact to DMV is unknown.
- Questions:
- Total tally for total number of people displaced from homes?
- Morrison – Hard to calculate those who are staying with friend or family or went out of state – but working on matching data with 211 data – will do my best to get back to you on that.
- Any long-term plans for housing those where it might be unhealthy for them to stay in homes?
- Morrison – Were working on the housing issue before the flood, known issue that the gov or Sec. Samuelson can speak more too – flooding increased number of people in need of short- or long-term secure housing. Actively planning – no easy solutions. Homes uninhabitable due to mold or issues due to flood – dynamic number and may not be know for 6-8 weeks.
- Scott – Reporting to 211 is so important because congressional delegation working on supplemental ask of Congress to provide for amounts in excess of FEMA cap of $41k per person. Actively pursuing all avenues for taking care of people.
- How much a difference did work after Irene make?
- Scott – One of the first to come into Brandon, there was a pizza building in the middle of Rte 7 – had worked with someone I knew in the industry to get a crane and move it – the culvert was upgraded so they didn’t have the damage this time. The mitigation worked – need to continue to do it. We talk a lot about climate change – that’s good work, and we need to focus on it, but has to be combined with mitigation – there’s going to have to be buyouts, different technologies, different strategies because we know that we’re going to flood again in these areas. So we can’t just focus on carbon emissions.
- You mentioned buyouts, do you mean homes?
- Scott – Yes – two weeks into this. First things first, trying to focus on initial response. But we’re having meetings to try and determine what we do next. Why it’s so important to have these discussions with our congressional delegation, FEMA is not going to be able to take care of this on their own. Buyouts in the future – want to build back better and smarter. But investing in our downtowns in a much different way.
- Roy – Buyout process falls under our national flood insurance program and so each community who participates works with the region (Boston) to assess the homes to see the totality of the damage. If cost of repairing the home is more than just taking it down – it’s the decision of the community. Up to each community as to how they assess the value of the home. On mitigation – 2017 Hurricane Nate in Alabama – because of mitigation that they had done by elevating home and working on culverts – damage much less. For every dollar invested in mitigation – offset $6 cost from disaster. Great examples from Christmas Storms where utilities mitigated against future storm – and they held up. Need to look at how we rebuild to make sure that we’re in a better place and that Vermont is stronger after the storm than before. Have to be participating in National Flood Insurance Program to be eligible for buyout.
- That would take out the mobile home parks –
- Roy – Can’t speak to that at this time.
- Scott – That’s why we’re talking about a supplemental bill in Congress – looking at a number of different buyouts that we may not be able to do under current structure.
- Moore – want to draw attention to the flood resilient communities fund – joint initiative with DPS and ANR – to fill gaps where FEMA can’t give relief to individual property owners – using ARPA funds for some buyouts. Budget also included money we needed to access mitigation funds available to Vermont. Two programs have given us tools that we’ve never had in the past to do this work- been working on for last 24 months.
- That would take out the mobile home parks –
- Home prices in Vermont have skyrocketed, so if you get below market price value…
- Moore – part of flood resilient communities program this week is trying to make sure people are being compensated at fair market value.
- Manufactured home program available?
- Scott – Yes, pursuing that. Don’t want them to feel forgotten. Some FEMA funding available for short term replacement of those homes that we are looking into.
- We are in divided Congress – have been divided over FEMA funding in the past…
- Scott – Always concerned about the polarization in Congress – but these storms affect all states, not just red or blue states. I think that there’s a realization with members of Congress that it could be them next.
- But you’re aware that there’s a certain sensitivity to that where there’s a huge fight about a whole slew of funding bills and that’s going to get dumped in the middle of that fight…
- Scott – I don’t have as much confidence as is needed. But has been damage in NY – they might want to get together. Damage in NH – they might need help as well. When you regionalize this and cross party lines – can move things forward. Whoever is being the obstacle – their state is next.
- Fair to say that you are depending on this Congressional funding to make a recovery?
- Scott – No, we are going to make a recovery, but we could make a better recovery if we have additional funding. FEMA has been very supportive of our efforts. Sec. Buttigieg has been very supportive of our efforts. Pathways in the system now that will help us recover. All hands on deck.
- Post offices and schools – Montpelier post office had same warning as the rest of us – have they told you why they couldn’t keep the mail high and dry?
- Scott – No
- How many schools do we have now that are so damaged that they might not be re-opening in late August.
- Scott – 6 or 7 schools that were heavily impacted?
- Bouchey – 9 schools across the state that have reported major damage, and another 13 that have reported minor damage. One will be trying to open in the fall. One of elementary schools is perhaps not going to be ready to open. This week – doing much deeper dive now that initial recovery work is underway. Will be looking at impacts will be affecting reopening. Will get list to schools for you.
- People asking why it’s taking so long to get debris out of the downtown areas?
- Scott – only have one landfill in the state – Coventry. Some of silt and affected soils needs to be segregated and trucked to a different location I believe.
- Moore – Several different debris management systems engaged. Debris being sorted and then trucked to Coventry. Asking people to sort household hazardous and electronic waste. Separate areas for soils impacted by petroleum where they’re decontaminated. SEOC debris team.
- Have you been thinking about Sen. Leahy and his ability to “bring home the bacon” re: supplemental approps?
- Scott – I’ve been thinking about that since he left office
- Sec. of State put out message that not enough has been done in the state re: climate?
- Scott – Haven’t seen op ed – I believe that climate change is real and need to transition away from carbon emissions but need to have balance. Need to mitigate against damage. Even if we could flip switch and eliminate all carbon emissions, that’s not going to stop next year’s storm damage, or ten years from now… we need resilience and mitigation.
- On Thursday there’ll be a joint hearing re: flood – what do you expect? Will you be making plans for grant funding in your upcoming budget?
- Scott – I don’t know. We’ll be testifying as much as we can on Thursday. Still have much to do on recovery. Still in initial response phase and transitioning to recovery. Have funding available now – receiving help from FEMA and transportation funds – feel we’re in a good shape from a financial standpoint today, but will need help in the future.
- Private road help?
- Scott – Above and beyond FEMA – one of the areas where we want you to report the damage… to give congressional delegation tools they need to make the ask – what’s the damage and what’s not covered?
- State doing anything to hold absentee landlords accountable?
- Scott – This is something I haven’t heard much about…
- Hanford – Difficult question to answer directly – renters should call 211 and register with FEMA. Eligible for rental assistance to find temporary housing while the property is fixed. Landlords eligible for SBA loans.
- Scott – If you have the names of these absentee landlords – get them to us and we’ll get in touch with them.
- When more details on ACCD Business grants?
- Scott – Thursday.
- Total tally for total number of people displaced from homes?