A patchwork of local groups support Vermonters still displaced from flooding

This is Part 4 of Downstream, a 10-part series looking at what’s changed — and what hasn’t — one year after catastrophic floods swept through Vermont.

Almost a year since the West River inundated Mark Weigand’s home in Weston, he’s still living elsewhere.

This summer, he expects the home to be lifted. That’s just one step toward returning.

“Contractors who lift houses are few and far between,” he said. “We’re hoping to be back in in the next year.”

Weigand is among an unknown number of flood survivors still displaced from their homes. A patchwork of organizations focused on last summer’s floods — in particular regionally focused disaster long-term recovery groups — keep statistics on the people they work with.The granularity of that local knowledge far exceeds the data kept by the state and federal government.

Leaders working in long-term disaster recovery acknowledge that even the best data is incomplete and imprecise, and that it’s likely that hundreds of people are displaced in one form or another. Several local officials noted that the recovery work from last July’s storm seems even more difficult than after Tropical Storm Irene tore through the state in 2011.

The disaster recovery groups, formed across the state, are local initiatives often bringing together existing social service nonprofits. Each varies in its mission and capabilities, drawing on grant money, existing funds and volunteers.

DOWNSTREAM PART 3

On the ground, these groups help those most affected by the summer’s floods, connecting survivors with resources and organizing assistance — whether construction, case management, rental or relocation — however possible. Plus, they provide eyes and ears for state officials.

“We’re the people who are here for the community after all the FEMA teams and the response teams have left the state,” said Melissa Rockhill, a construction coordinator for the recovery group Black River Good Neighbor Services.

Liz Schlegel, vice president of the group Community Resilience for the Waterbury Area, or CReW, also noted the outsized role played by the local recovery groups, and the increased barriers they seem to face following last summer’s flooding.

“We don’t have an accurate statewide picture. We’ve never had one,” she said. “It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be to get resources for people. It’s a lot harder than my colleagues who worked in Irene remember it being.”

Recognizing the power of that local work, the state has leaned on disaster recovery groups for insight.

Doug Farnham, Vermont’s chief recovery officer, acknowledged that the state relies on the local groups to track the details of individual cases. In particular, adequate data on renters affected by flooding is far harder to come by than homeowner data, he said.

“We’re actually in the middle of a push to get more defined data all into one database for individual flood survivors with long-term recovery groups,” Farnham said in an interview.

According to Vermont’s flood point person, the number of people participating in most Federal Emergency Management Agency programs, such as direct housing support, was fewer than 10. Those tallies are far lower than the number of people still receiving support from the local groups.

‘Sometimes people don’t want to ask for help’

A survey of some of the long-term recovery groups provides a snapshot — albeit incomplete — of how many people are still displaced in various flood-impacted pockets across Vermont.

Just more than 200 primary homeowners applied for FEMA assistance in the Lamoille County area, according to data kept by Lamoille Area Recovery Network. Of those households, 17% have moved away, either within the county or outside it.

The group is working with around 30 families still trying to repair flood damage.

CReW works with people in Waterbury, Duxbury, Bolton, Middlesex  and Moretown.

The group has 45 to 50 open cases helping people deal with flood damage and has worked with “a solid few dozen” renters who had to find new places to live that are less desirable than their previous living situations, perhaps because they’re more expensive or less convenient, according to Schlegel, one of the organization’s leaders.

Kari White, who helps lead Kingdom United Resilience and Recovery Effort, said the group, which works with people in Caledonia, Essex and Orleans counties, is helping about 75 households still engaged in significant rebuilding, roofing and foundation construction.

White knew of 45 cases in which people had at one time sought help from FEMA and are currently homeless or living in precarious housing situations, such as with family or friends, at a hotel or motel, or in a temporary rental or RV. That number excludes people who never sought FEMA help but may still be displaced, she acknowledged.

“This help can’t come fast enough, really. You’re displaced from your home for almost a year, like ‘Come on. Can we please get something better and faster?’” she said. “And it’s like, the answer’s no. And it’s so frustrating.”

Construction delays contribute to the slow place, so White is working to organize volunteer construction crews when possible. The Kingdom group’s “optimistic” goal is to repair 80 homes by the end of July, she said.

Rockhill, the construction coordinator for Black River Good Neighbor Services, said she is working with “under a dozen” families still displaced from their homes in Belmont, Cavendish, Ludlow, Mount Holly, Plymouth and Proctorsville. Those people may still be receiving rental assistance or direct assistance, she noted.

In her role, which is funded by a Vermont Community Foundation grant, Rockhill assists flood survivors with organizing home repairs and connecting with state agencies and nonprofits.

Rockhill said that since last summer’s floods, Black River and other local support networks have assisted roughly 20% of residents in Cavendish, Ludlow and Plymouth, and 5% in Mount Holly.

“We had it all — we had basement damage, we had first floor damage, we had a restaurant that flooded all the way up to the ceiling of its first floor,” she recalled.

But what she’s seen is likely only a subset of the total.

“Sometimes people don’t want to ask for help, and they don’t want people to know they’ve had extensive damage,” she said. “I walk the streets, and we’re doing the best we can to make sure we’re helping everyone in need. But could we be missing someone? Absolutely.”

Rockhill is also engaged in prevention work, creating a community “culvert crawler” program to ensure culverts remain free of debris.

“It’s really not if it’s going to happen again; it’s when,” she said.

In Weston, Weigand feels the same as he keeps working to get back into his home. It’s when, not if, he noted. And last summer’s flood wasn’t even his first brush with disaster.

Weigand lived through multiple hurricanes in central Florida. That experience taught him a valuable lesson, he said: Hire an insurance advocate — a hired liaison who helps people navigate and negotiate insurance claims.

The disastrous experiences have also taught Weigand about life’s materialism, he philosophized.

“Things that you thought you had — you go to grab something, like ‘Oh, I have that drill.’ And then, ‘Oh, I don’t have that drill anymore,” he said. “You take for granted what you have. I think we’re going to be more smart about it, about hanging on to things we don’t need anymore.”

When last July’s rains swept feet of water into the Weston home, the torrent destroyed his appliances, dry wall, insulation, flooring and electrical work, not to mention photos and family heirlooms.

Weigand had flood insurance, and though it took months, with the help of his hired advocate, he received almost twice as much from the insurance company as it initially offered.

Still, the costs are daunting. He’s renting a home in Grafton from his wife’s family while still paying the mortgage on the damaged Weston residence. That move tripled the length of his commute to Okemo Mountain, where he works.

Yet a permanent move away from Weston isn’t in the cards. The home has been in his wife’s family for generations. They love Weston.

“That’s where our friends are. It’s close to work. It’s a great little community,” he said. “It’s our home.”

Erin Petenko contributed reporting

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