Across Vermont, FEMA teams are knocking on doors in flood-impacted communities

PEACHAM — On Tuesday, at the door of a red brick home in the heart of the Northeast Kingdom, a man in a blue vest and a wide-brimmed hat gave a hearty knock.

“Good morning, FEMA!” he called, loud enough that his voice echoed off the houses across the quiet street.

The storm that tore through central and northern Vermont on July 10 and 11 hit Peacham hard , destroying homes and killing a 33-year-old resident. On Aug. 20, President Joe Biden declared the incident a major federal disaster, and the same day, members of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Survivor Assistance teams began working in Vermont.

Ten teams fanned out across each of the seven counties where the disaster had struck hardest — Addison, Orleans, Washington, Caledonia, Chittenden, Lamoille and Essex. By the beginning of September, members had knocked on thousands of doors to let people know they could be eligible for financial assistance from FEMA, and to help them apply before the Oct. 19 deadline .

When Biden approved the disaster declaration for the early July storm, FEMA still had hundreds of people deployed in Vermont because of last July’s floods, according to Kimberly Fuller, a spokesperson for agency, who tagged along with the four-member crew on Tuesday. That enabled teams to begin canvassing faster.

Crews typically begin their canvassing work with homes that have reported damage to Vermont 211, and by consulting local officials about which homes saw damage. After marking those locations on a map with a red pin, team members spread out, knocking on doors. If anyone is home, they ask the occupant to tell them about anyone else in the area who may need assistance.

As of Wednesday, 971 households had applied for individual assistance from FEMA, Fuller said, and 15% of those applications came from FEMA’s field work, including canvassing. Individual assistance covers “displacement, serious needs, temporary lodging, basic home repairs, personal property losses and other uninsured disaster-related expenses,” according to an agency-issued fact sheet.

So far, FEMA has distributed more than $2.5 million to 451 households, according to the agency’s website . The federal government is mulling over a request for a separate disaster declaration for a different storm that hit at the end of July — if it’s granted, it’s possible the application periods for the two emergencies would be combined, which could extend the mid-October deadline.

New regulations that took effect in March may also change Vermonters’ experience with the agency since the July 2023 flood. First, FEMA is issuing one-time $750 payments to those who need help paying for essentials such as food, first aid, medications, medical supplies, infant formula, transportation fuel and other items, according to a fact sheet the agency issued on Tuesday.

Second, FEMA has a new benefit called “ displacement assistance ,” which covers immediate housing costs for families that have been displaced by the flooding.

The agency has also reformed a process that previously required people to apply for a U.S. Small Business Administration loan before they could be eligible for certain types of assistance.

Even with the changes, the funding isn’t designed to “make people whole,” Fuller said. Rather, FEMA’s goal is to “get them back on their feet again.”

Crew members have found that on-the-ground interactions can be an important tool to counter misinformation that has spread among people in towns that have been hit by floods, said Fuller. For example, FEMA does reimburse repairs to private roads and bridges, though some residents have believed otherwise, Fuller said.

Some Vermonters are hesitant to ask FEMA for assistance if their damage isn’t severe because they’re worried it could take money away from people whose needs are more urgent, but there isn’t a limited pot of funding, she said.

And, while headlines from news organizations around the country have warned that FEMA is running low on cash, that shortfall doesn’t impact individual assistance, Fuller said.

Near the center of Peacham, a woman in the red brick house came to the door. Her porch had a small amount of damage, she told the man in the blue FEMA vest, who handed her an orange flier with a phone number she could call to schedule an inspection.

Then, the team piled into their black SUV and headed down a bumpy, flood-scarred Class IV road to another spot, where they heard residents had been stranded during the flood. Most residents on the road were not home or did not answer knocks on the door. Some told the officials they didn’t have any damage from the flooding.

Costs of the canvassing effort are significant, Fuller said, and crews work 12-hour days. But the agency is making an effort to “go to where people are.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Across Vermont, FEMA teams are knocking on doors in flood-impacted communities .