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| P.I.N.E (the Peoples Initiative of New England) members helping with clean-up after Vermont flood |
In the summer of 2023, Vermont experienced unprecedented flooding due to Hurricane Lee hitting New England, causing several consecutive days of strong downpours. This hurricane, and the flooding that resulted from it, caused extensive damage; even leaving 600,000 across all of New England without power.
Because this was a natural disaster, FEMA and its assistance programs were activated and provided to many across New England; including Vermont.
In Vermont, thousands had applied for FEMA flooding assistance, wind damage assistance, and other FEMA Natural Distaster-related assistance programs. These programs would provide financial assistance to its applicants, along with helping them find temporary housing. Around 6,300 households, which represent roughly 14,000 Vermonters, had applied for this FEMA assistance after the July flooding.
Of these 6,300 household, 295 households had told FEMA that they had left Vermont for other states after receiving the assistance.
"I would assume some of them have probably moved away permenantly for other housing opportunities", Eric Peterson, Program Manager for Capstone's disaster case management program, had said. "For some of them, that might be a temporary thing until they have a safe habitable place to stay again in-state".
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| Eric Peterson Program Manager for Capstone's disaster case management program |
FEMA's data also shows that another 677 housholds reported that they relocated to a new ZIP code within Vermont.
48 individual Vermonters who also sought FEMA aid assistance reported that they are now homeless, while another 89 are receiving rental assistance from FEMA as of the start of this month. FEMA is also providing housing directly to another 19 Vermonters; where the agency offers a "manufactured housing unit" or by leasing an existing unit.
Of the 6,300 FEMA aid assistance applicants, 2,600 did not qualify according to Douglas Farnham, Deputy Secretary of the Agency of Administration and the State's Chief Recovery Officer.
"That could be the case for many reasons: Applicants might have already had insurance, or did not submit enough information, or may have submitted duplicate applications. Household damage may have been 'insufficient or not caused by the flood', or a household may have withdrawn its application. Households are able to appeal if their applications are not accepted". says Douglas Farnham.
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| Douglas Farnham,Deputy Secretary of the Agency of Administration and the State's Chief Recovery Officer |
"Capstone, which connects low-income Vermonters with resources and services, has worked closely with flood-displaced residents; many of whom never applied for FEMA assistance", Sue Minter - Executive Director of Capstone Community Action - said.
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| Sue Minter, Executive Director of Capstone Community Action |
"And for those who were rejected - but may yet be eligible - the appeals process can be overwhelmingly difficult"Dealing with FEMA is not easy for people who have been flooded, and really don't have the capacity either", says Sue Minter. "They're in crisis, emotion and otherwise. They're living in a car. They have no computer. They have no computer skills. They have no technology. They have no phone".
"What's more is that the federal agency can only respond to the direct impacts of the disaster, and not other challenges exacerbating the situation - such as the state's crushing housing shortage", said Douglas Farnham."FEMA officials don't take into account the conditions that we were grappling with when the flood hit, and I think that's the hardest thing for us to separate on the ground and at the state level; is we had a number of vulnerable people that we were trying to support even going into the flood".
Opinions
The scenes of the flooding of Vermont was wild. Seeing towns that have stood for over 100 years having parts of them being absolutely destroyed due to the horrendous torrent of water.
While it is a good thing that the government provided some assistance to Vermonters impacted by the insane flooding, this only goes to show that you truly can't rely on the government when shit hits the fan for you; you can only really rely on those around you and those who are actually looking out for you. This is why I have a positive-bias towards NSC 131, because of the help that they provide across New England when one of these natural disasters happens.
When the flooding happened, atleast several dozen men from NSC 131 - and men from Patriot Front as well, along with P.I.N.E members - had dispatched themselves all across the state of Vermont in order to help anyone they could with the flooding. They were helping people drain out their basements; they would help them with cutting down trees that had fallen down in dangerous ways or had fallen down on people's houses; they helped people who were very unfortunate enough to have had their entire home destroyed by the flooding and so much more.
These 2 groups also helped out Vermonters - and people in the other New England states as well - by giving out free water, free food, free blankets and ponchos. There was even reports on several sites that several members from both groups - NSC 131 and Patriot Front - had helped save several people and their pets from the flooding when they were doing their disaster-relief efforts across New England.
For that I thank all 3 groups, NSC 131, Patriot Front and PINE.
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