
BERLIN, Vt. (WCAX) – Thousands of people lost items during last summer’s flooding and many Vermonters are still recovering. Now, nonprofits are working with the state to keep the assistance coming.
It’s been nearly a year since last July’s devastating flooding and many Vermonters are still picking up the pieces.
“We’ve been in the process of helping flood survivors throughout Central Vermont,” said Daniel Molind with the Hope Coalition, a Barre-based group of faith and business organizations set up to help those hit by flooding.
State officials say it can take up to five years to fully recover from a natural disaster. “With any disaster recovery, we would like to be farther along than we are. We never feel like we’re recovering fast enough,” said Vermont Chief Recovery Officer Douglas Farnham.
“I would have loved to be further ahead than where we are but it’s not too surprising to me where we are right now. And what we have — we know how to work through that system, we’re working on it.”
“Our goal is to rebuild about 50 homes this summer. There will be rotating teams of about 30 folks in until the end of July,” Molind said.
As a part of that goal, trucks Tuesday morning dropped off $500,000 worth of furniture and other supplies in Berlin donated by the New York-based Compassion Coalition. The goods will be delivered the week of June 10th.
“I think a lot of flood survivors just feel that they’ve been forgotten, so the big thing is when our teams show up just to show them a little bit of love and let them know that they are seen and that we recognize that they have unmet needs,” Molind said.
Farnham says housing has been one of the most difficult problems to address in the wake of the disaster. “We still have massive pressure on our housing environment, a lot of displaced households. They didn’t have a place go, to rent when their house was rendered uninhabitable because there’s such a low vacancy rate in the Vermont housing market,” he said. “We learned some more lessons that we’re trying to adjust to now so we’re really focused on trying to support the long-term recovery groups right now and make sure they’re working on a common data set and that this summer we can really get as many homes that can be rebuilt, safely rebuilt.”
Those still in need of flood assistance help are urged to call 211.