Tagged: Irene

Vermont officials could learn this week how much the Federal Emergency Management Agency will contribute to help rehabilitate the state office complex in Waterbury, which was made unusable by flooding from Tropical Storm Irene.

Vermont lawmakers are coming to the defense of Governor Peter Shumlin's administration following criticisms by a candidate to unseat him that he misled the Legislature and the public about the amount of post-Irene disaster relief Vermont was likely to get.

Representative Alice Emmons, a Springfield Democrat and chairwoman of the House Institutions and Corrections Committee, says her panel purposely built a good deal of flexibility into this year's state construction budget because of uncertainty about funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Vermont officials are expressing frustration and alarm at the lack of certainty surrounding how much money the state will get from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help with recovery from Tropical Storm Irene.

Vermont officials say the total cost of recovering from Tropical Storm Irene is estimated at $733 million and the federal government is expected to pay about three quarters of that amount.  WAMC’s North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley reports…

Administration Secretary Jeb Spaulding says the state expects it will have to pay about $110 million for its share of the repair costs.

Spaulding and other top state officials gave a briefing Thursday on the efforts to recover from the biggest natural disaster in almost a century.

Thirteen students from six Vermont colleges and universities are spending their summer working on long-term recovery projects from storm Irene.

The group in charge is the Vermont Campus Compact's Statewide Internships for Vermont Recovery. The program is starting today.

The undergraduate and graduate students will take on a variety of projects that range from working with flood survivors to improving emergency response plans. They will take part in the continuing cleanup effort and assess environmental damage following the storm last August.

 A total of 524 mobile homes were damaged in Vermont during Tropical Storm Irene. And many homeowners are still recovering, some paying more for housing.  WAMC's Tristan O'Neill reports...

A new fund has been set up to help mobile-home owners in Vermont who were victims of Irene or flooding last spring.

It was started with a gift of $50,000 from a Middlebury couple, David and Eleanor Ignat.

Organizers say $500 grants will be awarded to eligible applicants. The deadline is July 16.

Across Vermont, many communities that were hit by flooding from Tropical Storm Irene are working to get their athletic fields back in shape.

For many schools, their fields are on flat land next to rivers, just the areas that were hit the hardest by the flooding in August.

In Bethel, parts of the fields that are used by the Whitcomb High School and the community were under 18 inches of silt and littered with other debris such as hot water and propane tanks.

Parts of the fields are ready for use. But some won't be ready until next year.