Money has started flowing into Vermont to cover flood damage from early July, but congressional inaction means that local governments will have to wait for federal assistance.
Individual homeowners and renters in seven counties (Addison, Caledonia, Chittenden, Essex, Lamoille, Orleans and Washington) can still receive funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and more than 500 people have applied for grants. A FEMA official said the agency has approved over $1 million in funding so far.
But the agency is technically out of cash.
Right now, they can’t pay local and state governments to fund repairs to infrastructure like roads and bridges.
“At this time, due to constraints in FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, we’re operating under Immediate Needs Funding, which limits our ability to support public assistance projects until Congress passes a budget,” FEMA coordinating officer Will Roy said at a press conference Wednesday, referencing agency guidance.
"However, under Immediate Needs Funding we can support lifesaving and life-sustaining measures as well as the individual assistance program," Roy said.
Whenever FEMA does get more money, Roy said the agency will cover 90% of costs of damage to public infrastructure from flooding and landslides between July 9 and 11.
However, towns hit by flash flooding at the end of July might not get as much help. For those storms, the federal government might only cover 75% of costs incurred by local governments because of technical requirements to meet a certain level of damage.
“We’ll see if we meet that threshold — it’s a high bar,” Gov. Phil Scott told reporters at the press conference.
“They had significant damage in Lyndon in particular, far exceeding budgets in some of the smaller communities like Kirby — millions of dollars in damage in Kirby, and they don't spend that much in a year,” he said. “That 25% cost share would be prohibitive, even for them.”
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