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After long months of flood recovery, the Kingdom throws a party

Flood recovery volunteers Megan Durling, left, and Matt Lipschitz head into the woods of North Kirby to access homes that were isolated by road washouts on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024.
Peter Hirschfeld
/
Vermont Public
Megan Durling, left, and Matt Lipschitz, were among the volunteers who bushwacked through the woods on Thursday, Aug. 1, to access homes that had become isolated after major flooding hit parts of the Northeast Kingdom. The recovery effort was spearheaded in part by Northeast Kingdom Organizing, which is co-hosting a celebration on Sunday for flood-affected Vermonters and volunteers.

Residents of the Northeast Kingdom have endured three major floods over the last two summers, and the community is throwing a party this weekend to celebrate survivors and the volunteers who are helping them recover.

In hard-hit communities such as Lyndon and St. Johnsbury, the recovery work isn’t close to finished. But Meghan Wayland, with Northeast Kingdom Organizing, said it’s time to honor the thousands of hours of volunteer labor that has gone into mucking and gutting damaged homes.

They said the gathering on Sunday is also a way to strengthen the local bonds that will be needed for future recovery work.

“It’s saying, ‘Hey, look in this room. You all did this.’ These are the people whose houses were destroyed. These are the people who were in the basements up to their elbows in muck,” Wayland told Vermont Public. “Now you know each other. You’ll continue to know each other. We’re going to be in this again and again and again.”

We want to thank them, and we also want them to know that it’s not over.
Meghan Wayland, Northeast Kingdom Organizing

Volunteers in the Kingdom have cleared muck from basements and living rooms and removed water-damaged building materials from about 250 homes from this summer’s floods alone. According to officials with the Kingdom United Resilience and Recovery Effort, more than 100 households are still awaiting critical repairs to damage from the floods of 2023 and 2024.

A group of about 10 people stand in a circle, listening to someone speak at the front of a room.
Peter Hirschfeld
/
Vermont Public
Volunteers get instructions before heading into local neighborhoods to check on stranded flood survivors on Thursday, Aug. 1, after flooding damaged homes and took out roads in parts of the Northeast Kingdom.

Wayland said the bulk of the recovery work happened in the one-month period after the floods, when volunteer labor was at its peak. They said Sunday’s event, at the Lyndon Outing Club, will also serve as a recruitment effort of sorts for the work that’s still ahead.

“We want to thank them, and we also want them to know that it’s not over,” Wayland said. “We’ve got all of these rebuild projects that need to happen both this winter and then in years to come so that we can make people whole in our neighborhoods.”

The event starts at 3 p.m. and will have home-cooked food, live music and free hard cider. There's also a "work party" that starts at 11 a.m. that day where volunteers will meet at 762 College Road in Lyndonville to help rebuild flood-damaged homes.

Megan Matthers, also with Northeast Kingdom Organizing, said the party will provide a needed break for residents whose lives have been upended by disaster.

“Spiritually or socially, a lot of these people haven’t really had a chance to talk or decompress outside of interactions with flood volunteers,” Matthers said. “It’s just a time to let the mood lighten up and little bit … for folks who are willing and ready to just have a little bit of reflection, while still feeling the weight of this.”

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