As George Thomson strides through his partially-built house he tosses words of encouragement to carpenters working there.
“Hello! Doing Some Trim?” He shouts over the wail of a saw. “Excellent! Excellent!”
Thomson and his wife Linda are learning the art of patience. They’ve moved four times since Tropical Storm Irene destroyed their old home on Lake Pauline in Ludlow nearly two years ago. They hope to move into this new house within weeks.
Thomson, a 64-year-old elementary school principal, used to have other plans for this summer.
“This was my retirement year,” he says.
Now he’s putting off retirement. After floodwaters engulfed their old home, the couple spent nearly $20,000 trying to save it and when that didn’t work –about another $20,000 demolishing it.
However, they did have flood insurance which will pay $175,000. The insurance will cover about half the cost of the new home they are building. The Thomsons are using most of their nest egg for the rest.
Thomson says at first, FEMA had led them to believe the agency could provide a lot of help.
“They gave you a lot of hope and indicated that funds could be made available pretty quickly,” he recalls.
Becky Szymcik is in charge of Individual Assistance for FEMA in New England. Although she did not comment on the Thomson’s case, Szymcik said having flood insurance reduces what FEMA is able to offer.
“FEMA is only going to sort of make up the difference,” Szymcik says. “And pay for those items that are not covered by any other means.”
Soon after the flood, FEMA gave the Thomsons $1,900 to cover rent and to rebuild their road. In addition, the couple was eligible to apply for a FEMA buy-out of their home, under a program that acquires and demolishes flood-damaged properties to reduce future flood hazards.
But a buy-out isn’t for the Thomsons, who love to swim and kayak. Looking out over the water on Lake Pauline, Thomson says, “We love the lake. We love living down here. It’s a lovely, peaceful, serene place to live,” he adds. “Even after everything we’ve been through.”
The Thomsons also applied for a grant from VDRF, the Vermont Disaster Relief Fund. VDRF wanted assurances that the Thomsons had enough funds to cover the entire project. So the couple got a construction loan, an extra big one. But VDRF didn’t approve their application.
The Fund says to qualify a family must show they have an “unmet need,” and that “they are unable to pay for the repairs on their own”.
The Thomson's new home features concrete pillars which reinforce the exterior of the house to withstand the force of a flood. The living space is ten-feet off the ground. Hydraulic vents, below, are designed to release any water that comes in.
Thomson points upstairs to a seam on the siding. “It’s got break away walls,” he explains. “So the walls could actually blow out if significant force of water came up, the walls will actually release and then the water can just flow through.”
Thomson says he’s excited his family will have a home again. But he doesn’t know when he’ll be able to retire.
Mapping the Money, VPR's interactive map of Irene FEMA funds distributed in Vermont.
