The state of Vermont is asking the federal government to assess whether damage from an Oct. 31 storm qualifies homeowners for aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's individual assistance program.
According to Ben Rose, the recovery and mitigation section chief of Vermont Emergency Management, the last time Vermont was approved for this IA program was after Tropical Storm Irene in 2011.
Rose said that while FEMA has already verified damage to public infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, they will now assess whether individual homeowners and renters will qualify.
"The individual assistance program is all or nothing. Either each one will get an IA declaration or we won't qualify based on what the numbers show," Rose said. "And at this point it looks like it's going to be somewhere right around the threshold. We don't know if we'll get there or not, but we'll give it our best shot."
FEMA representatives are set to be in Vermont on Thursday to determine if the state qualifies for an individual assistance disaster declaration. Their assessment will be in Addison, Chittenden, Franklin, Lamoille and Orleans counties.
Under the IA program, homeowners must use insurance money and other sources before receiving federal funding.
