Flood preparedness and recovery in Vermont

About this episode

The episode discusses flood preparedness and recovery efforts in Vermont, featuring insights from state officials and community organizations.

Over the past few years, Vermonters have upped their flood resilience efforts. As we enter another flood season, this work becomes even more urgent. Douglas Farnham , the state’s Chief Recovery Officer , joins to tell us about how changes at the Federal Emergency Management Agency are impacting Vermont flood recovery efforts. And he gives us an update on the FEMA buyout program. Also, we talk with Arion Thiboumery from the Plainfield Community Development Corp, an organization dedicated to creating new affordable housing in the town of Plainfield. Their current effort called the East Plainfield Expansion Project aims to build 20 new units of housing near the village on higher ground. They just received a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Vermont Edition intern Maeve Fairfax went to Hardwick to investigate the challenges that Vermonters face trying to find new housing after being displaced by a flood. She talked with taqueria owner and buyout recipient Bryan Palinonis . Then, Audrey Grant of Northeast Kingdom Organizing joins us to talk about Resilience Hubs . These are community spaces that are stocked with supplies needed for emergency disaster response…

People in this episode

Guests: Douglas Farnham, Audrey Grant

Topics covered

• flood preparedness
• flood recovery
• affordable housing
• community resilience
• disaster response

Keywords

• flood resilience
• FEMA
• housing
• displacement
• community spaces

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Federal Emergency Management Agency, Plainfield Community Development Corp, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Northeast Kingdom Organizing

Places: Vermont

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