Flood Relief Resources: Community Support, River Learning, and Swimming Safely After Floods

It’s been a month since the historic state-wide floods here in Vermont. Continued high levels of rainfall have contributed to additional localized flooding across the state since then. While we’ve come to expect resilience from our communities (and our rivers!), it’s still hard to absorb the full scale of the impact on Vermont’s residents, businesses, and small towns.

In the days since the flood, we’ve seen communities pitch in to help one another. Whether pulling on boots and gloves to get in and do the dirty work of mucking out basements and knocking down (not-so)drywall, or finding creative ways to pool resources and raise funds for local and state-wide relief efforts, Vermonters have proven once again that in times of need, we show up for one another.

We thought we’d take a moment to share some of the resources that have come across our desks in the last month.

Support for Individuals, Towns & Businesses:

A Guide to Emergency Aid for Vermont’s Land Stewards (pdf) | Vermont Natural Resource Conservation Districts

Vermont Buyout Interest Intake Form | Vermont Agency of Natural Resources Department of Environmental Conservation

Flood Resources | Vermont Emergency Management

Business Emergency Gap Assistance Program | Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development

Vermont Flood Response & Recovery Fund | Vermont Community Foundation

Vermont Main Street Flood Recovery Fund

NOFA-VT Farmer Emergency Fund

Vermont Farm Fund

What We’re Learning:

Why Vermont streams have become more powerful — and how that fuels devastating flooding (podcast) | Brave Little State

Let boulders and logs remain in rivers, state officials say (article) | Vermont Public

Trees and limbs in rivers help fish survive floods (article) | Seven Days

Historic flooding puts spotlight on Vermont’s dams (article) | VT Digger

Where do Vermont’s dams stand after last month’s flooding? (interview) | Vermont Public

Swim Safely:

Post-flood Update: Our Rivers and Swimming Holes are NOT Safe for Swimming | Vermont River Conservancy

Recreational Water | Vermont Department of Health

Recreational Water Safety After a Flood (pdf) | Vermont Department of Health

Looking to swim? ‘Proceed with caution’ (article) | VT Digger

What summer flooding means for Lake Champlain water quality and cyanobacteria blooms (article) | Vermont Public

Donate:

Vermont River Conservancy