BURLINGTON, VT – The Vermont Congressional Delegation, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and U.S. Representative Becca Balint (VT-AL), today announced the delivery of over $33.2 million in new federal funding, administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to support flood recovery and resiliency in Vermont.
This funding includes more than $27.6 million to support the buyout of at least 90 homes across Vermont that are located within a floodplain, at risk of landslide, or sustained irreparable damage from flooding in 2023 and 2024. Families who applied for buyouts will receive compensation for their property from the state of Vermont. The state will then demolish the structure and maintain the land as open green space in perpetuity. The additional $5.6 million in funding will support costs associated with the administration of Vermont’s Emergency Management and future hazard mitigation plans.
“To say that these buyouts are long-overdue is a massive understatement. We have Vermonters whose lives and livelihoods were in limbo for over three years as they waited for FEMA to act. These buyouts are a major step in the right direction, but our work helping folks recover from these floods isn’t over—not by a long shot,” said Senator Welch. “I’ll continue working with federal, state, and local partners to ensure flood-impacted Vermonters gets the support they need and deserve to rebuild their homes and lives.”
“For too many Vermonters, our state’s recent floods are painful memories of homes washed away, livelihoods destroyed, roads and bridges decimated, and sadly, lives lost. There is no good reason that Vermonters should have to wait years to receive the help they need to recover and rebuild when disasters strike. Volunteers, town work crews, rescue teams, state and local employees and fellow Vermonters have done extraordinary work over the past three years to keep our communities safe, and this long-overdue federal funding will help make Vermont more resilient against the future floods and other climate impacts we unfortunately know are coming,” said Senator Sanders.
“Over the last several years, our office has worked with Vermonters who were uprooted from their homes and left to navigate the complicated FEMA grant-making process while waiting far too long for a path forward,” said Rep. Balint. “For many families, this funding will bring welcome—though bittersweet—closure after years of uncertainty. It will also provide real economic relief and give communities much needed resources to become more resilient to future flooding. I’m grateful to everyone who kept pushing to get these dollars out the door, and I’ll keep fighting to make sure Vermont gets the federal support it needs to recover and rebuild.”
Senator Welch has advocated for disaster aid funding throughout Vermont’s catastrophic back-to-back flooding in July 2023 and July 2024. On the anniversaries of Vermont’s brutal floods, Senator Welch introduced the Disaster Assistance Improvement and Decentralization (AID) Act, which would cut red tape and support hazard mitigation efforts, make the delivery of disaster aid more efficient and effective, provide technical assistance to small towns and communities impacted by natural disasters, and block the White House from withholding funding for disaster response. The bill was inspired and shaped by the disaster recovery experience of communities across Vermont.
The Senator also introduced the Rural Recovery Act, which would create a new program at U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development (RD) to provide RD state offices with automatic funding for emergency recovery technical assistance after disasters take place in their jurisdiction.
Learn more about Senator Welch’s work by visiting his website or by following him on social media.
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