When Irene came and dumped what seemed like a huge amount of rain New England residents of the town. Nobody was prepared for the floods powers.
On the afternoon of August 28 2011 the floodwaters rose so quickly that people were forced to leave their homes and get to higher ground. When they came back they found water in their basements and the houses ruined by spilled heating oil.
More than two hundred houses were destroyed, about a third of the total homes destroyed in Vermont by Irene.
The smell is now gone and most homeowners are ready to build again. But there is a problem. Most homeowners don’t have flood insurance because floods are very rare in Vermont (last one was in 1927). Most families will not be able to afford getting their houses repaired.Steve and Amy Odefey are among the very fortunate. They had flood insurance on their 100-year-old house.
"I'll be a lot happier writing the premium check now," Steve Odefey says.
But the insurance will not cover the cost of their personal belongings. Also they will need to replace more parts in their house that the insurance will not cover.
After the floods went away, roads and bridges were rebuilt really quickly. But rebuilding homes takes a lot longer because you have to deal with permits and personal belongings, says Chris Nordle, a member of ReBuild Waterbury, a non-profit formed to help rebuild the town.
"When you're talking about 200 homeowners in a village of a couple thousand, you've got 200 little mini disaster-management programs going on," he says. "That's one of the things I have a hard time getting my head around."
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