Irene Report: Build Longer Bridges, Move Homes

(Host) A new report spells out the lessons the state learned from Tropical Storm Irene. And it details the unfinished work that remains to help Vermonters recover.

 VPR's John Dillon reports:

(Dillon) Governor Peter Shumlin says he hopes the publication of the Irene recovery report will show what needs immediate attention - as well as what needs to be done to deal with future storms.

(Shumlin) "I call this a roadmap. The roadmap for Vermont's future is in these pages."

(Dillon) The 70-page report contains many recommendations. They include building longer bridges and larger culverts to make room for swollen rivers and streams. And it suggests the state should encourage property owners to relocate housing that could be flooded again in the future.

Neale Lunderville is the state's outgoing Irene Recovery Officer. He leaves that post this week, and he says the report first documents what happened in the days and weeks after the flood.

(Lunderville) "Number two is, ‘What have we done?' There's been so much done to bring the state back strongly already. And we wanted to capture that, put in the report and look at what worked and what didn't."

(Dillon) One thing administration officials say did work well in the initial recovery phase was a strong sense of collaboration among state agencies, and between government and business,

Irene literally knocked down the barriers in the state bureaucracy. When flooding forced the state to close its Waterbury headquarters, agencies that don't always work together found themselves sharing office space. The result was positive, says Lunderville.

(Lunderville) "We found that collaboration and partnership was a real hallmark of the recovery effort. That's been a part and parcel of each of these areas. The Irene Recovery Coordination Team is assuming that is a model that we believe can be used in other areas, not just in Irene recovery but in a lot of areas of state government, to break down bureaucracies, break down silos and move things faster and more affordably for taxpayers."

(Dillon) Among other issues addressed in the report is how to help homeowners participate in the federal hazard mitigation program.

That will help people who live in flood-prone areas sell their properties and move some place safer.

Shumlin says town and state governments can use the report to make similar moves. The governor also talked about some of the lessons learned.

(Shumlin) "We have done a lot of things well, but we acknowledge that there are a lot of things that we could have done a lot better. And this report outlines how we ensure from doing a better job training people for disasters like this and there's a very comprehensive piece of this report that describes how we intend to approach that, literally with training sessions. So that we can take the lessons learned and make sure our emergency response local coordinators have that knowledge."

(Dillon) The report also contains a host of data, for example, showing that Windsor County leads the state in claims made to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for individual assistance. More than 1,900 Windsor County residents have received a combined total of more than $383,000.

For VPR News, I'm John Dillon in Montpelier.