Disaster Planning

Based on the needs identified in the five partner communities, the VERI team developed '101' guidance, checklists and more advanced tools that communities and businesses can use to weather the next storm. 

The VERI report describes the data gathering, the community ranking process, the community engagement, the review of policies and steps to identify project recommendations. This information is useful to any region or community working to reduce its flood risks and protect its businesses and economy from future floods.

Working with local, regional and state-wide organizations, ACCD has developed an online form to ensure consistent and collaborative collection of damages to businesses, agriculture, historic and cultural resources in the event of a major regional or state-wide event.

If you are viewing this page, there is no disaster pending. However, now is the time to prepare to ensure that all is ready in case of an emergency.

One lesson learned after Tropical Storm Irene was that the State and our partners in disaster response and recovery needed a consistent way to assess damage and impact to businesses, farms and cultural and historic resources and a centralized location for the information. Such a system would allow for a more collaborative and strategic response and the ability to communicate with those impacted as new assistance programs became available. It would allow us to pinpoint the types of assistance that was needed and ensure that all those impacted were offered support.

Eight historic downtowns in Vermont, turned massive flooding into opportunities to improve their physical design, hone their marketing messages, and strengthen partnerships to achieve greater economic resilience and build back stronger than before the flood.

Vermont’s hard-won experience from flooding taught a key lesson – no individual, business, organization, town or state agency can reduce flood vulnerabilities alone. Projects like the Vermont Economic Resiliency Initiative (VERI) and other studies and related initiatives deepened partnerships and identified new opportunities advance an integrated, long-term strategy to:

Local, state and federal partners explored policy changes to safeguard residents from future flooding after Tropical Storm Irene, starting with a pilot in the Mad River Watershed, with help from the EPA’s Smart Growth Implementation Assistance (SGIA) program.

Incorporating the lessons learned from past flooding to make communities safer, reduce the cost of future damage and protect vital areas of economic activity.

Vermont Economic Resiliency Initiative (VERI) – steps to help communities plan for flooding and remain open for business after disaster strikes.