Vermont Flood Resilience and Recovery Webinar Held this Week
This week, EPA’s Smart Growth program hosted a webinar entitled, “Flood Resilience and Recovery: Lessons learned from Vermont.” During the webinar, speakers from EPA, FEMA, the Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development, and the Mad River Valley Planning District presented their collaborative efforts to assist the communities that were flooded during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 through EPA’s Smart Growth Implementation Assistance Program. The state’s efforts included Improving and updating Vermont’s mitigation plan; developing a planning and disaster recovery guide; and partnering with EPA on mitigation planning outreach to local communities. Some of the communities’ actions included:
- Reviewing local plans, policies, and regulations;
- Encouraging growth and infrastructure investments in safer locations;
- Discouraging development in vulnerable areas and transferring development rights;
- Upgrading building codes and development regulations in flood prone areas and considering relocation.
- Working with farmers to take land out of production and implement BMPs; and
- Implementing green infrastructure practices and stream buffers for stormwater management.
While the webinar did not specifically include drinking water, the speakers did note that some of the communities’ experienced drinking water impacts and were considering actions to address them. To view a recording of the webinar go to: https://epa.connectsolutions.com/p2vv1lhmbs2/.
To view the resulting report and Flood Resilience Checklist, visit EPA’s web site at: http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/sgia_communities.htm#rec1.
