Flooding in Vermont

My little state has been badly hit by very destructive flooding/flash floods. The hardest hit are folks who are in low-income housing (because of course) in the lower areas of the cities. Many have been made unhoused just as the state was abandoning already-unhoused population by closing down the pandemic voucher program that allowed them to stay in hotels and motels instead of on the streets.

The most destructive flooding occurred in the central region of the state, and a lot of rural folks can't even get out to get supplies and aren't able to do the clean up themselves.

I'm very proud to be part of the effort to help folks. My home was spared because we happen to live on high ground. I've been volunteering at Rainbow Bridge Community Center (RBCC, please don't give me shit for that name, we didn't pick it). Our center's basement was flooded and we have no electricity or water (the entire city is on a boil water notice, but when you don't have electricity or even a place to stay other than the emergency shelter, boiling water isn't going to happen). We have still opened our doors and are accepting all sorts of clothing, food, toiletries, baby and pet supplies, cleaning supplies, tools, etc. to help the people in our community, many of whom are still recovering from the last destructive floods that happened in 2011 (we had two that year).

Many houses have been swept away, or have been condemned. Landlords aren't talking to their tenants to tell them what the situation is. Some parts of buildings have power (where there are businesses) but the upper floors where people are living have no power or water yet. Many of these folks are disabled. There's one guy who lives on the fourth floor with no elevator, with insulin-dependent diabetes who is storing his insulin at work. He has had no communication from his landlord telling him if he needs to find another place to stay. The landlord isn't returning calls. The response from the city hasn't been great, either. Montpelier is doing an outstanding job, there's tents and food trucks and clean up volunteers who have been activated all over the city. Barre just has a Red Cross shelter set up (in a difficult to get to location), and our little center on main street. Though they did do a big volunteer clean up push yesterday, and a lot of great work got done.

If you can help, please do. If you donate to the RBCC, put in the notes that it's for flood relief. Every penny of that will go to the victims. If you're willing to support our center in general, we would really appreciate it. We're not sure if we're going to be able to stay in our prime, main street location at this point, and will need funds to move if we have to. Please know that all assistance is going to help LGBTQIA+ folks as well as the local area that's been very badly damaged.