Many families whose homes were destroyed by Irene are waiting for federal grants that would pay 75 percent of the home’s value before the disaster. The grants would also pay 75 percent of the cost of demolishing flood-damaged houses.
Ray Doherty, of Vermont Emergency Management, says the funding will be delivered first to towns and then to homeowners. He says the funds are coming to Vermont in two batches.
"The first batch, we expect it to be approved at the end of June. That’s approximately one third of all the applications and money should flow to the towns sometime, I would anticipate, in July. And for the other two thirds, FEMA should be approving those towards the end of the summer. We anticipate those funds to be arriving to the towns by mid-September," Doherty said.
The state expects the following towns will be part of the first batch: Grafton, Granville, Richmond, Royalton, Bethel, Bolton, Chester, Middlesex, and Rochester.
The second batch includes the following towns: Barre city, Berlin, Braintree, Brandon, Brattleboro, Bridgewater, Burlington, Clarendon, Danby, Hartford (White River Jct), Jamaica, Londonderry, Newfane, Northfield, Pittsfield, Readsboro, Rockingham, Ryegate, Sharon, Stockbridge, Wardsboro, Westminster, Wilmington and Woodford.
In addition to those federal grants, the state says it will also provide grants to homeowners worth 25 percent of the value of their homes.
Doherty says that money is expected as early as September, just about one year after the flood.