New Videos for Community Leaders - Reducing Flood Damage

The Connecticut River Watershed Council (CRWC) has released six short videos to help communities prepare for flooding.   These videos are featured on Flood Ready Vermont and compiled on the CRWC Preparing for Floods page.

The videos highlight steps that communities can take to reduce exposure to damage from flooding.

At Flood Ready Vermont the videos are posted as stories on Making It Happen and embedded in pages throughout the site.  

The productions by the Connecticut River Watershed Council strengthen a collaborative effort to build tools and support peer-to-peer communication for community leaders working on flood resilience.  CRWC was one of many organizations that participated in the design of Flood Ready Vermont.

The CRWC videos were shot and edited by Joe DeFelice of Riverbank Media, with financial support from the High Meadow Fund at the Vermont Community Foundation, and Jane's Trust.

The new videos include:

Finding the Right Mix - How the Town of Brandon is taking comprehensive steps to reduce damage from flooding.

Homeowner Buyouts and Elevating Homes - How community leaders are using FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grants to reduce residential losses.

Better Culverts and Stream Crossings - Designing and implementing better culverts improves road reliability, culvert longevity and habitat functions.

Why Rivers Move and Erode - a demonstration of how channels move over time using a stream table.  

Stabilizing Stream Banks Naturally - placing root wads to support the reestablishment of bank vegetation and reduce erosion rates.

Lakefront Erosion Solutions - ways to reduce bank erosion from foot traffic and wave action.

Public Meetings Will Explain New Flood Insurance Options Available to Washington County Property Owners

Washington County flood insurance questions will be addressed at five public meetings in Waterbury, Barre City, Northfield, Marshfield, and Montpelier.  The meetings will focus on newly revised flood hazard maps and the insurance options available for structures that may be affected by the updated designations.  Structures that have been identified for the first time as being at a high risk of damage by flooding may benefit by getting flood insurance now before the official map changes go into effect. 

The Washington County Digital Flood Insurance Rate Map (DFIRM) will take effect on March 19, 2013.  In some places the boundaries of the flood hazard area have changed.  Where the flood hazard area is more extensive, flood insurance is available for residential structures as a low cost “Preferred Risk Policy” (PRP).  After the map change the PRP can be renewed twice before the insurance increases step-wise to the full cost.

The Washington County DFIRM data can be viewed online at the VT ANR Natural Resource Atlas: tinyurl.com/vt-atlas If your home is in the flood hazard area (Zone A or AE) for the first time then you may want to consider taking advantage of the Preferred Risk Policy (PRP) option before the March 19 2013 deadline.  More information is available at other posts on this blog: vtfpm.blogspot.com

Meetings to discuss insurance options are now scheduled for:

Tuesday January 8, 7 pm at Thatcher Brook Primary School, Waterbury

Thursday January 17, 7 pm Alumni Hall, Barre City

Tuesday January 22, 7 pm, Brown Public Library, Northfield

Thursday January 31, 7 pm, Old Schoolhouse Common, Marshfield

Tuesday February 5, 6 pm Memorial Room, City Hall, Montpelier

In Vermont in a high risk flood hazard area an average flood insurance policy currently costs around $1,400 per year for $170,000 in coverage.  Under the new DFIRM it is estimated that around 200 structures will be identified for the first time as being in the high risk zone.  Approximately 500 structures will no longer fall into a high risk area.  Flood insurance is available to any structure in a community that participates in the National Flood Insurance Program.  For more information on flood insurance contact the agent that manages your homeowner’s insurance or visit www.floodsmart.gov