Vt. may qualify for fed funding
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By PATRICK McARDLE Herald Staff - Published: December 20, 2008
The state is looking for reports, especially from Bennington, Orange, Windham and Windsor counties, to establish that at least $1 million in damage to public property was done by last week's ice storms which would qualify Vermont to receive federal aid.
Officials from the Vermont Emergency Management department met with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and local officials from Orange, Windsor, Windham and Bennington counties on Thursday to determine what damage from last week's ice storm would be eligible for federal disaster relief funding.
State officials believe municipalities in those counties, in which Gov. James Douglas declared a state disaster earlier this week, are the most likely locations for damages that would trigger a federal disaster declaration.
Damage estimates, which should include damages to public building, municipal electric facilities, road damages and the cost of debris and tree removal from public rights of way, can still be reported to the state.
Staff members from Vermont Emergency Management, the Agency of Natural Resources and the Agency of Transportation are reviewing the reports received to date from municipalities to determine the extent of the damage.
Beginning Dec. 29, FEMA staff members will be in Wilmington, which will serve as a base from which visits to other extensively damaged towns will be coordinated.
Power was restored around 7:40 p.m. on Thursday to the last of about 10,000 customers of Green Mountain Power in Southern Vermont.
Green Mountain Power's Manager of Corporate Communications Dorothy Schnure said company officials estimated the storm repairs would cost about $1 million.
Early estimates said about 20 utility poles had come down due to the storm but Schnure said that number may have gone up.
For Green Mountain Power, most of the longer outages were in the area of Wilmington, Dover and Searsburg or in the Westminster and Putney areas in the eastern part of Southern Vermont.
The electric utility also handled outages in Readsboro and Jacksonville, towns which have their own electric companies operated by Green Mountain Power through contracts with the municipalities.
Some of the problems were as far north as White River Junction, according to Schnure.
Green Mountain Power had about 60 employees working to restore power after the outages, Schnure said, most of them brought to the southern state from Green Mountain Power's main areas of operations in Chittenden and Washington counties.
Crews were standing by as early as Thursday, Schnure said, in anticipation of the expected outages.
Green Mountain Power crews were assisted by utility workers from Pennsylvania and New York in their restoration efforts.
Schnure said the support of tree workers was "incredibly important" because downed trees were not only knocking down power cables, they were blocking access to some of the areas where power had gone out.
"The town road crews were great as well. They really made a big difference for us," she said.
While Green Mountain Power officials believed all their customers had power restored by Thursday, Schnure said it was possible there were outages they were not aware of because some trees had fallen later in the week causing new damage.
Some out-of-state home owners may not have known their electricity was out and therefore didn't notify Green Mountain Power, Schnure added.
With electricity restored in Vermont, Green Mountain Power has sent some of its line workers to assist with restoration efforts in New Hampshire, Schnure said.
Central Vermont Public Service, another electricity provider in Southern Vermont, also finished its restoration efforts on Thursday. Spokeswoman Christine Rivers said the utility was sending 10 crews to New Hampshire.
Any Green Mountain Power customer whose power has not been restored should call the utility at (888) 835-4672. Central Vermont Public Service customers without power should call (800) 451-2877.
Call Vermont Emergency Management at (800) 347-0488 for more information or to report damage to public property.
Contact Patrick McArdle at patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com.
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