Flood Resilience and Recovery Assistance: Lessons Learned from Vermont
The state of Vermont experienced major damage to roads, houses, and businesses due to flood impacts from Tropical Storm Irene in fall 2011. Vermont’s Agency of Commerce and Community Development, along with the Agency of Natural Resources, Agency of Transportation, and the Mad River Valley Planning District, requested assistance from EPA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to recover from flood impacts and plan for long-term resilience to future disasters. Through EPA’s Smart Growth Implementation Assistance Program, EPA and FEMA worked with state agencies and communities in Vermont to identify smart growth strategies that can help vulnerable communities prepare for and recover from floods. The project resulted in the report, Planning for Flood Recovery and Long-Term Resilience in Vermont: Smart Growth Approaches for Disaster-Resilient Communities, and a Flood Resilience Checklist, available at http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/sgia_communities.htm#rec1.
This webinar will discuss the project, highlighting Smart growth approaches and strategies communities can consider to become more flood resilient and what the state of Vermont and communities in the Mad River Valley have done since Irene to help enhance flood resilience by building back better than before.
Presenters
- Stephanie Bertaina, Senior Policy Analyst, EPA
- Marilyn Hilliard, Senior Planner/Disaster Operations Coordinator, FEMA
- Noelle MacKay, Commissioner, Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development
- Joshua Schwartz, Executive Director, Mad River Valley Planning District
Who Should Attend
Planners; community leaders; state, local, and federal government staff; academics; researchers; and others interested in helping communities prepare for and recover from floods.
Continuing Education
This webinar qualifies for 1.5 certification maintenance credits from the American Planning Association.