Current News

Governor Peter Shumlin and the Vermont Agency of Transportation today announced the roll out of a brand new web-based Public Information Project that was made possible through a partnership with Google. A new map, utilizing Google, will advance the emergency response effort following Hurricane Irene. The map can be found at the VTrans website: www.aot.state.vt.us.

‘In the wake of this unprecedented storm that has ravaged our infrastructure it is all hands on deck, and the state is working to assess both state and local roads and bridges,’ said Sue Minter VTrans Deputy Secretary. ‘A new and improved mapping system, which will be publicly available, will help us identify and publicize damaged infrastructure for the travelling public, as well as for our response team,’ she said.

Middlebury Interactive Languages (MIL), the premier provider of world language instruction for K-12 students, has named former Massachusetts Governor and national education leader Jane Swift as CEO. Swift brings more than two decades of leadership in education technology, public policy and administration to MIL, a joint venture of Middlebury College, renowned for its world language programs, and K12 Inc., the nation’s largest provider of curriculum and online education for K-12 students.

August 31, 2011 ‘ 5 pm. With more than 270 bucket trucks, diggers, track and other all-terrain vehicles, Central Vermont Public Service crews accessed some of the isolated areas in central and southern Vermont today.

Vermont has the lowest percentage of non-current mortgages (delinquency/foreclosure) of any state east of the Mississippi and the ninth lowest nationally. The July Mortgage Monitor report released by Lender Processing Services, Inc. (NYSE: LPS) shows that foreclosure timelines continue their steady upward trend, as a payment has not been made on the average loan in foreclosure in a record 599 days. Of the nearly 1.9 million loans that are 90 or more days delinquent but not yet in foreclosure, 42 percent have not made a payment in more than a year with an average delinquency of 397 days, also a new record. At the same time, first-time foreclosure starts in June were near three-year lows, and first-time delinquencies accounted for only 25 percent of new delinquent inventory.

At 11:45 pm on Tuesday, Vermont Electric Cooperative’s (VEC) operations center announced that the final restoration of VEC power outages caused by tropical storm Irene had been completed. During the course of this major outage event, about 10,000 VEC members experienced power outages of varying lengths.
Outages began to occur on Sunday as high winds and heavy rains moved through VEC's service territory. While most outages were restored within the first 24 hours, others lingered into Tuesday. The combination of deeply saturated soil, fully leaved trees and high winds led to conditions in which trees of all sizes toppled onto electric lines and into right of way areas. Also hampering restoration efforts were numerous road closures due to damage caused by flash floods.

Irene has had a devistating effect on Vermont. The following is a brief report on how the Vermont Campgrounds have fared.
Peter Daniels, Executive Director of the Vermont Campground Association, reports that they have two campgrounds that have suffered total flooding. Camping on the Battenkill in Arlington will not be able to access the damage until the river recedes. They may not be able to open this fall. Abel Mountain in Braintree has also suffered severe damage when the river flooded the campground and destroyed their office and bathhouses. All the utilities will need rebuilding. They may not be even able to open next year. Horseshoe Acres in Andover has already brought in heavy equipment and outside contractors to open up for the weekend. Rivers Bend in Middlebury saw half of their campground flooded,including the bathhouse and laundry, but are now open and ready for the weekend.

Online advertised vacancies were down 163,900 in August to 3,990,600, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine (HWOL) Data Series released today. Vermont was down 400. The August drop follows a decline of 217,000 in July and a decrease of 100,000 in June. The Supply/Demand rate stands at 3.35, indicating there were just over 3 unemployed for every online advertised vacancy in July, the latest monthly data available for unemployment.

State Auditor Tom Salmon, CPA, today urged state and local officials and flood victims to be mindful of the need for proper documentation for FEMA assistance and other reimbursements.
Salmon said, ‘We already know that insurance and FEMA will not cover 100 percent of the losses. Thorough documentation and photographs will help you optimize your financial recovery.’

Representative Peter Welch (D-VT) notified House leaders today that he will be seeking significant disaster relief for Vermont due to the catastrophic damage caused by Tropical Storm Irene. It is expected that Congress will need to appropriate additional disaster assistance funds to pay for federal recovery efforts in Vermont and elsewhere.

‘Vermont is responding promptly and energetically to repair and rebuild,’ Welch said in the letter to House Speaker John Boehner and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. ‘But we cannot do it alone. Upon our return to Washington, I will be asking to work closely with you and our House colleagues to provide Vermont with the federal assistance it needs to help itself recover. Vermonters have always supported disaster relief for communities around the country hit hard by natural disasters, and we always will. Now we ask for the support of our colleagues to assist Vermont.’

The US Department of Transportation released $5 million in emergency funds to rebuild and repair roads and bridges destroyed or damaged in Vermont by Tropical Storm Irene, Vermont’s congressional delegation announced today.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Tuesday evening notified U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a member of the Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee. Sanders had been in discussion with LaHood to explain the magnitude of the destruction in Vermont and to convey the state's need for emergency help.

August 31, 2011 ‘ 7 am update. CVPS crews assisted by nearly 600 outside contractors continue to move into the devastated areas of central and southern Vermont this morning. Addison and Bennington County outages will be restored today, while work continues in Windsor, Rutland, Windham and Orange counties.
As of 7 am, more than 59,500 of the 73,000-plus customer outages have been restored, with 14,300 remaining.
Crews will be moving into or continuing work in Killington, Rochester, Stockbridge, Hancock, Granville, Pittsfield, Randolph, Braintree, Brookfield, Bethel, Northfield, Roxbury and Plymouth in central Vermont; and Marlboro, Dover, Halifax, Stratton and Wardsboro in southern Vermont today (among other areas). While crews will be doing extensive repair work, in many cases, they will be rebuilding entire sections of the CVPS electrical system, including substantial work to several substations.

Green Mountain Power has restored power to all of its customers affected by Hurricane Irene, with the exception of customers whose homes or businesses were flooded and required inspection by state officials before power could be restored safely. Of the 338 customers currently without power, we have received inspection certificates for 20 of them and are working now to restore power to those customers tonight. We will continue to restore power to customers as their inspections are completed in the coming days. More than 40,000 outages were reported during the storm.
If any customer does not have power and does not need electrical inspection due to flooding, they should call Green Mountain Power at 1-888-835-4672. (1-888-TEL-GMPC).