MORRISVILLE – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development, Energy, and Credit, announced the delivery of over $1.79 million in federal funding, administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to repair catastrophic damage to the Morrisville Water & Light and the Town of Marshfield caused by severe flooding in July 2023.
The federal funding grants announced include $1.32 million to Morrisville Water & Light in Lamoille County to restore their water supply system back to pre-disaster function and capacity, including repairing building exterior and interior elements, replacing major electrical, mechanical, and chemical feed components, including the well pump motor and controls, and installing a new standby generator. Additionally, the Town of Marshfield in Washington County will receive $471,242 to support flood recovery and resiliency efforts.
“Flood and disaster-impacted communities depend on support from the federal government—our towns and counties need to know FEMA will be there after a disaster hits, and as they strengthen their flood resiliency efforts. I’m proud this federal funding is coming back to our state and will continue to fight for communities hit by the July 2023 and 2024 floods,” said Senator Welch.
Senator Welch has advocated for disaster aid funding throughout Vermont’s catastrophic back-to-back flooding in July 2023 and July 2024. On the anniversaries of Vermont’s catastrophic floods, Senator Welch introduced the Disaster Assistance Improvement and Decentralization (AID) Act, which would cut red tape and support hazard mitigation efforts, make the delivery of disaster aid more efficient and effective, provide technical assistance to small towns and communities impacted by natural disasters, and block the White House from withholding funding for disaster response. The bill was inspired and shaped by the disaster recovery experience of communities across Vermont. The Senator also introduced the Rural Recovery Act, which would create a new program at USDA Rural Development (RD) to provide RD state offices with automatic funding for emergency recovery technical assistance after disasters take place in their jurisdiction.
