Some Homeowners Opted For Federal Assistance To Leave Flood Zones; Their Local Governments Didn't Approve
BARRE, Vt. — On the night the river flooded the banks of their house, Shayd and Laurie Pecor fled with their dogs, parked their cars on higher ground and watched as water rushed into their home. The July 2023 storm submerged the city’s downtown under several feet of water, flooded the century-old opera house that doubles as city hall and inundated the police and fire department building, trapping some emergency vehicles. At least 350 properties were damaged — including the Pecors’ house, where floodwater ruined much of the basement and first floor.
The federal government offered to buy out homeowners who wanted to leave, paying them pre-storm market value for their homes, which would be demolished to create open space. Sixty-seven households here jumped at the chance, including the Pecors. Federal buyouts have become a major focus of America’s flood-mitigation strategy, with taxpayer money purchasing more than 55,000 flood-damaged properties since the 1990s — a number that increased dramatically in recent years as climate change fuels more frequent and severe floods.
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When Barre rejected the Pecors’ buyout bid, they used insurance money and savings to repair the tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage the storm had done. Water-weary and anxious, they hoped to sell it. Only after they moved back in did they learn they would have to elevate vulnerable electrical and heating equipment to the house’s second floor to bring it up to code. They balked at the expense. In lieu of a federal buyout, the city offered to buy the Pecors’ property and that of their neighbors in Barre’s badly damaged North End neighborhood. Free of FEMA’s restrictions, the land could be used for new, elevated housing. But amid a statewide housing crisis, the city’s offer of $70,000 would not let them buy a comparable home in a safer place.
“We feel trapped,” Shayd Pecor said. “We would love to sell our house and move somewhere on a hill where you don’t have to worry about getting wet. But it’s going to be pretty much impossible.” On a visit in May, the neighborhood still showed signs of damage. Mold climbed the walls of the now-abandoned Salvation Army thrift shop and dried mud caked the floor. Nearby homes were missing large sections of siding and piles of sandbags barricaded basement windows, as though the storm had come through only the day before. Nearly two years after the first major flood, traces of the high-water mark were everywhere.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/06/12/vermont-floods-barre-rebuilding/
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