Last Thursday, Two Rivers Ottauquechee Regional Commission and the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation hosted a flood resiliency event in Bridgewater in collaboration with WSP — a global engineering and professional services firm — with the goal of informing local residents on flood safety protocols and state regulations for flood-risk areas.
Annabelle Dally, Communications and Public Involvement manager for WSP, as well as a local Bridgewater resident, told the Standard, “Our goal here today is to provide space for community engagement. Residents all along the [Ottauquechee] River could be affected by flooding. We have seen it destroy some of our most beloved businesses already. As water levels continue to rise, we want to make sure our community is aware of any precautions or rules they should follow.”
Dally was in her home in Bridgewater during two major floods in July and December of 2023. “I remember receiving alerts to evacuate. Thankfully, I had the New England 511 app, which showed me different routes away from my house that were still clear and not yet impaired by flooding. During both floods, my family and I were able to make a safe exit from our home. That is partially why I’m here today — to make sure the members of my community are aware of the resources, like this app, available for when natural disasters occur.”
Another aspect to the flood resilience event was to educate the local community on permits and state zoning laws that prevent residents from building in areas that are susceptible to flooding.
One new regulation put in place by the state of Vermont is Act 121, also known as the Flood Safety Act. This act works to protect river corridors throughout the state. It takes flood safety away from local municipalities and makes it a state-regulated issue. “Act 121 recognizes that flood damage and mitigation are often the culmination of many actions taken beyond town boundaries at the larger watershed scale and places the state in a position to regulate at this level, offering river corridor protection across town boundaries. When new state rules are adopted as a result of this act, they will allow flood-safe development in river corridors within village centers, but river corridors outside of downtowns will also be protected, which will translate into less flood and erosion impacts,” Mike Kline, a member of the Board of Directors at Vermont River Conservancy wrote in a pamphlet displayed at this event.
Dally explained that there are also new rules put in place in collaboration with this Flood Safety Act that directly impact building and repair projects. Now, landowners, developers, and municipalities must ensure their new building projects do not increase flood levels on neighboring land; obstruct flood flows or reduce flood storage capacity; do not worsen erosion or channel instability; and maintain all natural floodplain functions.
This event included informational pamphlets that detailed Vermont flood regulations, including a map of where residents can safely build, and statistics on the impact flooding has on our local community. More information on flood safety and state regulations can be found at dec.vermont.gov.
For more on this, please see our May 22 edition of the Vermont Standard.
