Applying for FEMA Assistance & More Info

 Cabot Front Porch Forum has very detailed information this morning about road conditions in Cabot and the process of applying for FEMA assistance:

Status of Cabot Roads/Storm Damage as of July 15

Karen Larsen • South Walden Rd, Cabot

Announcement

Status of Cabot Roads/Storm Damage as of [Friday] 7/15/2023 6:45 p.m.; on behalf of Mike Hogan and the Cabot Selectboard -

• Bridge by Recreation Field was compromised by the flood; trees were removed yesterday to assess damage and repair broken waste pipe. Bridge is ok!
• Compromised pavement by Lower Cabot Store, please look for the orange cones.
• Danville Hill -worked on yesterday. OK- Passable
• Willey Building Parking Lot, Town Clerks Office. Mud cleared from parking lot, the Clerk's Office is drying out. Town Clerk moved offices to Selectboard Meeting room- 2nd Floor Willey Building. In Process
• Glinka Road- Gravel downhill into Willey Building Parking Lot- Passable.
• Coits Pond Rd. by Mike Cookson and beyond. CLOSED ** Starting work 7/15. Culvert replaced on West Hill Pond Road today, 7/15.
• Jug Brook Road- Large section opened and folks able to leave- Work will resume Monday.
• Blodgett Road- Needs serious work. CLOSED - Work will resume Monday.
• Bothfield Hill -Repairing washouts- As time permits.
• Thistle Hill Rd-Washed out Lovely Rd- OPEN Passable
• Bricketts Crossing-Working on today. OPEN
• Waldbridge Road - OPEN
• Mack Mtn Road-OPEN.
• Last Road-evaluation ongoing- 4th class road- Open in sections.
• McQueeny Road-Repair complete
• Lovely Road- culvert-OK
• Menard Road -Needs lots of work. CLOSED *** Working Monday evaluating use of large culvert.
• Whittier Hill -work in progress
• Sawmill Road Bridge- large washout fixed Tuesday afternoon! DONE
• Houston Hill- In Process - Part Way CLOSED**** Monday work will resume; two culverts needed.
• Cabot Plains-Being worked on
• Dubrey Rd. CLOSED ***

Major Accomplishments:
• Friday and Saturday 7/14 & 15: A large section of compromised road on RT215 across from 2466 Main Street was reinforced by using Morgan Churchill's large excavator filling the bank with massive stones. Utilizing the town crew and multiple outside drivers, a potential catastrophic event was avoided. There was an additional close call as a large tree was ready to fall with a trajectory which would have taken out phone and power lines and landed on a home. Quick thinking and fine skills avoided a serious situation. Kudos to Morgan and all the folks who helped, and the drivers who hauled large stones for hours. Also, to the Fire Department who did traffic control in the hot sun! The remaining compromised road further north on 215 will be addressed on Monday.

• Friday and Saturday 7/14 & 15: By 8 a.m. this morning, two households that were cut off by the storm damage on Jug Brook Road were able to cross over the chasm of rock and dirt previously left by the storm. Johnny Schmidt from Marshfield led a whole bunch of folks to open a road that looked virtually impossible to fix. The before and after pictures are amazing!

• Main Street water systems repairs are ongoing: the large section of road is compromised in front of Harry's Hardware and Headwaters Restaurant. A contractor will excavate, find and repair a broken waste pipe, and reconnect to the two businesses. The hole will be backfilled, and the road will be temporarily repaired until paving can be scheduled. The same process will be followed north of town near the bridge by the recreation field. A second broken wastewater pipe will be repaired improving service to South Walden Road customers.

Final thoughts: driving around viewing the damage Tuesday morning after the storm was a depressing exercise. The astonishing progress in repairing both main and back roads has been amazing. Our Road Crew, multiple local heavy equipment operators, truck drivers and townspeople and their neighbors have given us great hope for the days to come. God bless you all, and rest tomorrow [Sunday]. Monday, we go back to work to get our town back. - Mike Hogan for the Cabot Selectboard.

Cabot Strong!

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 Main Street Cabot CLOSED - Two Road Updates

Karen Larsen • South Walden Rd, Cabot

Announcement

Main Street Cabot CLOSED; Please Drive with Care– Two Important Notes from our Road Crews and Volunteers:

• The incoming rain will make the verges of newly reconstructed road verges in Cabot VERY soft. Please be extremely careful, we don't want anyone off the edges.
• Main Street in Cabot's Village Center is CLOSED; the rain may further undercut existing damage between Cookson's Garage and Harry's Hardware and we need to put as little stress on that section as possible.

Stay safe and stay in touch,

In Community – Mike, Fred, Skip, RD, Karen

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From the Cabot Select Board:

Hello Neighbors-

President Biden approved Governor Scott's major disaster declaration yesterday (Friday – 7/14). This is great news, but what it also means is that individuals have only 30 days -now 29- to apply for FEMA assistance for housing repair, rental assistance, personal property loss (including vehicles), increased childcare costs, or loss of income. Neighbors, the clock is ticking.

Please do two things if you hope to apply for flood relief funds from FEMA.

• Dial 211, between 8AM-11PM on any day, or visit http://vermont221.org to register. Then,
• Complete an application at http://DistasterAssistance.gov (average completion time 20 minutes)

Despite the enormous progress and positive energy in the Cabot, I know that we are all a bit tired, and engaging with the Federal Bureaucracy may feel complicated. We are here to help.

We will have an application assistance center based at the Cabot Public Library, staffed with volunteers and equipped with computers next week. If you would like to sign up for a spot, or perhaps need someone to call you on the phone next week to talk you through the process, please call RD Eno at 802-563-2486.

Please share this information with your friends and neighbors,

In Community, -Mike, Fred, Skip, RD, Karen

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Many thanks to the Cabot Select Board for keeping us informed and working so hard on all fronts to get Cabot cleaned up and back to normal and for helping to keep our neighbors safe through this particularly difficult event. Their efforts are appreciated, along with all the others who are working long days with excavators, tractors, trucks, picks and shovels, and the many volunteers who are all pitching in to repair the damage of the flood and keep us and our neighbors safe. The community spirit is remarkable and makes all of us very proud.