Red Cross Helping as Vermont Begins Flood Clean-up

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In Essex, Vermont, floodwaters cut off a roadway. Torrential rains are causing catastrophic flooding across the region.

Multiple shelters are open across the region, and Red Cross disaster teams are helping assess the damage

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A baseball field in Waterbury, Vermont is inundated with water. Multiple shelters are open across the region, and Red Cross disaster teams are helping assess the damage and working with officials to determine what other support is needed.

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Floodwaters engulf this area of Richmond, Vermont. The danger isn’t over ─ more rain is headed to the area this week.

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Red Crosser Sophie Picconi comforts Justine and Zea Macris of Barre, Vermont. She met them as they were shoveling mud from their home. Oil was leaking from their furnace and there was standing water and sewage in their home. They tearfully shared that they had not eaten in three days. Picconi explained that the Red Cross shelter - and help - was just a few miles away. She urged them to take a break and head to the shelter to get something to eat, which they did.

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Floodwaters are going down in Barre, Vermont, leaving behind a sea of mud.

July 19, 2023

People in Vermont are hard at work cleaning up after last week’s catastrophic flooding and the American Red Cross is with them, working around the clock to provide safe shelter, food, emergency relief supplies and more to those in need.

RED CROSS RESPONSE More than 200 Red Cross disaster workers from across the country are helping in Vermont.

Since shelters were opened for this disaster, the Red Cross and our partners have provided more than 600 overnight stays for almost 190 residents in 4 emergency shelters. With the help of partners, a total of more than 10,650 meals and snacks have been provided. To date, almost 12,000 relief items including comfort kits and other supplies have been provided to people in need and more than 1,000 total households have been served.

Each day the Red Cross is getting into more and more towns, assessing damage and handing out relief supplies. We will reach more neighborhoods every day as roads become passable. Wastewater treatment facilities have been flooded in some areas, leaving many residents without clean drinking water. Thus, Red Cross emergency vehicles are traveling through the region to provide water and meals to residents who are working on their homes. On these routes, residents are not only receiving the comfort of a meal but also receiving clean-up kits, buckets and gloves to assist in their recovery.

Red Cross disaster teams, working with our partners, have opened multi-agency resource centers (MARC) across the affected area where people can learn about what services and programs are available from different agencies, get a meal, pick up relief supplies or receive emotional support.

If you or a loved one needs help, reach out through the Disaster Distress Helpline for free 24/7 support by calling 1-800-985-5990 or texting TALKWITHUS to 66746.

YOU CAN HELP people affected by disasters like flooding and countless other crises by making a gift to Red Cross Disaster Relief. Your gift enables the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters big and small. Visit redcross.org, call 800-RED-CROSS (800-733-2767), or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

For those interested in helping people specifically affected by the Vermont Floods, we ask that they write “Vermont Floods” in the memo line of a check and mail it with a completed donation form to the address on the form or to their local Red Cross chapter.

CLIMATE CRISIS The climate crisis is driving extreme weather conditions across the country with the ongoing flooding in the Northeast and extreme heat in the south. Some experts say with the arrival of El Niño in the Pacific Ocean, the situation may get worse. As these extreme weather disasters increase, more people need help from the Red Cross. Find out more about the Red Cross and its work on the climate crisis here.

DOWNLOAD OUR APPS Download the free Red Cross First Aid app so you’ll know what to do if emergency help is delayed and the free Emergency app for weather alerts, open Red Cross shelter locations and safety steps for different emergencies. Choose whether you want to view the content in English or Spanish with an easy-to-find language selector. Find these and all of the Red Cross apps in smartphone app stores by searching for the American Red Cross or going to redcross.org/apps.

Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) Through the generosity of our American Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) and Disaster Responder members, the American Red Cross is prepared before disaster strikes. ADGP and Disaster Responder members help secure a reliable funding base for disaster relief services that enables the Red Cross to respond immediately, meeting the needs of individuals and families affected by disaster, regardless of cost.

ADGP $1M Members: Amazon; American Airlines; Anheuser-Busch Foundation; Bank of America; Best Buy; Build-A-Bear Foundation; Caterpillar Foundation; Costco Wholesale; Delta Air Lines; Elevance Health Foundation; Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation; FedEx; Lilly Endowment Inc.; Lowe's Companies, Inc.; McDonald’s Corporation; Microsoft Corp.; Nationwide Foundation; PayPal; PetSmart Charities; The Pfizer Foundation; The Starbucks Foundation; State Farm; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited; Truist Foundation; VSP Vision; Walmart and the Walmart Foundation; and Wells Fargo.

ADGP $500K Members: Altria Group; American Express; Aon; Bread Financial; Capital One; CarMax; Citi Foundation; The Clorox Company; Danaher Foundation; Darden Foundation; Delta Dental; Dollar General; Edison International; Energy Transfer/Sunoco Foundation; Ford Motor Company Fund; Fox Corporation; General Motors; Google.org The Home Depot Foundation; International Paper; The J.M. Smucker Company; Johnson Controls Foundation; Kaiser Permanente; The Kraft Heinz Company Foundation; The Kroger Co. Foundation; Liberty Mutual Insurance; Lockheed Martin Corporation; Mastercard; Merck; Mondelēz International Foundation; New Balance Foundation; PepsiCo Foundation; Salesforce; Southeastern Grocers Gives Foundation & Southeastern Grocers, home of Fresco y Más, Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie; Target; The TJX Companies, Inc.; Toyota; United Airlines; UPS; USAA; Visa Foundation; The Walt Disney Company; and The Wawa Foundation.

ADGP $250K Members: 7-Eleven Cares Foundation; Adobe; The AES Corporation; Ameriprise Financial; Assurant; AT&T; AvalonBay Communities, Inc.; Avangrid Foundation; Barclays; Big 5 Sporting Goods; Build-A-Bear Foundation; CDW; Choice Hotels International; Cisco Foundation; CNA Insurance; The Coca-Cola Foundation; DHL Supply Chain; The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation; Discover; Duke Energy; Dutch Bros Foundation; Equitable; FirstEnergy Corporation; Harbor Freight Tools Foundation, LLC; HCA Healthcare; Hewlett Packard Enterprise Foundation; HP Foundation; Kimberly-Clark Corporation; The Labcorp Charitable Foundation; Lenovo Foundation; LHC Group; LKQ; Macy’s, Inc.; Major League Baseball; Marathon Petroleum Foundation, Inc.; Martin Marietta; Mattress Firm; McKesson Foundation; MetLife Foundation; The Middleby Corporation; Neiman Marcus Group; NextEra Energy, Inc.; Northrop Grumman; Northwestern Mutual; Old Dominion Freight Line; Organon; Pacific Life Foundation; Procter & Gamble; Prudential; Raytheon Technologies; Reckitt; Rodan + Fields Prescription for Change Project, a project of New Venture Fund; Ross Stores Foundation; Ryder System, Inc.; Santander; Security Finance’s Lending Hand Foundation; ServiceNow; Stanley Black & Decker; Southwest Airlines; Tata Consultancy Services; U-Haul International; U.S. Bank Foundation; and Zurich.

About the American Red Cross:

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides comfort to victims of disasters; supplies about 40% of the nation’s blood; teaches skills that save lives; distributes international humanitarian aid; and supports veterans, military members and their families. The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to deliver its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or CruzRojaAmericana.org, or follow us on social media.