Rolling up our sleeves, to start. We've got this.

It's estimated that the damage in Littleton is somewhere in the neighborhood of one million dollars, a full tenth of the overall budget. That's painful. Other towns nearby sustained damage as well, like Dalton. There are few ways to get in and out of Dalton now; the roads are gone in large part. The only mention so far of NH Gov. Sununu is that a local man who is running for state office has contacted him, and the assurances were made that the governor will do what he can to support the damage report as we look for FEMA assistance. That pretty much comes to official "thoughts and prayers"-- it's disheartening, but unfortunately, also not surprising. 

But the sun will come out, the humidity will eventually lessen, and the birds keep chirping along. Mother Nature has a hissy fit, then calms down. The damage to us humans is in our infrastructure, homes, businesses, and in our psyches. When will the "next one" happen? Because it will. And I hope we can prepare in some ways to lessen the chance of further damage. 

In Vermont, things are just plain awful. Roads continue to crumble, there are landslides, and entire homes and businesses are washed away or destroyed. Go Fund Me sites are popping up, and people give what they can, but in the meantime, the mud and horror of it all will take a long time to clean up, especially since the damage from the violent storm and flooding from exactly one year ago is still very much in evidence. At least VT's governor is vocally and personally involved in finding a way forward. 

The north country of VT and NH is not economically all that stable on the best days. We manage. We make do. We make dollars stretch as best we can. There're not a lot of businesses here that will carry a bigger portion of the tax load, and when those that are here sustain damage, people lose jobs. An entire apartment building in Plainfield, VT was washed away, for all intents and purposes. It will not be rebuilt, I'm pretty sure. Low income housing, small mom and pop stores, daycares, etc. will not come back from this hit. 

How can we help? Like I said, not too many of us in this area have a ton of expendable cash to donate, though we do as much as we can. It makes my heart happy to see someone like Grace Potter stepping up; she's decided that 100% of the ticket sales from the yearly Grand Points North music festival will be given to flood relief. But we don't have a cadre of important musical stars that come from here. People will hold bake sales and food drives, people will show up with a hot dish and a chain saw. People here help each other with what they have and that is exactly what we need, at least in the short term, especially on the personal level. Folks have lost their cars in flood water that engulfed their driveways, and others have lost their driveways. We'll make it work, and we'll get by. We'll have to; FEMA money is not for personal losses, as I read today in the paper. And there is a damage costs thresh-hold to meet, upwards of just over 2 million dollars, so I hope that we can join small towns together to get a regional designation for damage relief. Even damage done to state property is not counted toward that amount; there's a separate fund for that. So, it looks like neighbor will have to help neighbor, because we might not qualify.

What we have is ourselves, our determination, and our belief in our towns and our friends and neighbors. We may not have a lot financially, but we sure can put our pure pissedness to work. 

Have a good day, and stay safe. 

C