Their Vermont homes were inundated by extreme flooding. A year later, they still struggle to recover

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — A year after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Vermont, Lisa Edson Neveu and her two teenage sons still live in their flood-wracked home despite unrepaired damage that festers like an open wound: torn-out walls and floors, a missing ceiling in one room and a downstairs bathroom that is no more. The family's kitchen was destroyed so they cook meals on an outdoor grill, an electric frying pan or an air fryer.

“The flood was terrible. The water was high. It was rushing off the back hillside. It was dark, it was stormy. All of this was awful but that isn’t the part that’s been really traumatic,” said Neveu, 52. “That part everybody was amazing, neighbors helped neighbors, the community helped each other. The National Guard was incredible. What has been traumatic and just beyond anything I can even explain is how awful the last year has been.”

Since last July's flooding that left the capital city of Montpelier under waist-high water, it's been “a battle with insurance companies, the adjusters, the city, the state and FEMA and the federal government and nothing is in line with anything else,” Neveu said.

A year later, the family is still in limbo as the city determines which homes it can elevate — raise above the flood threat — or buy with funding allocated by the Legislature. But Neveu and her neighbor doubt the city will have enough money to do all the work and say there isn’t a solid plan a year after the flooding.

They are not alone. A number of Vermonters in Montpelier, nearby Barre and elsewhere around the state remain in the throes of the flooding aftermath, waiting to hear whether their homes will be elevated or FEMA will buy them out, a process that could take years.

On Wednesday — the one-year anniversary of last July's flooding — remnants of Hurricane Beryl were moving through the region and Vermont was preparing for flash flooding into Thursday. A tornado watch was also in effect for much of the state.

Urban search and rescue teams and the Vermont National Guard also were staging ahead of the storm in areas of likely impact, according to Vermont Emergency Management. The National Weather Service has said the storm “will not be like last July’s catastrophic flooding but will still pose real dangers where flash flooding occurs,” according to the state.

In May, Vermont became the first state to enact a law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a share of the damage caused by extreme weather fueled by climate change. Republican Gov. Phil Scott allowed the bill to become law without his signature, saying he is very concerned about the costs and outcome of the small state taking on “Big Oil” alone in what will likely be a grueling legal fight. But he acknowledged that he understands something has to be done to address the toll of climate change.

Montpelier Mayor Jack McCullough said the small city is still showing scars from the flooding.

“It's not over for some people who are here,” he said. About a dozen homes were severely damaged.

The city has come back in several ways, he added. Most of the downtown buildings and businesses have reopened and most of the flood victims are back in their homes, he said.

“We are moving forward but it's still going to take more time,” he said.

Mike Miller, the city's planning director, said Neveu's home is at the top of the list to be elevated and if the city does one this year it will be hers unless some unforeseen technical issue arises. Most will likely happen next year, he said.

“Our goal is to save as many housing units as possible,” he said by email.

More than 3,160 homes statewide had enough damage to merit repair assistance from FEMA, according to Douglas Farnham, the state's chief recovery officer. Towns are still doing assessments of severely damaged homes but so far 200 homeowners are interested in buyouts, he said by email.

Ed Haggett, 70, who lived next door to Neveu, is one of them.

“I lived here 47 years,” he said. “It was my retirement. I was a single parent, I raised my daughter. I sunk everything into it, paid it off and I thought I was set but I wasn’t. I lost everything.”

For the past year, Haggett has been living with his daughter and grandchildren and their significant others — seven adults — while he waits for a decision on whether Montpelier or FEMA will buy his severely damaged home. He can’t afford the cost to repair it and plans to get a loan from the Small Business Administration to build an addition onto his daughter’s home. But he said the organization lost his application in January for seven weeks, delaying the process.

Haggett's homeowners’ insurance only paid for part of the damage, he said. For the past year, he’s been sleeping in his daughter’s den. The bureaucratic delays and uncertainty take a toll on people’s health, he said.

“It's extremely, extremely, extremely frustrating,” Haggett said.

McCullough said the city is hoping to have enough funds to get the homes of some of the hardest-hit people elevated or bought out, but wasn't sure when.

In the nearby city of Barre, about 350 residential and commercial structures had some type of damage from last July’s flooding, according to city manager Nicolas Storellicastro. Sixty-two applications — both residential and commercial — have been submitted for buyouts and 10 homes have been identified for elevations, Storellicastro said.

Down the road in Berlin, last July's flooding mangled the mobile home where Sara Morris, her husband, their three kids and his mother were living. For the past year, they've been staying with her mother and husband, and her brother — nine people in a three-bedroom house.

“There’s no space. We’re on top of each other,” she said. “It’s finally starting to get to where we are cracking at each other. We’re snapping, we’re arguing a little bit more.”

She has her children in counseling because of what the family has endured.

“I feel like sometimes I’ve lost kind of my kids a little bit just because of everything we’ve gone through," she said.

Last month they were finally able to buy another mobile home and land, about 3 acres (1.21 hectares) in Middlesex. The home arrives in late August and they expect it will be ready for move-in by mid-September.

“I really wanted to make something better out of what we went through,” Morris said. “And I was determined.”

Neveu lives in a flood zone and had flood insurance but it only paid out half, she said. The house wasn’t damaged by Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 and she never expected the water to reach the first floor last year.

For now, while the house is in disrepair, she and her boys have strung party lights on the walls, mounted a flat-screen TV, and hung up artwork and a beloved chiming clock. They often spend evenings out on the large porch with friends and enjoy watching the wide Winooski River across the street.

The family loves seeing downtown Montpelier being rebuilt and businesses reopen but it also makes them feel left behind, she said.

“It's so bizarrely alienating because we haven’t been able to move forward at all,” Neveu said. “We’re thrilled at any positive movement but it’s really crazy a whole year later there isn’t even a plan. And not because we haven’t tried.”

Lisa Edson Neveu, 52, reads a brochure at her house in Montpelier, Vt., July 3, 2024. A year after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Vermont, some homeowners are still in the throes of recovery. (AP Photo/ Dmitry Belyakov)

Lisa Edson Neveu, 52, works at the main room of her house in Montpelier, Vt., July 3, 2024 that was damaged by the 2023. A year after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Vermont, some homeowners are still in the throes of recovery. (AP Photo/ Dmitry Belyakov)

A view of the living room in the house of Ed Haggett that was damaged by 2023 flood in Montpelier, Vt., July 3, 2024. Haggett is waiting to hear whether the city or the Federal Emergency Management Agency will buy his home. A year after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Vermont, some homeowners are still in the throes of recovery. (AP Photo/ Dmitry Belyakov)

Ed Haggett, 70 poses for a portrait at his house in Montpelier, Vt., July 3, 2024, that was damaged by the 2023 flood. Haggett is waiting to hear whether the city or the Federal Emergency Management Agency will buy his home. A year after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Vermont, some homeowners are still in the throes of recovery.

The Winooski River runs through Montpelier, Vt. in this July 3, 2024 photo. The river has flooded the state's capital in 2023 causing massive damages. A year after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Vermont, some homeowners are still in the throes of recovery. (AP Photo/ Dmitry Belyakov)

A view of the Winooski River that flooded the state's capital of Montpelier, Vermont in 2023, in this July 3 2024 image. A year after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Vermont, some homeowners are still in the throes of recovery. (AP Photo/ Dmitry Belyakov)

A view of the Winooski River that flooded the state's capital of Montpelier, Vermont in 2023, in this July 3, 2024 image. A year after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Vermont, some homeowners are still in the throes of recovery. (AP Photo/ Dmitry Belyakov)

Montpelier residents ride their bikes on State street which was one one of the most damaged parts of the state's capital in result of 2023 flood, July 3, 2024. A year after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Vermont, some homeowners are still in the throes of recovery. (AP Photo/ Dmitry Belyakov)

Main street in Montpelier was one one of the most damaged parts of the state's capital in result of 2023 flood which caused massive damages to the city, July 3 2024. A year after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Vermont, some homeowners are still in the throes of recovery. (AP Photo/ Dmitry Belyakov)

The Winooski River runs through Montpelier, Vt. in this July 3 2024 photo. The river has flooded the state's capital in 2023 causing massive damages. A year after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Vermont, some homeowners are still in the throes of recovery. (AP Photo/ Dmitry Belyakov)

A view of the kitchen in the house of Lisa Edson Neveu that has been damaged by 2023 flood in Montpelier, Vt, July 3, 2024. Lisa hasn't received reasonable compensation from the government for the damages from 2023 flood in the same city and had to cover all reconstruction expenditures from her own savings. (AP Photo/ Dmitry Belyakov)

Montpelier residents sunbathe by the Capitol building beside State street which was one one of the most damaged parts of the state's capital in result of 2023 flood, July 3 2024. A year after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Vermont, some homeowners are still in the throes of recovery. (AP Photo/ Dmitry Belyakov)

Lisa Edson Neveu, 52, works at the main room of her house in Montpelier, Vt., July 3, 2024 that was damaged by the 2023 flood. A year after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Vermont, some homeowners are still in the throes of recovery. (AP Photo/ Dmitry Belyakov)

Ed Haggett, 70 poses for a portrait at his house in Montpelier, Vt., July 3, 2024, that was damaged by the 2023 flood. Haggett is waiting to hear whether the city or the Federal Emergency Management Agency will buy his home. A year after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Vermont, some homeowners are still in the throes of recovery.

Lisa Edson Neveu, 52 holds a brochure of 1927 flood in Montpelier, Vt. in her hands, July 3, 2024. A year after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Vermont, some homeowners are still in the throes of recovery. (AP Photo/ Dmitry Belyakov)

A kid's bike lies beside the shore of the Winooski River which runs through Montpelier, Vt., July 3, 2024. The river has flooded the state's capital in 2023 causing massive damages. A year after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Vermont, some homeowners are still in the throes of recovery. (AP Photo/ Dmitry Belyakov)

Lisa Edson Neveu, 52, works at the main room of her house in Montpelier, Vt., July 3, 2024 that was damaged by the 2023 flood. A year after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Vermont, some homeowners are still in the throes of recovery. (AP Photo/ Dmitry Belyakov)

A view of the Winooski River that flooded the state's capital of Montpelier, Vermont in 2023, in this July 3, 2024 image. A year after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Vermont, some homeowners are still in the throes of recovery. (AP Photo/ Dmitry Belyakov)

Lisa Edson Neveu, 52, cuts flowers in front of her house in Montpelier, Vt., that was damaged by the 2023 flood, July 3, 2024. A year after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Vermont, some homeowners are still in the throes of recovery. AP Photo/ Dmitry Belyakov)

Lisa Edson Neveu, 52, goes through the pictures of 2023 flood while working at the main room of her house in Montpelier, Vt., July 3, 2024 that was damaged by the 2023 flood. A year after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Vermont, some homeowners are still in the throes of recovery. (AP Photo/ Dmitry Belyakov)

A view of the kitchen in the house of Ed Haggett that was damaged by 2023 flood in Montpelier, Vt, July 3, 2024.. Ed hasn't received reasonable compensation from the government and had to cover all reconstruction expenditures from her own savings. (AP Photo/ Dmitry Belyakov)

Lisa Edson-Neveu, 52 poses for a portrait at her house in Montpelier, Vt., July 3, 2024 that was damaged by the 2023 flood. A year after catastrophic flooding inundated parts of Vermont, some homeowners are still in the throes of recovery. (AP Photo/ Dmitry Belyakov)

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen in southwestern Pakistan killed at least 38 people in three separate attacks on Monday, officials said, while the military said security forces killed 21 insurgents, marking one of the deadliest days of violence in the restive Baluchistan province, with reports of other shootings and destruction in the area as well.

Twenty-three people were fatally shot overnight after being taken from buses, vehicles and trucks in Musakhail, a district in Baluchistan, senior police official Ayub Achakzai said. The attackers burned at least 10 vehicles before fleeing.

In a separate attack, gunmen killed at least nine people, including four police officers and five passersby, in Baluchistan's Qalat district, authorities said. The bodies of six people were found in Bolan, where insurgents also blew up a railway track. They also attacked a police station in Mastung and attacked and burned vehicles in Gwadar, all districts in Baluchistan. No casualties were reported in those attacks.

The military said 14 security forces were “martyred” while responding to the attacks. Those appeared to be included in the overall death toll.

“Sanitization operations are being conducted and the instigators, perpetrators, facilitators and abettors of these heinous and cowardly acts, targeting innocent civilians, will be brought to justice,” the military said in a statement.

Baluchistan has been the scene of a long-running insurgency in Pakistan, with an array of separatist groups staging attacks, mainly on security forces. The separatists have been demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. Although Pakistani authorities say they have quelled the insurgency, violence in Baluchistan has persisted.

The attack in Musakhail came hours after the outlawed Baluch Liberation Army separatist group warned people to stay away from highways as they launched attacks on security forces in various parts of the province.

But there there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest killings.

In a statement on Monday, the BLA only said it inflicted heavy losses on security forces in attacks in the province. Pakistan's military and government did not immediately comment on that claim. The group often provides exaggerated figures of troop casualties.

Separatists are known to ask people for their ID cards, and then abduct or kill those who are from outside the province. Many recent victims have come from neighboring Punjab province.

Uzma Bukhari, a spokesperson for the Punjab provincial government, denounced the latest killings on Monday, saying the “attacks are a matter of grave concern” and urging the Baluchistan provincial government to “step up efforts to eliminate BLA terrorists.”

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement that security forces in Baluchistan responded to the latest attacks on Monday, killing 12 insurgents. He said authorities would reveal who was behind the latest attacks after completing an investigation, but noted that “terrorists and their facilitators will have no place to hide” in the country.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Naqvi in separate statements called the attack in Musakhail “barbaric” and vowed that those behind it would not escape justice.

Later, Naqvi also condemned the killings in Qalat

In May, gunmen fatally shot seven barbers in Gwadar, a port city in Baluchistan.

In April, separatists killed nine people after abducting them from a bus on a highway in Baluchistan, and the attackers also killed two people and wounded six in another car they forced to stop. BLA claimed responsibility for those attacks at the time.

Syed Muhammad Ali, an Islamabad-based security analyst, said the latest killings of non-Baluch people are an attempt by separatists to harm the province economically.

Ali told The Associated Press that most such attacks are carried out with the aim of weakening Baluchistan economically, noting that “the weakening of Baluchistan means the weakening of Pakistan.”

He said insurgent attacks could hamper development work being done in the province.

Separatists in Baluchistan have often killed workers and others from the country's eastern Punjab region as part of a campaign to force them to leave the province, which for years has experienced a low-level insurgency.

Most such previous killings have been blamed on the outlawed group and others demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. The Pakistani Taliban also have a presence in the province, and they are closely connected to the BLA.

In a separate attack on Monday in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a roadside bomb killed four people and wounded 12 others in North Waziristan district, said local administration official Abid Khan.

The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, is a separate group but allied with the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.

Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Asim Tanveer in Multan, Pakistan, and Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

Relatives gather around a body of a passenger, killed by gunmen at a highway in Musakhail, as they wait for transportation at a hospital, in Quetta, Pakistan, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

Relatives stand around a body of a passenger, who was killed by gunmen at a highway in Musakhail, and wait for transportation at a hospital, in Quetta, Pakistan, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

Volunteers and relatives load the body of a passenger, who was killed by gunmen at a highway in Musakhail, into a vehicle after collecting it from a hospital, in Quetta, Pakistan, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

Relatives take care of a passenger, wounded by gunmen at a highway in Musakhail, after receiving initial treatment at a hospital, in Quetta, Pakistan, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

Relatives look at the body of passenger, killed by gunmen at a highway in Musakhail, inside an ambulance after collecting it from a hospital, in Quetta, Pakistan, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

A man comforts another, who mourns over the death of his family member, killed by gunmen at a highway in Musakhail, at a hospital, in Quetta, Pakistan, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

Volunteers and relatives load the body of a passenger, who was killed by gunmen at a highway in Musakhail, into an ambulance after collecting it from a hospital, in Quetta, Pakistan, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

People look at a burnt vehicle which was torched by gunmen after they killed passengers at a highway in Musakhail, a district in Baluchistan province in restive southwestern Pakistan, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Rahmat Khan)

People look burnt vehicles, torched by gunmen after killing passengers, at a highway in Musakhail, a district in Baluchistan province in southwestern Pakistan, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Rahmat Khan)