From disaster to hope: A Vermont family thankful for community support after flood destroyed home

PEACHAM, Vt. (AP) — The last thing John and Jenny Mackenzie saw as they fled their Vermont home with their daughters, dog and two guinea pigs last summer was their cars upended and propelled away by rushing flood waters.

Minutes earlier they had abandoned their 19th-century wood-frame house as the remnants of Hurricane Beryl turned it into an island engulfed by surging flood waters, with trees slamming into it and water gushing at colossal speed into the basement and first floor.

“It was just like it was a horror movie at that point,” John Mackenzie said of the surreal scene on that July 10 night.

“We lost both of our vehicles, our home and our barn and at least half of our possessions,” Jenny Mackenzie said.

Since that terrifying storm when two people died swept away in vehicles, the Mackenzies, both teachers, and their twin daughters have been living temporarily in a friend's house. They have scrambled to figure out something permanent, a daunting task in a state with a housing shortage and when government programs to buy out flood-destroyed homes can take a year or more and are not guaranteed.

But four months after the devastating loss, the family is writing a new chapter.

Donations from friends, family and others in their community have helped the Mackenzies find a new house in time for Thanksgiving, giving them hope amid ongoing challenges. The Associated Press is following them through their recovery.

The Mackenzies quickly learned how much support they had.

Two days after the storm, dozens of volunteers showed up to help salvage what they could. Floodwaters had reduced the lawn to a muddy chasm; their septic system was destroyed.

In the rain, volunteers carried furniture and other belongings across a gulch to waiting all-terrain vehicles, which drove them on dirt roads to the village where the family is staying.

Friends set up an online fundraising page that has raised over $160,000. Over 950 donations have come in, some from former students, ranging from $5 to $10,000.

“It’s unbelievable the way that we were supported and we’ve been trying to find ways to communicate that gratitude,” said John Mackenzie, 49.

The donations allowed them to buy used vehicles, keep teaching and carry on with life, his 50-year-old wife said. As much as the money, it means a lot that people were thinking about them, she said.

“It doesn’t make them whole, all of the damage that they experienced, but yes that’s an amazing amount and I think it speaks to the community that’s around them and how well loved they are,” said Cara Robechek, who helped start the fundraising effort.

“They’re both teachers. They are sort of deeply embedded in a lot of communities.”

The Mackenzies owned their two-story house, built in 1840 with clapboard siding painted sage green, for 21 years. They raised their 16-year-old daughters, Lila and Kate, there.

“We’re already aware that for us losing the home after 21 years is huge but this is the only home they ever knew,” John Mackenzie said of their girls. “We want to recreate a new home.”

The Mackenzies applied for a buyout and wanted to stay in Peacham, but housing costs in the town of 700 have soared and are out of reach, they said.

As of this fall, about 250 households have applied for buyouts, most both federally and state funded, from the severe flooding in early July and later that month that hit parts of central and northern Vermont, according to the state.

Once a buyout application is complete, it can sit in review with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for up to a year, said Stephanie Smith, the state hazard mitigation officer with Vermont Emergency Management.

The Mackenzies got another setback last week when they learned their property may not be eligible for a FEMA buyout, although Smith said Monday the state is working to make it eligible. The Mackenzies have to provide more detailed information, including receipts from repair work done after a previous flood. But they lost much of that paperwork in this summer's storm, Jenny Mackenzie said.

If FEMA funding falls through, Smith said the state will review the Mackenzies' case for a state buyout program early next year.

“The reality is that we won’t be able to afford to stay in this house that we’ve bought unless that buyout goes through,” Jenny Mackenzie said.

The flooding came exactly a year after catastrophic floods hit areas of rural, mountainous Vermont, including the capital, Montpelier. Some northern communities were pummeled twice by the severe flash flooding this July.

Experts say Vermont could see more frequent catastrophic events like these, with climate change fueling stronger storms and striking Vermont villages situated along the Green Mountains' rivers and streams.

Unable to find an affordable house in Peacham, the Mackenzies made the difficult decision to look elsewhere. In late September, they put down an offer on a house in Craftsbury, about 30 miles away. The commute to St. Johnsbury Academy where they both teach English and their daughters go to school is about 50 minutes compared to the 20 minutes they used to drive. They plan to move in mid-winter.

The white clapboard farmhouse with a red door — also built in 1840 — reminds them of their Peacham home.

After the sale closed, Jenny Mackenzie bought a trowel — “I didn't have one anymore,” she said — and planted about 100 daffodils that a friend rescued from the family's flooded house. Another friend gave her more. Jenny Mackenzie usually plants 500 a year.

“It felt good to get in a few because that will really make us feel like home," she said as their German shorthaired pointer, Hester, ran around her new grounds.

A friend is reupholstering their flood-damaged rocking chairs and couch. The family's antique piano, built in 1895, could not be saved; it's the only thing remaining at the old house.

The Mackenzies would not be where they are without the financial and other support of friends and family.

“There’s no way we could have done that prior to a buyout," Jenny Mackenzie said of paying off the mortgage on the old house, as well as a government loan from previous flood damage, and then buying a new house. “Even now it’s financially precarious.”

The family has learned through this experience to open themselves up to everything — to suggestions about where they might relocate, to kindness, to community, John Mackenzie said.

There were moments, initially, when it was hard to accept that kind of generosity and the loss of some privacy around money, he said. But it’s helped to know he would donate if there were another family in need, and he and his wife are incredibly grateful.

“It’s kind of completely broke us open,” he said.

The Mackenzies, from left to right, Lila, Jenny, John, Kate and their dog Hester pose in front of their new house in Craftsbury, Vt. on Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)

The Mackenzie family's flooded-destroyed cars are shown in Peacham, Vt. on July 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)

The Mackenzie family's flood-ravaged cars are shown on July 12, 2024, in Peacham, Vt., after severe flooding destroyed their home and vehicles. (Courtesy of Cornelia Hasenfuss via AP)

The flood-damaged property of John and Jenny Mackenzie is shown on July 11, 2024 in Peacham, Vt. (Courtesy of Susan Dunklee via AP)

John, left, Jenny and Lila, right, Mackenzie walk around their flood-damaged property in Peachman, Vt. on Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitri Beliakov)

The flood-damaged property of John and Jenny Mackenzie is shown on Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitri Beliakov)

The bathroom in the flood-damaged home of John and Jenny Mackenzie is shown on Sept. 23, 2024 in Peacham, Vt. (AP Photo/Dmitri Beliakov)

The kitchen in the flood-damaged home of John and Jenny Mackenzie is shown on Sept. 23, 2024 in Peacham, Vt. (AP Photo/Dmitri Beliakov)

Lila, left, John and Jenny Mackenzie pose for a photo in their flood-damaged house in Peacham, Vt. on Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitri Beliakov)

Jenny Mackenzie stands outside her flood-ravaged house in Peacham, Vt. on Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitri Beliakov)

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mixed Thursday in Asia after stocks on Wall Street retreated, weighed down by losses for technology shares.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index gained 0.7% to 38,400.00 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.8% to 8,473.30.

South Korea's Kospi was unchanged at 2,503.01 after the central bank cut its benchmark interest rate to relieve pressure on the economy.

The Bank of Korea cut its key rate by a quarter percentage point to 3% and lowered its outlook for the country’s economic growth from to 2.2% from 2.4% for this year and to 1.9% from 2.1% for 2025.

Chinese shares fell as investors sold to lock in profits from recent gains.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 1.3% to 19,344.07 and the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.3% to 3,299.87.

U.S. markets will be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving, and will reopen for a half day on Friday.

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.4% to 5,998.74, even though more stocks in the index notched gains than ended lower. The loss snapped a seven-day winning streak for the benchmark index.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%, its first loss after five gains, to 44,722.06. The Dow and S&P 500 remain near the all-time highs they set on Tuesday.

The Nasdaq composite, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, fell 0.6% to 19,060.48.

Losses for tech heavyweights like Nvidia, Microsoft and Broadcom were the drag on the market. Semiconductor giant Nvidia fell 1.2%. Its huge value gives it outsized influence on market indexes. Microsoft fell 1.2% and Broadcom finished 3.1% lower.

Several personal computer makers also helped pull the market lower following their latest earnings reports.

HP sank 11.4% after giving investors a weaker-than-expected earnings forecast for its current quarter. Dell slid 12.2% after its latest quarterly revenue fell short of Wall Street forecasts.

Gains for financial and health care companies helped temper the market's losses. Berkshire Hathaway rose 0.9% and Merck & Co. added 1.5%.

The Commerce Department reported that the U.S. economy expanded at a healthy 2.8% annual pace from July through September, leaving its initial estimate unchanged. The growth was driven by strong consumer spending and a surge in exports.

Consumers have been driving economic growth, but the latest round of earnings reports from retailers shows a mixed and more cautious picture.

Department store operator Nordstrom fell 8.1% after warning investors about a trend toward weakening sales that started in late October. Clothing retailer Urban Outfitters jumped 18.3% after beating analysts’ third-quarter financial forecasts.

Consumers are feeling the pinch of higher prices: The government's personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE, rose to 2.3% in October from 2.1% in September.

Overall, inflation has been falling broadly since it peaked more than two years ago. The PCE, which is the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, was just below 7.3% in June of 2022. Another measure of inflation, the consumer price index, peaked at 9.1% at the same time.

The latest data suggest the decline in inflation is stalling as it nears the Fed's target of 2%. The central bank started raising its benchmark interest rate from near-zero in early 2022 to a two-decade high by the middle of 2023 and held it there until it began cutting it in September. A second cut followed in November.

Wall Street expects a similar quarter-point cut at the central bank's upcoming meeting in December, but President-elect Donald Trump has said he plans to impose sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China when he takes office in January. That could raise prices on many products, raising inflation and prompting the Fed to rethink future cuts to interest rates.

In other dealings early Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 15 cents to $68.57 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, also shed 15 cents to $72.15 per barrel.

The dollar rose to 151.56 Japanese yen from 151.12 yen. The euro fell to $1.0555 from $1.0567.

AP Business Writers Damian J. Troise and Alex Veiga contributed.

A sign marking the intersection of Wall Street and South Street is shown in New York's Financial District on Tuesday, Nov. 26 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

People walk past an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 stock index at a securities firm, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024 in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

A man walks past an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 stock index at a securities firm, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024 in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

People walk past an electronic stock board showing Japan's stock prices Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024 in Tokyo.(AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)