LUDLOW, Vt. — As flood waters rose throughout Vermont during torrential rains in July, at least one Catholic parish opened its facilities for people who needed a place to wait out the flooding and make post-flood plans.
In Ludlow, Father Thomas Mosher, pastor of Annunciation Parish, opened the parish hall and parking lot to people who needed a place to stay the night of July 10.
About a dozen people slept in the parish hall, where a parishioner furnished a hot meal. Others parked their campers and stayed in the parking lot where still others found a safe place to leave their cars. “We’re on higher ground,” the pastor said.
“Word went out through the community, and people heard they could come,” Father Mosher told Vermont Catholic, Burlington’s diocesan publication. “Really, there was nowhere else to go.”
The community center, designated for such an emergency, had been flooded. “It’s one of the corporal works of mercy — shelter the homeless,” the pastor said, adding that people were not necessarily homeless but had to be evacuated from their homes because of the flooding.
An updated survey of damage to church property in the statewide Burlington Diocese indicated several churches and rectories had water in the basement. There also were three properties with ceiling damage, and one church with minor exterior damage. The athletic fields of Mount St. Joseph Academy in Rutland were flooded. This information was provided by Peter Beauregard, director of properties for the Diocese of Burlington.
Parts of one of Vermont’s main highways, Interstate 89, were closed in both directions July 10. President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in Vermont July 11.
Vermont Emergency Management warned the same day that dangers from flooding were not over and urged people to continue to use caution, noting that floodwaters might contain downed power lines, human and livestock waste, hazardous waste, physical objects and debris, and wild or stray animals.
Across the Connecticut River in New Hampshire, southwestern towns of Winchester and Swanzey were hard hit by floodwaters that eroded roads and overflowed a dam. Father Alan Tremblay, pastor of Parish of the Holy Spirit, which includes the affected towns, said July 11 that no requests for aid had yet been made, “but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.”
In Vermont, Vermont Catholic Charities Inc. has an emergency assistance fund.
Close to 10 inches of rain fell July 10 in New York’s Hudson Valley, which news reports said is the amount that usually falls throughout the three months of summer.