Cleanup after the 2023 flood. Photo by Sustainable Woodstock.
Sustainable Woodstock has been working to address flooding at Riverside Mobile Home Park since Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. Following the 2023 flood–which impacted 11 homes at the park–we partnered with dedicated volunteers from The HUB to investigate long-term solutions. We began trying to answer the question of what could be done to make Riverside residents safer from future flooding.
We’ve been working to answer this question through a number of avenues, including a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant. In December 2025, Sustainable Woodstock was awarded a $200,000 Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) planning grant. The grant will fund an engineering study to evaluate strategies that could lower flood heights at the park. We have selected SLR Consulting to do the engineering analysis part of this work. They will complete 2-D hydraulic modeling over two miles of the Ottauquechee River, from Mill Road bridge downstream through the Riverside neighborhood upstream to Lincoln Covered Bridge. This modeling will show how the flow of the river interacts with the topography of the floodplain. SLR engineers will also be out on the river to do field surveys and collect data. As a final product, they will model up to 5 alternatives to reduce flooding at Riverside.
We don’t yet know what SLR will recommend to reduce flooding at Riverside, but we do know from an earlier study that the solution could involve relocating some mobile homes off-site. Because of this potential, the grant will also fund a real estate and civil engineering study. The real estate study will identify up to 10 potential relocation sites for 8-12 mobile homes in the Woodstock area, considering factors like proximity to public water and sewer, local zoning, wetlands, and ease of access. A grant-funded civil engineering study will then take three of the locations identified by the real estate study and evaluate them as potential sites for mobile homes. The grant only funds planning and not the implementation of any strategies from these studies.
The work funded by this CDBG-DR grant will happen this summer. In the meantime, Sustainable Woodstock is working with The HUB, Upper Valley Medical Reserve Corps Co-Facilitator Misha McNabb, Community Care Coordinator Carla Kamel, and residents of Riverside Mobile Home Park to host events focused on flood preparedness and resilience at Riverside. In June, we will host a meeting with Woodstock’s Assistant Fire Chief & EMS Coordinator, Rodney Kenyon, at the park. Residents will have the opportunity to ask the Assistant Chief questions, share concerns, and hear from the Town. Sustainable Woodstock and partners will distribute an emergency plan that has information specific to Riverside.
In August we will host an emergency preparation training at the park with Upper Valley Medical Reserve Corps Co-Facilitator Misha McNabb. We will distribute emergency “go bags,” each with: 1 Dry bag, 1 Tick Removal kit, 1 Flashlight, 1 Glow stick, 1 Emergency Blanket, and 1 Quick reference guide on personal emergency preparedness. We have also received funding to include a NOAA weather radio in this kit, as many residents do not have cell phones or computers that will otherwise alert them to emergencies. This community outreach at Riverside is supported by grants from AARP, the Block Foundation, and Vermont Community Foundation.
By pairing long-term flood planning through grant work this summer, along with immediate preparedness measures, we hope that residents are not only informed about potential future changes but also equipped to respond to emergencies today.