On July 10 and 11, 2024, the village of Plainfield was hit hard by flooding that washed out roads, bridges, houses and apartments, the second major flooding event in as many years. After a deluge of rain, the Great Brook was raging with trees and rocks when it demolished the Mill Street Bridge and two-thirds of a historic apartment building that locals call the “Heartbreak Hotel.” Five cats died, and 12 residents were displaced. Images of the remnants of the battered building were seen around the globe in the news coverage that followed.
That year, Seven Days senior multimedia producer Eva Sollberger met some of the residents recovering from the disaster. This month, she returned for an update. Between the 2023 and 2024 floods, 39 housing units were damaged or destroyed, and about 40 residents were displaced. The owners of 28 properties have applied for buyouts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but only three — all from the 2023 flooding — have been approved.
None of the empty structures has been demolished yet, and what is left of the Heartbreak still hangs precariously over the Great Brook, with one ripped-off wall and exposed rooms. Beside it is a temporary Mill Street bridge; community members recently paid to remove the remnants of the old bridge, along with piles of debris. Mountains of garbage and silt were taken away months ago. Many residents are still living in their flood-damaged homes, awaiting FEMA buyouts; some have left town for good.
Arion Thiboumery owns what is left of the Heartbreak, which was built in the 1880s. After experiencing multiple floods, he is hoping for a FEMA buyout so the building can be demolished and turned into green space. Thiboumery is part of the Plainfield Community Development Corporation, which is building the East Village Expansion on 23.8 acres of land adjacent to the village, 40 to 50 feet above the floodplain. The nonprofit development group has obtained $5.2 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and plans to build 20 homes there. Fourteen of them will be affordable. Housing was scarce in Plainfield before the floods, and displaced residents have had difficulty finding housing in the area.
Eli Barlow lived in the Heartbreak for four years before losing everything when his apartment was washed away. He was able to rent a place in Plainfield for the past two years and worked with the East Village Expansion project to provide more housing. This became a contentious local issue and last year Plainfield residents voted against a $600,00 bond to purchase the land. Despite this, the project is moving forward and Barlow recently relocated to Montpelier.
Across the road from the Heartbreak, the bright-orange home of Jenni Belotserkovsky and Jim Gerstman sits empty. After living in it for 16 years and raising their children there, the family left in 2024 after enduring multiple floods. They spent a year renting and purchased a home in nearby Marshfield in 2025. They now own two houses; the one sitting on the banks of the Great Brook is uninhabitable. The couple were denied a FEMA buyout in 2023, and they are waiting to see if their new application will be accepted. They say it is bittersweet to visit their former home, but they hope it will be knocked down and become part of the floodplain.
Lauren Geiger and Peter Young live across the river on Hudson Avenue. Their brick house was built higher to withstand floods, but the 2024 disaster nevertheless filled their basement with water and sediment and took out their propane boiler, electrical panel and Tesla batteries. The couple still live in their home but are always nervous when storms brew and the water rises. They are unsure if they will accept a FEMA buyout.
Susan Grimaldi lived in a white clapboard house on Brook Road for 46 years, raised two kids there and experienced six floods. The 2024 disaster was by far the worst one, her home was surrounded by water — she lost her backyard, retaining wall, pantry, upper balcony and deck. Grimaldi tried to spend a winter in her battered house but moved after discovering mold. After seven moves in the last year, she is hoping for a FEMA buyout to fund the new house she is building in Marlboro, near her family. Grimaldi said she is sad to leave the community that she has called home since she was 19 years old.
Until recently, Michael Cerulli Billingsley was the emergency management director for Plainfield, a role that kept him very busy. His home was also damaged in the flooding, but he did not apply for a FEMA buyout. Cerulli Billingsley is planning a town-wide celebration of Bread & Puppet’s Plainfield Years from July 10 through 12, hoping to bring the community together.
This episode of “Stuck in Vermont” was supported by the Vermont Community Foundation.
The post Stuck in Vermont: Revisiting Plainfield, Two Years After a Devastating Flood appeared first on Seven Days.