'She was the rock': Vermont native praised for help she coordinated after Montpelier flood

As the floodwaters rose in Vermont’s capital city on July 10, Katie Trautz had an assignment. Montpelier’s leaders asked the executive director of the nonprofit organization Montpelier Alive to coordinate volunteers and serve as a liaison between city government and downtown businesses.

The Cabot native’s first job was to canvass downtown businesses on foot, stopping in every storefront she could to urge shop owners and restaurant staff to move their inventory off the floor to a higher point within the building. As the organization’s only full-time employee, Trautz wished she could have had a bigger team to help her, but made the rounds as thoroughly as she could.

“It just became clear,” she said, “that this was a much more massive event than we might have thought.”

That was the first time business owners saw Trautz in relation to the Winooski River flooding that would devastate much of downtown Montpelier. It was certainly not the last time. In the days, weeks and months as destruction gradually gave way to recovery, Trautz was the lifeline between business owners and the resources they needed − somewhat literally and definitely figuratively – to stay afloat.

[Click here for full article in The Burlington Free Press: https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/2023/12/31/montpelier-flood-recovery-organizer-iron-demeanor/72002704007/?fbclid=IwAR3W40r8Ysu9eAM1zUhydeB0zUUnm2JulWECyVQ9UmaDLa2zQD67keUc2nA]