Vermont’s Heritage Family Credit Union reopened three of its closed branches Tuesday but the $270 million Rutland CU may be without its head of human resources for several days.
That’s because Barbara Begin, vice president, “is stranded in one of the many small Vermont towns hit hard by the damaged and blocked roadways” left behind by Hurricane Irene, said her boss, Matt Levandowski, the 30,000-member credit union’s executive vice president.
Begin has been told routes out of her hometown Bethel will be out of service “for about a week,” said Levandowski.
Meanwhile, the 30,000-member Heritage managed to reopen three of its shuttered branches in Ludlow, Brandon and Londonderry. They had been without power but sustained no structural damage beyond “lots of sludge in the parking lots,” said Levandowski.
Meanwhile, despite the widespread destruction in river towns and power and telecommunication outages, the Credit Union Association of Vermont said it was unaware of any further CU damage.
Separately, CUNA Mutual Group in Madison, Wis., said as of late Monday it had received no reports of any major CU losses from Hurricane Irene’s march across the Mid-Atlantic states and New England.
“This doesn't mean credit unions were left untouched, as many are still without power and may be for several days,” said a spokesman. “However, based on what we currently know, we do not anticipate any major losses to credit union structures or operations. What we will likely see over the next few days are minor losses involving water damage to ATMs, power outage claims involving data processing systems, and minor building claims.”
