VT Flooding

[slatham]

Buddy snapped this one of the park and ride in Richmond, VT. The Winooski is typically contained beyond the tree line in the distance.

View attachment 58717

Wow drove by that a number of times this spring and it seemed very removed from the river. But a flood plain is a flood plain. Bummer for parkers.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

some friends who live in hardwick are on vacation on the maine coast. they're understandably freaking out not knowing how their house is faring. worst part is they have 2 cats at home really hope the caretaker can get to the cats.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

huge disaster porn compilation here

Video and photos: What the flooding looks like across New England

Vermont experienced the worst flooding, but Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut also had flash floods.

www.boston.com

 

[So Inclined]

Killingtons East Mountain Road, as posted in VTdigger. Check out the person in the background for scale:

View attachment 58705

Geez, that's worse (if possible) than the shots of the roads around Orange County/Storm King/West Point here by me. For weeks I've dawdling over plans to get up to Killington to do some biking soon, and planned to stay at the Turn of River Lodge since it's a favorite cozy little spot of mine. Given its spot along that river valley and seeing (per Google Maps) that Rt 4's shut for miles, I hope it wasn't battered very badly

 

[2Planker]

Buddy snapped this one of the park and ride in Richmond, VT. The Winooski is typically contained beyond the tree line in the distance.

View attachment 58717

Now it's a Park N Paddle

 

[Keelhauled]

The thing is that if the Feds just get out of the way of the locals, like happened in many instances after Irene,, the local contrators will get things safely rebuilt quite quickly. There is a ton of pride behind all of those "VT Strong" stickers that you see on so many Green license plate vehicles and businesses

The federal government paid almost 90% of the repair costs after Irene. The state would never have been able to rebuild so effectively without the promise of federal disaster aid. Neither public road crews nor private contractors work for free and pride doesn't pay any bills. FEMA was then, and will be again now, essential in repairing our infrastructure in a timely manner.

 

[ss20]

The federal government paid almost 90% of the repair costs after Irene. The state would never have been able to rebuild so effectively without the promise of federal disaster aid. Neither public road crews nor private contractors work for free and pride doesn't pay any bills. FEMA was then, and will be again now, essential in repairing our infrastructure in a timely manner.

I think what Dr Jeff is referring to is the "just build it safely and efficiently, don't worry about permits/regulations" mentality after Irene. The whole state was put back together in a matter of weeks after that event because the feds let them bypass any red tape. Had things been properly permitted and oversight given it would've taken 10x the amount of time it took to rebuild after Irene.

 

[machski]

The federal government paid almost 90% of the repair costs after Irene. The state would never have been able to rebuild so effectively without the promise of federal disaster aid. Neither public road crews nor private contractors work for free and pride doesn't pay any bills. FEMA was then, and will be again now, essential in repairing our infrastructure in a timely manner.

Federal disaster has been declared, so federal funding tap is available to the state.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

stratton just sent an email that acknowledges the event, includes a link 'how to help', but otherwise encourages people to come on up for summer fun. yikes.

 

[Keelhauled]

It was a flood, not nuclear warfare...we don't have food or gas shortages or such. No particular reason for people to stay away as long as they realize there will probably still be road closures here and there through the end of the week.

 

[drjeff]

I think what Dr Jeff is referring to is the "just build it safely and efficiently, don't worry about permits/regulations" mentality after Irene. The whole state was put back together in a matter of weeks after that event because the feds let them bypass any red tape. Had things been properly permitted and oversight given it would've taken 10x the amount of time it took to rebuild after Irene.

Yup, that was what I was inferring. Get all the random impact studies about 13 red spot inch worms out of the way and start bringing in the heavy equipment and truck loads of gravel/fill and let the highly skilled local operators do their thing with the main role of the gov't being writing a check

 

[ss20]

It was a flood, not nuclear warfare...we don't have food or gas shortages or such. No particular reason for people to stay away as long as they realize there will probably still be road closures here and there through the end of the week.

NASCAR race in Loudon, NH currently a go. That's 60k people coming up.

 

[Zand]

Loudon isn't even close to anything that flooded.

The bigger question is will the SRX race at Thunder Road go on? ESPN televised race and perhaps the biggest series to ever stop there. But from the sounds of it Barre is almost as fucked as Montpelier so that could be very tough to get people in.

 

[ss20]

Loudon isn't even close to anything that flooded.

The bigger question is will the SRX race at Thunder Road go on? ESPN televised race and perhaps the biggest series to ever stop there. But from the sounds of it Barre is almost as fucked as Montpelier so that could be very tough to get people in.

The track made a statement today. The Governor's cup that was going to be Thursday is cancelled. They are trying for SRX. They said all roads leading to the track are impassable/destroyed. Also the track offices are flooded out. Hopefully they can pull it off. That area doesn't have a lot going for it but Thunder Road is one of the best short tracks in the nation and is a huge economic service industry draw (much bigger than non-racing fans would believe).

 

[ctdubl07]

I have 2 kids at a state run camp at Lake Bomeseen this week. Thankfully area was far less inundated and on land well elevated so all good, just soggy. But it was touch and go emotionally for 48 hrs as they are not allowed cell phones and the operators had limited server access so update emails did not go out until yesterday!!! Apparently the other camp location up north faired worse and they had to shuttle kids out, very scary I'm sure for parents waiting on news.

 

[ctdubl07]

We are also scheduled for a big lacrosse tournament up near Burlington this weekend that last night was confirmed "on".....I told my wife I felt a bit guilty about running up thru the state and seemingly enjoying ourselves while others we pass unseen, are in misery but I guess maybe look at it that the $1Ks we spend over 3 days in "tourist" monies are a good thing.

 

[kbroderick]

Yup, that was what I was inferring. Get all the random impact studies about 13 red spot inch worms out of the way and start bringing in the heavy equipment and truck loads of gravel/fill and let the highly skilled local operators do their thing with the main role of the gov't being writing a check

While I agree in some ways with the sentiment, and I saw firsthand how it worked after Irene, I don't know that we can do that after every big storm if they're happening this frequently.

A lot of those local operators are very skilled machine operators, but they aren't engineers. Given free rein, they'll do things that may work well on a very localized scale but have undesirable impacts elsewhere. A classic and timely example is dredging rivers and armoring banks with riprap--it generally works, at least in the short term, for protecting a short stretch of riverbank, but it also results in more water at higher velocity downstream. Letting the river wander as it would without intervention requires not locating buildings or infrastructure too close but is a more sustainable long-term option.

Relatedly, I'd suggest that East Mountain Road needs some engineering work and not just to be reassembled the way it was, as the photos from last week (from before the big, statewide storm) look very similar to the way it looked after Irene. Yes, it should probably be patched up short-term, but rebuilding it every 10-15 years doesn't seem viable.

 

[kbroderick]

We are also scheduled for a big lacrosse tournament up near Burlington this weekend that last night was confirmed "on".....I told my wife I felt a bit guilty about running up thru the state and seemingly enjoying ourselves while others we pass unseen, are in misery but I guess maybe look at it that the $1Ks we spend over 3 days in "tourist" monies are a good thing.

It's a battle to make the decisions about when you're ready to welcome tourists again; the perspective of the venue owner might be a little different from people living in downtown Richmond. I'd just try to be sensitive and maybe budget a few extra bucks for flood relief donations while you're in town.

 

[VTSkiBike]

The flooding was brutal here in Barre and Montpelier but the water has receeded. I'm at 1100 ft up on a hill so my place was unscathed but tons of homes near the Winooski and other rivers were under 5-6 feet of water until yesterday morning. We got 8 inches of rain in 36 hours; it was insane. I've never seen rain that intense for such a prolonged period. It was crazy yesterday seeing the Blackhawk helicopters rescuing people off roofs throughout the day.

Right now the struggle is clean up and road repair. People are out and about and the main roads are opening back up. Its safe to visit and travel now that 89 is open and road crews are out. Just keep in mind that there are very limited businesses open, hiking/biking/recreation areas are closed and some roads are still blocked off. Don't ignore road closures and end up in a sinkhole.

This is the best place to check up to date road closures: https://newengland511.org/

I'm just patiently waiting for the mountain bike trails to dry out.

 

[mtl1076]

We are also scheduled for a big lacrosse tournament up near Burlington this weekend that last night was confirmed "on".....I told my wife I felt a bit guilty about running up thru the state and seemingly enjoying ourselves while others we pass unseen, are in misery but I guess maybe look at it that the $1Ks we spend over 3 days in "tourist" monies are a good thing.

Luckily the Essex tree farm is not in a low area. Looking forward to the Vermont Classic