I think Miss Irene forgot to bring along her Garmin.
Other than some annoying power outages and, gasp, days without internet, my little town got away relatively unscathed. The river behind my house, usually more what people would call a stream, could have rivaled the mighty Hudson, but other than having to move our boat to higher ground, it didn’t affect us.
Sunday night we were kind of landlocked. No way out of town due to flooding in the roads, but, it receded by Monday morning and left no major damage. Not the same story for neighboring towns and the rest of Vermont.
In the town just five miles away, a handful of families have lost their entire homes. The local car dealership lost 130 cars. Farmers were chasing cows down the river and lost entire crops of corn and hay. Those are just the people I know personally.
Entire towns were cut off when roads gave way. Not back roads, I’m talking major routes. 400 people were stuck on Killington Mountain. The national Guard is still dropping in supplies by helicopter. This is Killington Mountain. The ski resort. Who would have ever thought that a mountain would be affect so badly by a flood from a TROPICAL storm? They lost their entire base lodge.
The towns cut off from everyone pulled together. They opened their thawing freezers and had town wide cookouts. Yesterday, the news said that every town had access now, even if it was only a ATV path, and power had been restored to all but 4,900 customers.
Vermonters pulled together like they always do. Neighbors helping neighbors, digging in and doing what needed to be done with little complaining about things that couldn’t be changed. I love Vermont!
Still all the hardships suffered compares nothing to the lives lost due to Irene, in Vermont and down the East Coast. My heart and prayers go out to their families.
I want to thank all the Author and reader friends that expressed concern. You guys are priceless to me.
I live in Rutland County. Follow this link to see some of the damage.
Below are some pictures from a Facebook page dedicated to Vermont Flooding.
Oh my!! I live just north of Houston, so hurricanes are a given here, but those pics give even me the chills. I hope recovery from this unexpected devastation is swift. Prayer are going out!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Robin. The stories I'm hearing are unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteBeing in California, we see a lot of extremes. Fires, flooring, earthquakes, mudslides, tsunamis, snow storms that stop traffic for days at a time (we have high mountains here!). But these pics are still very daunting and scary. I'm so glad you were safe and sound. It's easy to hear your pride for Vermonters. I bet, with their fabulous attitudes, this will be the fastest clean up from a disaster ever.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting, keeps us realizing how much we need to thank the Big One out there for all we have today.
Heather
Glad you're safe!
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, I've seen similar devastation, altho not quite as severe. It happened when Tropical depressions Frances and Ivan swept up the Ohio Valley.
And I hear that another one is hitting New Orleans and is due to drop 20+ inches of rain this Labor Day Weekend. Most likely it will sweep upward into the Ohio Valley too.
This is the year for crazy weather!
Stay safe, my friend!
Sunday evening, my friend send me a picture of my back yard in Quechee with 15-20 feet of water in it. First I heard of the trouble in VT (she mentioned Rutland). (Luckily, my house is much higher and was not affected.) Both the covered bridges we used to cross town have been closed indefinitely. I hope everything gets repaired quickly, esp. for people marooned in their homes.
ReplyDeleteOh, Heather, I don't know how you guys do it in California. Snow and rain we are used to, but this was crazy. We had a Tornado touch down the week before.
ReplyDeleteMy mom is in Florida with my Grandson untill my daughter gets back from Afghanistan. They are about 4 hours from New Orleans and are preparing for all the rain headed their way. Though how do you prepare for 20+ inches.
You are so right Faith! Laura and I were just discussing the crazy weather we've had the past year. Unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteI've seen lots of pictures of Quechee. They got hit really hard. I also hear the lower end of Brattleboro is just about gone.
ReplyDeleteGlad your house made it through.
Such destruction. My heart goes out to all involved. We were lucky to have only rain and wind.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing the pictures. I hadn't seen much on the news lately. Once Irene went away, the news kind of dropped it. And it's anything but over! My thoughts are with you all.
ReplyDeletePatti
Thanks so much Cassie and Patti!
ReplyDeleteOh my... those are some scary images xx So glad you're alright!
ReplyDeleteAnd what a gorgeous blog you have!
Debbie, I'll make a confession. When I saw where Irene tracked I allocated a moment to wondering if you and yours were safe. I'm glad I have my answer. Your images show me my concern was warranted.
ReplyDeleteIt's always refreshing to hear stories of how people pull together to make the best of what remains after a nature power performance. It's the stuff of communities acting out complex relationships and will always draw a happy tear. It's also a number of fine plots gift-wrapped with a classy ribbon for a skilled writer to craft a compelling story or two. I'm expecting a new novel from you soon. Let me see, I like 'Irene's tail' for a title.
I'm glad your safe and dry ----- regards, Erin
My mom is an elderly widow who lives alone on a dirt road in the woods. She never watches the news or listens to the radio. Her power went out on Monday and she called the power company whose automated system told her it would be three weeks before the power came on. The though that odd, but oh well. An hour later the power came back on. The next morning she had a doctor's appointment. The receptionist asked her what she was doing there. Then the doctor asked, how did you GET here? They figured she must live in a bubble. I figured God was watching out for her. She figured she better start watching the news.
ReplyDeleteI got a chill looking at those photos. I'm glad you and your family are all right.
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