Tropical Storm Irene hit Vermont on Sunday, August 28th, 2011. Vermont Standard and the Vermont FolkLife Center got together to record stories of residents who were involved and affected by the storm.

Thank you to Jill Davies, Susan Mordecai, Helen and Dave Clark, Patrick Crowl, Meg Seely, Steve Finer and Tom Morse for sharing your stories.

Photo by Robert Crean
This temporary bridge is coming along, north of Barnard. It’s built from the back and pushed out over the brook.

By Molly Koch
Special To The Standard
KILLINGTON – After Hurricane Irene devastated Killington with flooding and severe road damages to each way out of town, the town received the nickname “Killington Island.”
Challenges of life on this new “island” varied depending on where people lived. Asa Waterworth, a WUHS junior and Olivia Merrill, a WUHS Alumni (Class of ‘11), commonly shared struggles for road access as they were trying to either return to Killington, or leave the area.
Waterworth needed to get to the airport to head off for a semester abroad in France.
“Pittsfield was hit pretty badly, and I had to leave for France so that was sort of a tough  adventure,” Waterworth said. “Bridges on both sides of Pittsfield were completely gone, but they say that after the rain stopped a whole bunch of Pittsfield guys borrowed each other’s excavators, dug it out and made a temporary bridge, so without that I wouldn’t have been able to get by. I don’t think the trail [Journey’s End / Helvi Hill trail to travel between Mendon & Rutland] had been set up at that time actually. We just walked along the really skinny bits of road that were left. We met two photographers/interviewers on the way too; obviously we looked funny with me carrying my huge suitcase and my mom wearing hospital scrubs because they had blocked the road, so she thought they’d help her get through.”
Olivia Merrill’s journey was not so easy, however. On the day of the storm, she found herself stuck at work in Rutland as her only direct way home was completely destroyed by the rushing waters. With the clock ticking, she had only a few days left to get home and leave for college, but the damage to Route 4 in Mendon left her stranded.
Merrill explained further, “I stayed with a co-worker. The next morning I searched for a way home, but Killington was then an unreachable island. My boyfriend lived in Brownsville; what normally should have taken just an hour and a half to drive took me four hours. I had to go all the way up to Burlington and down I-89 to even get there. As I patiently waited for more news on the roads, I started freaking because I had only four days until I needed to get to college. I called my school, and they encouraged me to come to orientation with what I had because they didn’t want me to have to make that up as well. Finally, on Wednesday I found out that there would be certain times I could go to and from Killington, so not wasting any time I left early on Thursday so I could be home to leave for school. I just barely made it to pack my stuff and leave the very next day. I never realized how devastating such a storm could be,” she said, adding, “Even though this was terrible, it is truly amazing to see our community come together to rebuild our towns.”
While Merrill was taking her extensive detour home, Grania VanHerwarde, also a Killington native and an alumni of WUHS Class of ‘11, was already settled in her college dorm when she heard what happened to her hometown.
“I was freaking out here in my dorm about everyone there, and the phones were down so I couldn’t talk to my parents for a bit, which was kind of scary,” VanHerwarde said.  “The washout in Mendon was on the front page of the New York Times and I ran around being like, ‘This is my town! Ahh!’”
Brielle Finer, a sophomore, is a Killington resident who was out of town when the flooding happened near her home.
“The house across the road from the white church (Our Lady of the Mountains) near River Road on Route 4 is completely gone because a river formed from all of the flooding. [The house was a federally-owned residence for sale; no one was living in it.] There isn’t even a foundation left from the house, it is entirely gone. Also, the bridge on my driveway that leads to my house was totally under water yet incredibly enough it didn’t collapse, but when the water receded there was a huge chunk of land on the bridge and some kind of rusty tank,” Finer said.
There was without a doubt significant damage done to Killington, but as soon as the water started to recede, the emergency response personnel and local volunteers set up shop at the Killington Firehouse, providing information about food and water resources, shelter, travel reports, and medical supplies. WUHS junior Marc Findeisen was one of those people, pitching in around 40 hours of service for the community over a span of six days. From helping out a local market with restocking shelves due to employees not able to get to work, to helping out with traffic control and setting up cones, Findeisen did it all. “ I also helped unload MREs (military “meals ready to eat”) and water into the town shelter,” he says. “I was part of the Emergency Response Team that went around, evaluated property damage, and helped bring food to those who couldn’t get it. I just enjoyed helping out in the community. I would get a call from the ‘command center’ and they would give me an address to go to so I could offer help, and that’s what I did. I had a lot of fun and had nothing better to do, being stuck on an island.”
Killington Island is now in full-force recovery mode, with a strong and dedicated community to carry the efforts forward and, it is no longer an island.

This article first appeared in the September 29th print edition of the Vermont Standard.

By Gwen Stanley
Standard Staff
BRIDGEWATER — Jireh Billings, owner of the Bridgewater Mill Mall, says he has had a longtime dream of clearing out the various antiques and other items in the basement of the building and using the 100,000 square feet for a variety of non-profits and businesses.
“It was a two or three-year plan, something I looked forward to,” he said.
Now it’s a vast expanse of space, but not by Billings’ hand: the waters of Tropical Storm Irene damaged most of the items that were stored there as it pushed through the bottom floor of the Mill Mall.
Weeks later, after much work by crews and volunteers, most of the shops in the Mall are reopen for business. The thrift store on the top floor is open, Billings said, as well as Ramuntos and Donna’s Hair Studio. The artists’ galleries located there are open, and though the used bookstore is closed, Billings said that if customers are interested in a particular item, staff from the thrift store can help them obtain it. The Post Office is also open.
“One of the most important things is that we got the parking lot smoothed out,” Billings said. The town of Reading will keep a pile of gravel for use on their roads in the parking lot for a while, but otherwise the lot is back to normal.
Billings said a touch of humor was found while cleaning out: a live brown trout was found in the elevator shaft of the building. “Don’t know how he got in there, but there he was,” he said. The fish was taken to Three Sisters Farm where he was released.

This article first appeared in the September 29th print edition of the Vermont Standard.

By Kim Jackson
Special To The Standard
Town clerks in Woodstock and surrounding towns may see an increase in tax abatement requests this fall due to the loss and destruction of property caused last month by Tropical Storm Irene. However, a request does not guarantee tax abatement.
According to Vermont’s law regarding the Abatement of Taxes (24 V.S.A. 1533), a town’s Board of Tax Abatement (BTA), made up of the listers, the select board, justices of the peace, the town clerk, and the town treasurer, “may abate in whole or part taxes, interest, and collection fees…in the following cases:… (5) taxes upon real or personal property lost or destroyed during the tax year.” There are about a half a dozen cases as to why a property owner may choose to request a tax abatement, but number five is applicable to the recent flooding in Vermont.
“We’ve had one or two requests so far from people,” said Woodstock Town Clerk Jay Morgan. “Vermont law says the tax is based on what exists on April 1 every year. If something existed on April 1, you owe a tax on it for that year. But because of the somewhat obvious inequity, say your house was there on April 1 and later on it burns down so your house is no longer there, if you never rebuild it during that year, should you pay taxes on it?”
Morgan said the abatement process is an extremely public one, due in part because any tax that is abated must be paid by remaining tax payers in the town. The process is also a stringent one, where each individual requestor has to prove the circumstances of his or her case, show the whys and what the reasons are for submitting a request for abatement.
“Any tax that is abated has to be paid by everyone else, so you have to make sure that it’s a correct and equitable thing,” said Morgan. Those abated taxes that are absorbed by the remaining tax payers include the education tax portion to the state.
Property owners seeking to request abatement must first file their request in the form of a letter with the town clerk. Town’s individually decide how to handle requests. Depending on the number of requests, the town may decide to hear each one individually or as a group. There are no deadlines, and a request can be made at any time, said Morgan.
“Technically the board does not have to grant anything,” said Morgan. “It’s an attempt to make taxation fairer, to address grievance, to do good things. You have to prove to the board that what the amount should be or why and what the circumstances are. The burden of proof is on the person requesting abatement. The tax abatement process is all the time, every year. It has a specific set of rules and regulations. It’s a hearing process.”
Woodstock held a public meeting Wednesday night to discuss the possible abatement issues that may arise as a result of Irene’s destruction. The Bridgewater town clerk’s office is answering people’s questions individually as they arise. Property owners with questions about the tax abatement process should seek out their town clerk or members of their town’s Board of Tax Abatement.
Further information can be found in the “About Abatement” document found on the Vermont Secretary of State’s website.

This article first appeared in the September 29th print edition of the Vermont Standard.

from the Plymouth Press
Rte 100 will be closed Tuesday between Echo Lake Inn and the north end of Scout Camp Rd for culvert repair/replacement. Traffic will be detoured to use Scout Camp Rd while the construction is going on. They are targeted to be finished by the end of the day Tuesday.

By Peter Rousmaniere
Special To The Standard
The Irene Good Bye Cabaret Benefit of Sunday, September 18, attracted an estimated 1,000 attendees. It raised, by the end of the show, at least $18,000 for the Woodstock Area Flood Relief Fund, twenty one days after Tropical Storm Irene.
Forty performers and some fifty volunteers were involved in the show’s production at the Town Hall Theatre and the collection of contributions. The show integrated thirteen acts, ranging from an international rock star to an elementary school chorus. The internet helped to promote it. Engineers simultaneously broadcasted it to two other venues in town. The show thus was innovative both artistically and technologically.
In the future it will likely be recalled as merely one of thousands of milestones in the recovery of the area’s households, businesses, and institutions. Each of the milestones is a mostly unrecorded, mostly private, moment of clear thinking, creativity and action.
This is the inside story of the event and how its success, beyond any reasonable expectation, shined a light on how the community is rapidly moving from rescue, through recovery and gradually into to a brighter, more sustainable future.
Four days after the flood, I had a visit with a part time Woodstock resident who is a former producer at Lincoln Center in New York City. Alina Bloomgarden is experienced in molding artistic performances that appeal to varied audiences.
My past study of how communities respond to disasters brought to our conversation a sharp focus on two shocks that disasters bring, one negative and one positive. One is the physical and emotional turmoil of the disaster itself. The other is a stunning rapidity in which a resilient community seeks to regain its senses and mentally prepares the ground for not just recovery but also innovation, even among the debris.
Bloomgarden and I agreed to explore the possibility of a concert, primarily to celebrate uncounted acts of aid and cooperation.
At the first of several Hand in Hand dinners on the town Green, Bloomgarden had a conversation which led to a three hour meeting a few days later in New York with Max Comins, the star of the Music Man production a few years ago. Comins went on to emcee the show.
Visiting Pentangle Arts Council, the area’s gem of cultural expression, I ran into Fred Haas and Sabrina Brown. Haas and Brown joined me and Michael Zsoldos a few days later in a conversation after a Sunday church service. This led to a primary focus of the concert as a fund-raiser, which had to happen on the nearest available Sunday afternoon. That date was September 18, two weeks ahead.
Haas was eventually to become a musical thread through the show, a reflection of his versatility and esteem by performers.
By this time —  seven days after the flood — the Woodstock Area Flood Relief Fund had not only been created but had collected a large amount of contributions. The Fund was just beginning to learn how to use its money most effectively, in relatively small but urgently needed grants, mainly to people who were embarrassed to ask for one.
At a meeting at the Daily Grind, Sally Miller of Sustainable Woodstock, the fiscal agent for the Fund, Brown, Bloomgarden, Rick Fiske and I agreed on the name of the event. Brown, co-director of Pentangle, secured the Town Hall Theatre and found several Pentangle stalwarts to pay for necessary expenses.
Some ten days after the flood, and ten days before the scheduled event, a frank conversation was held among the planners and advisors about the danger of an artistic and logistical “train wreck.”
Just at this time, Tom Rush, the iconic folk and blues artist, phoned Pentangle offering to help in some way. Jeffrey Kahn of the Unicorn, a long time friend of Joe Perry, a co-founder of Aerosmith, asked if he could recruit Perry. Bloomgarden kept building the show using local as well as this additional talent.
Twelve days after the flood, and nine days before the show, the organizers had Rush on board as a surprise guest, and through Kahn secured Perry’s involvement. Lavallee Creative of Woodstock, created a poster overnight using an image of a four leaf clover.
Eight days before the show, posters were distributed, and email promotion began in earnest. Joe Perry’s promotional engine went into gear. Woodstock resident Townsend Belisle, in the business of internet consulting, focused on internet promotion using Facebook and other sites. By the day of the event, Belisle had amassed 29,000 internet hits about the show.
The possibility of large crowds emerged in the week before the show as an opportunity for more fund raising, but also as a threat to ensuring access by local residents and even to public safety. The official capacity of Town Hall Theater is 388, so organizers quickly realized they’d need to work with town officials to direct the anticipated overflow of guests to an alternate space.
Intense discussions of options narrowed down to building an audio-video internet link to the Woodstock Elementary School gym and an audio link to the Green.
On Saturday morning, 30 hours before the event, these links existed only in theory. An intricate plan was put into place by Dan Merlo, of the Pentangle staff, Macy Lawrence of Community TV, and Sound Vision Audio Visual, a Williston, VT, firm which rushed down to install the link to the gym. Candace Coburn, chair of the Village Board of Trustees, and Laurie Chester of the Flood Relief Fund advised on the best impact for downtown visitors and fund raising. Woodstock Early Bird, the blog, spread the word about the links.
Meanwhile, Bloomgarden kept refining the production. The crucial “pitch” part of the show, hosted by Al Alessi, was designed down to five second increments. Local citizens were interwoven by the Youth Chorus of The Bridgewater Elementary School, culminating in the Woodstock Community Gospel Choir singing an original composition by the show’s musical director, Bob Merrill.
As a line of hundreds formed along the sidewalk in Sunday afternoon, Hasse Halley of Pentangle and Chief of Police Robbie Blish conferred on how to manage the crowd. At the same time, a small army of Relief Fund volunteers canvassed every person in the vicinity of Town Hall, while a West African drum band led by Guinean Sayon Camara entertained the crowd. Inside the theater, Bloomgarden summoned her skills with top acts to induce Joe Perry and his lead accompanist Joey Leone to keep their set to four songs.
Then the show began, on time, and went without a hitch. For two and a half hours, these forty artists and speakers coaxed music out of our private and collective troubles, hopes, and mounting confidence.

This article first appeared in the September 22nd print edition of the Vermont Standard.

October Hours Set for Plymouth Recovery Assistance Center
by The Plymouth Press

Download a copy of the detailed road conditions provided by the Town of Plymouth.
From Jill Davies, Plymouth Recovery Assistance Coordinator
For the month of October The Plymouth Recovery Assistance Center and The Pantry will be open:

on Wednesdays from 1pm to 5pm
and Saturdays from 9am to 1pm

You can get in touch with Plymouth Recovery Center outside of these hours by phone (672 3666) or by email (jillplymouth@gmail.com). We’ll try to get to messages each day.

Let us know if you need volunteer help with clean-up, help completing FEMA forms or any questions.

From Senator Bernie Sanders – You Tube
The Senate on Friday rejected a House-passed spending bill that would have underfunded relief for natural disasters in Vermont and other states. Sen. Bernie Sanders called the measure “totally inadequate.” On Monday, Sanders welcomed President Obama’s decision to spare Social Security in a deficit-reduction plan submitted to Congress. On Tuesday, Sanders led a group of senators who faulted Obama for pulling the plug on an EPA air pollution proposal. The senator also called on the Federal Reserve to help small businesses create millions of jobs.

Information from Vermont Response

Mobile Recovery Centers:
A mobile disaster recovery center vehicle will be making short visits to several Vermont communities beginning Friday September 30th, in Middlebury.

The following is the schedule of the visits:

Windsor County
Bethel Town Hall, 318 Main St., Bethel 05032
Opening noon – 6 p.m., Friday, Sept. 30;
8 a.m. – 6 p.m., Saturday, Oct.1; and 8 a.m. – 6 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 2

Windsor County
South Royalton Journey Church
412 S. Windsor St., South Royalton 05068
Opening noon – 6 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 6;
8 a.m. – 6 p.m., Friday, Oct. 7; and 8 a.m. – 6 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 8

The mobile vehicle will provide the phone and computer connectivity for a recovery center. These centers are staffed with disaster recovery specialists from various federal, state and local agencies and organizations who can answer questions about disaster assistance programs.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s individual assistance program covers expenses for temporary housing, home repairs, replacement of damaged personal property and other disaster-related needs, such as medical, dental or transportation costs not covered by insurance or other programs.

Homeowners and renters may also be eligible for low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Some applicants may receive an SBA loan application after registering with FEMA. No one is obligated to take out a loan. But if they don’t complete the application, they will not be considered for some federal grants.

Anyone who has a question about disaster loans may visit a disaster recovery center to speak with an SBA representative. Staff specialists are also available at the centers to answer other disaster assistance questions. Specialists at the recovery centers can refer applicants to voluntary agencies and provide information to reduce damage in possible future disasters.

Disaster officials encourage those affected by the storm to register with FEMA before visiting a disaster recovery center by calling toll-free 800-621-FEMA (3362), online atwww.DisasterAssistance.gov or via a web-enabled mobile device at m.fema.gov . Multilingual registration assistance is available. Those with a speech disability or hearing loss who use a TTY can call 800-462-7585 directly; or 800-621-3362 if using 711 or Video Relay Service

VOLUNTEERS STILL NEEDED THIS WEEKEND!!
Please call 457-2337 to sign up.
Meet at the Town Hall lobby

COUNSELING: There will be free counseling TODAY from noon – 4:00 @ the Outtaquechee Health Center.
Mental Health Counselor are available for FREE for emotional support:
Sara Manns, 291-1172 (in charge of scheduling)
Melinda Haas, 357-8279
Frank Silfies, 236-9730
Carolyn Walsh, chwalsh@together.net
Judy Williamson, 457-3620
Suzi Whitehurst, 356-0556

FOOD: Food Shelf - open Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE DAY – this Saturday from 9:00 a.m. – noon at Hartford Transfer Station.
ALSO: The Hartford Transfer Station is offering free disposal of household flood debris until the end of September. Residents are allowed up to a one ton pick-up load. This offer is limited to one load per household.

FEMA is also open on weekends from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Disaster Unemployment Assistance: Deadline to file: October 7th
If you are having problems getting through (1-877-214-3330) please KEEP CALLING. You can only file by phone. These unemployment benefits are for people left without work as a result of Irene.

Irene Relief Efforts, Sept.22
Information not in this email has not been updated since our last update. Please check KillingtonTown.com for the most updated information.
Current as of 4 pm, Sept. 22

State Roads (Including Rt. 4):
Access has been restored from Rutland to Woodstock via Rt. 4, with occasional delays for construction.

Town Roads:
Restoring access to East Mountain Road is the Town’s number one priority, with addressing connecting roads soon after that. The goal is to be finished by the time the winter season begins. Culvert replacement is in progress and the Town Road Crew is working on other damaged roads in town. Officials are currently working with FEMA to maximize federal support for these projects.

Bulk Waste Disposal:
The Solid Waste District will receive waste for Killington residents at its location in Rutland on Gleason Rd. They are open Monday – Saturday from 7:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. The next bulk waste day in Killington is planned for Nov. 5-7

To give a sense of their rates, 200lbs of carpet would cost $13.50 to dispose.

Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWP):
EWP is a US Department of Agriculture recovery effort aimed at relieving imminent hazards to life and property caused by floods and other natural occurrences. If your land has suffered severe damage that may qualify for the EWP program. Information is available at KillingtonTown.com

Free Moisture Assessments and Incentives from Efficiency Vermont: Efficiency Vermont is offering free air sealing and moisture assessments and incentives for new heating systems for homeowners and businesses. Information and forms are posted on killingtontown.com

New Comfort Station Location:
The comfort station has moved from the Butternut Inn to the Church of our Savior (Little White Church). In addition to food and supplies, a limited number of water testing kits are available there.

FEMA and SBA Assistance:
Assistance is available at the FEMA office, located behind and above the Post Office. The deadline to file for business damage is October 31st.

Water Testing Kits:
If you’re concerned that your water source has been affected by hurricane Irene, please pick up a water testing kit from the comfort station, Town Office, or from the Vermont Department of Health.

Post Office Service and Killington Elementary School Bus:
The Post Office is back on a daily schedule and will be delivering to all mailboxes in town that are accessable by road, and KES has the school bus service up and running through town again.

Disaster Legal Assistance Clinics:

The Rutland County Bar Association will hold a series of free Disaster Legal Assistance Clinics around Rutland County to provide guidance and resource information to our friends and neighbors in Rutland County who have suffered damage or loss as a result of Hurricane Irene. Find out more about scheduling at KillingtonTown.com

Mother Nature Won’t Stop Fall Foliage!
Due to the speedy road recovery and support of businesses and locals, Killington will be open for fall foliage season and is excited to welcome guests back to our friendly town. The popular Killington Hay Festival will return on September 23, and the Killington Resort Brewfest Weekend kicks off Sept. 30. And don’t forget that Killington is hosting the DockDogs National Championships over Columbus Day weekend! There’s no better place than Killington for a New England Fall Foliage Weekend! There’s even a Hay Festival Photo Contest to win cash and prizes!

More information on Irene-related issues is available at KillingtonTown.com, while information on upcoming events and foliage season is available at DiscoverKillington.com.

From Seymour Cohen, Temporary Information Officer for “Irene” Recovery
According to Larry Lynds, Plymouth Road Crew Foreman, the list of roads remains the same as before. Some of the “road fixes” are getting muddy in places from the rain.

Route 100 has not been paved yet due to the rain. There are guard rails being installed and “hard pac” has been placed in some areas. Hopefully paving will start next week.

Route 100A is now open from the junction of Route 100 to Coolidge Homestead.

Route 103 North (from Ludlow) is open all the way to Route 7 and Route 7 is now open all the way to Rutland.

Town News:
The Town Clerk’s office will be open 8:00 AM to 12 Noon on Saturday September 24, 2011 for tax payments and then will be open from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM on Saturday October 1, 2011 for tax payments. All payments must be received by October 1, 2011 to avoid late charges and penalties.

The Plymouth “Food” Shelf is located at the old Plymouth School. Food and other supplies are there for those that need them. Please get what you need. The building is open from 2:00 PM until 6:00 PM, Monday thru Friday and from 9:00 AM till 5:00 PM on Saturday.

The special town meeting, regarding the town plan adoption by Austrailan Ballot, will be held Monday, September 26, 2011 at 7:00 PM at the Municipal Building.

There will be a Fundraiser at Hawk Resort on Saturday, October 1, 2011 from 12 Noon to 4:00 PM. Hawk BBQ Flyer – 10/1/11

Please share this information with Plymouth homeowners you know, that are not in the database, so they can contact me via e-mail and be added to the database.

By Gwen Stanley
Special To The Standard
Things are nearing normal, according to Woodstock Aqueduct Company’s Eric Wegner.
Wegner said Wednesday morning that overall operations with the town’s water were coming along as planned and that the water pressure had stabilized.
“I’ve got a full tank here, so there’s plenty of pressure,” he said. “We think we’re caught up in that regard.”
At this point, Wegner said, the goal is to connect the main water pump, which lies near the Elm Street Bridge. The water is still being directed through a fire hose, which replaces the water main that was washed away in the waters of the Ottaquechee River during Tropical Storm Irene. Wegner says it’s just a matter of waiting for work on the sewer system to be done at this point, and after that the water main can be fixed.
“We know where the pump is…we’re just in a holding pattern now waiting for the sewer guys under us. I’m just letting them do their job,” Wegner said.
Last week, the state lifted the boiling order on the town’s water, after determining that using the fire hose was not causing a health risk.
Wegner said there are still small leaks popping up and that this is to be expected.
“We’re in an intermediate stage,” he said, “and once we get this river crossing done we’ll be headed toward normal.”

By Eric Francis
Standard Correspondent
PLYMOUTH —  Out of the 64 roads in the town of Plymouth, only three emerged from Tropical Storm Irene completely unscathed.
Now, with the one-month mark approaching, stitching Plymouth’s network of paved and dirt roads back together again remains the town’s top priority before winter sets in.
 “As a town, we took one of the worst hits as far as roads,” said Al Poirer, who served as Plymouth’s Incident Commander during the first eleven days of the storm recovery’s emergency management phase, until enough connectivity was finally established to the rest of the state to allow for the town to be turned back over to the selectmen to run. “It was from end to end. There is no section of town that escaped: North, south, east, west.  It made no difference,” Poirer noted.
“For the first two days we no access to the outside world.  We could not get out of here.  We could not get up 100 North, we couldn’t go 100A, and we couldn’t go 100 South,” Poirer recalled. “We had no electricity, no phone, no internet and unfortunately cell phones don’t work here so we had no cell coverage.  We couldn’t talk to Vermont Emergency Management, we couldn’t even let our families know we were okay.”
The Great Roaring Brook, which had suddenly decided to live up to its name, destroyed two houses in Plymouth Union right next to the town hall and then joined with the headwaters of the Black River to cut a channel across the Pingree Farm, severing Route 100 South in Pingree Flats, tearing the back off a trailer home, and creating a washout so massive that it soon became known as “The Plymouth Gorge.”    
“It was a major, major blowout.  Like the Earth had changed,” noted Windsor County Senator Alice Nitka of Ludlow.
Poirer and many of Plymouth’s first responders were holed up in at the combined fire station and town garage building around the clock for a week-and-a-half, working alongside Plymouth’s three-person highway department, where a small amount of water had come in and soaked the carpets but left the large brown building completely functional, albeit without power.
“Losing this building would have been tough,” Poirer said, but the fort held and the tiny town crew ventured down Route 100 South filling washouts as they went, even though the highway and the responsibility for it technically belong to the state.
“As a town, we filled washouts on the state roads just so we could move around,” Poirer recalled, noting, “There was one section on Pingree Flats where if I say the rubble across Route 100 was three feet deep it was not an exaggeration.  It was just stones blocking the road for a hundred or two hundred yards where the hillsides gave way and everything came down from the mountain.”
Late on the first Tuesday evening following that Sunday’s torrential downpour, the first bypass of Route 100 South, a haphazard connection between a road in the Hawk Inn and Mountain Resort complex with a former logging trail on the other side, was opened up.
“When we constructed that first cow path out of town then we could escape,” Poirer recalled.  “It was just for emergency use but we could get out and we were able to get to Ludlow and do a few things.  But until we re-established phone service and electric here it was very, very hard.”
That bypass, which would become known as “Rocky Road 1” was superceded a little over a week later by “Rocky Road 2,” a more robust plowed horseshoe around the huge washout put together by everyone available, including a Windsor County deputy sheriff, who could take turns running an excavator.  Since that road could support fire trucks and ambulances it allowed for the state of emergency in Plymouth to finally be lifted.
 “In all we lost three structures, which is horrendous, but it’s not as bad as some other towns,” Poirer said, noting that Plymouth’s road were where the problems were.
 “There were a few roads that didn’t have a lot of damage but for most it was very severe damage,” Poirer said, adding, “Hale Hollow, Lynds Hill, Grandview Lodge, Kingdom Road, Scout Camp Road, Dublin Road…all major, major hits.”
On Kingdom Road, which cuts off towards Tyson near the Echo Lake Inn, nearly a half mile of paved road disappeared between Scout Camp Road and Pollard Road.
On Route 100A an important, state-owned bridge, washed away, truncating the connection between Plymouth Notch and Bridgewater Corners, but very few town owned bridges in Plymouth were actually damaged, just the roads themselves.
 “The amount of hauling we have to do to repair our roads is mind-boggling,” Poirer said.  “Our roads will not be back to pre-Irene conditions for a long time and at a cost that is just very, very scary to this town right now.”
 As of the middle of this week both Route 4 and Route 100 (but not 100A) through Plymouth had both reopened to unrestricted (albeit slow) traffic. Hale Hollow was also reported to be close to reopening.
Throughout the crisis Poirer said the townspeople of Plymouth “have been incredible.”
 “We’ve had tremendous support from the beginning,” Poirer said, adding, “At times we’ve had more volunteers than we could handle.”
 “The Farm & Wilderness camp has been a phenomenal neighbor.  They were here with food three times a day feeding everyone for 10 days straight,” he said.
 “Irene made life difficult for everyone in town but they all pitched in.  There weren’t too many complaints,” Poirer added, “It’s not surprising because this town has always been very tightly knit but it’s still nice to see.”
“We’re all here.  That’s the one good thing,”
Poirer concluded, “We didn’t have any injuries so that’s the what we are really, really thankful for. Everything else can get rebuilt, it’s money and time, but we can rebuild.”

Emergency relief in the aftermath of tropical storm Irene.

FEMA (800)621-3362 Building Damages, vehicle damage, medical costs, moving and storage.
The Area Flood Relief Fund – 457-2911 Residents of Barnard, Bridgewater, Killington, Pomfret, Reading and Woodstock.
Woodstock Community Food Shelf - 457-1185: Has fully stocked food shelves for those in need.
The Job Bank – 457-3835 – providing help to people at all skill levels. As well as a resource for those who need help.
Disaster Unemployment Assistance – VT Dept of Labor (877-214-3330) Unemployment benefits and reemployment services.
VT Agency of Commerce and Community Development (GRANTS) – (802-246-2116) Wyndham and Windsor Houseing Trust. 3% Loans for home repairs.

Efficiency Vermont - 888-921-5990 – Oil or Propane Assistance and rebate on hot water heaters.
American Institute of Architects -Architectural Services – Pro Bono for those who plan to rebuild or repair storm damages property. www.aiavt.org/outread/disaterassist/
Vermont Irene Flood Relief Fund (www.vtirenefund.org) – Small business financial assistance fund.
Economic Development Authority (802-828-5627) – low-interest loans to small business, farmer and non-profits.

FEMA Informational Meeting @ The Pomfret Town Hall on Wednesday, September 28th, 2011 @ 7:00 P.M.
FEMA Representatives will be there to answer your Individual and Public Assistance questions and concerns
For more info call 457-3861, clerk@pomfretvt.us or visit our website www.pomfretvt.us

Barb Wood Photo
An official reopening of Route 4 was celebrated in Killington Friday morning. The damage to Route 4 left by the flooding from Tropical Storm Irene is extensive. With the most severe damage now fixed, the Governor said, the State is entirely navigable with a few minor exceptions. From left to right are: Seth Webb, director of Killington’s Economic Development Committee, Chris Nyberg, President of Killington/Pico SRP, Governor Shumlin, Doug Searle, from the Vermont Agency of Transportation, Megan Smith, head of the state’s Department of Tourism and Marketing Commission, Doug Casella, co-founder of Casella Waste, and Craig Mosher of Mosher Excavating.

Saxtons River, VT and Hanover, NH September 16, 2011 –
Has your community been flooded by Tropical Storm Irene? If so, the Connecticut River Watershed Council (CRWC) wants to help you and your friends remove trash from the shorelines during its 15th Annual Source to Sea Cleanup on Saturday October 1st.
For the past 14 years, the Watershed Council has organized thousands of volunteers who have removed more than 650 tons of refuse from along waterways in four states during one of the biggest single-day river cleanups in New England.
“We need people to step up right now,” said Jacqueline Talbot, CRWC Cleanup Coordinator. “Unprecedented floods tore out bridges and roads and destroyed homes, and many shorelines and floodplains are still strewn with debris. Communities have been working hard to pull themselves back together, but much remains to be done.”
“We want to mobilize as many volunteers and groups as possible to make our rivers safe for people and wildlife again,” Talbot continued. “It’s not just about litter this year. The long-term health of our rivers is at stake.”
To register or find an existing group in your area, individuals and groups should contact Jacqueline Talbot at cleanup@ctriver.org or 860-704-0057.
Talbot urged groups and individuals to register by Monday September 19th so that CRWC may supply them with bags and gloves, and also paper masks if previously mud-covered areas are dusty. The CRWC is also looking for additional sources of heavy duty bags and gloves to help volunteers handle larger items this year.
“Above all, we want people to be safe,” Talbot said. “In some places, unstable piles of trees and debris are all tangled up together. If group leaders have questions about safety, they should consult their local fire department or highway department and only tackle areas that are not dangerous.”
“If you can’t actually get out and lend a hand in the field, you can help us meet the greater challenge this year with a cash donation that will go directly to the Cleanup effort,” Talbot said. Interested donors may go to www.ctriver.org and donate to CRWC to help cover the costs of this year’s massive Cleanup.
Founded in 1952 and based in Greenfield, MA, the CRWC advocates for clean water and fisheries protection in the 11,000 square miles of Connecticut River watershed in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
The Cleanup is supported by major sponsorship by NRG Energy’s Middletown Station, TransCanada, Lane Construction, the Metropolitan District Commission, and Covanta.

KILLINGTON – Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin and the state’s Agency of Transportation opened Route 4 to full public travel today, restoring the critical east-west travel corridor between the resort community of Killington and all points to the east and west just in time for the kick-off of the fall foliage touring season.
“Killington is open for business, and we’re eager to welcome back visitors, neighbors and friends during this exceptionally beautiful time of year,” said Seth Webb, Director of Economic Development and Tourism for the Town. “Coming up to Killington, supporting our shops, inns and restaurants this fall and winter is the best thing people can do to help us get back on track.”