‘A cruel twist of fate’: Barre City is back in flood recovery mode

BARRE CITY — City Manager Nick Storellicastro said he believes it’s important to get the flood cleanup work done as fast as possible, not only for safety and aesthetic reasons, but for morale as well.

The flooding that hit the city Wednesday into Thursday morning, while not as severe as last year’s , still left plenty of caked mud on roadways and water in basements.

“I think a big priority is just making sure we’re full-speed ahead on the clean up just for the psyche,” he said. “I think it’s hard to come into the downtown or into a neighborhood and just see the impacts of another disaster on our streets and sidewalks.”

Storellicastro called it “a cruel twist of fate” to have the latest flooding take place on the same date as last year’s flooding .

“I think it’s demoralizing,” he said. “People aren’t fully recovered, and yet they are hit again before they are able to fully get back on their feet.”

The downpours late Wednesday afternoon into the overnight drenched the city with the 4.7 inches of rainfall, whereas last year’s storm brought 7.8 inches, according to the city manager.

“The early assessment right now is that the water came down so quickly in such a short amount of time that it overwhelmed known problem areas,” he said. “Water backed up. It had nowhere to go, so it went where it wanted.”

By Thursday morning there was heavy mud packed on some stretches of roads, sidewalks, parking lots and residential lots. Among the hardest hit residential areas were First, Second and Third streets, and for businesses it was along a part of South Main Street that included a Dollar General and Cumberland Farms convenience store.

The mud, Storellicastro said, is very labor-intensive to remove.

Fortunately, he said, a break in the rain Wednesday night allowed storm drains and culverts in some areas to catch up with the water.

“That lull, combined with the fact that the second band of weather we were expecting overnight didn’t materialize, that’s what saved us from just having another catastrophe,” he said. “It’s still a lot of damage, still way more damage than we hoped to see.”

While it was too early to put a price tag on the damage caused by the latest flooding, Storellicastro was confident it would meet the threshold requirements for federal assistance.

While Barre waits for any possible federal reimbursements, the city will have to cover costs out of its general fund.

“It will stress our budget even more,” Storellicastro said. “We already had a stressed budget from last year’s flood.”

At a press conference later Thursday afternoon, Barre City Fire Chief Keith Cushman spoke about the rescues of 12 people Wednesday night who were stuck in vehicles they drove into floodwater or stranded in homes that were surrounded. Some of the rescues, he said, involved the use of boats to help get stranded people to safety.

“The water rose so quickly. I think it was an oddity for us, the rate of rise,” he said.

Barre City Mayor Thom Lauzon said at the press conference that shortly after he declared a state of emergency for the city around 9:30 p.m. a lull in rain occurred and the floodwaters began to recede.

“It went down just as quickly as it went up,” Lauzon said of the water level.

The amount of mud generated from this storm was far less than the amount from the storm a year ago, according to the mayor.

Brian Baker, Barre City’s public works director, described it as a different type of mud — more “soupy” in consistency.

“Last time it was a lot denser, and it was easier for our guys to scoop up,” he said, adding that street sweepers from other municipalities are heading to Barre City to help remove sediment from the roadways.

Lauzon said that unlike in last year’s flood, he wasn’t aware of any businesses that will be forced to close for extended periods of time for cleanup or repairs.

At Nelson Ace Hardware in Barre City’s downtown, store Manager Annette Boisvert said Thursday afternoon that the latest flooding didn’t wreak havoc on the business like in 2023.

Not only was there less water with this storm, Boisvert said, but the store had also taken additional steps, including putting in a pumping system, to help prevent water damage.

The store was able to open at its regular time Thursday morning.

“It feels ironic it happened on the same exact day as last year,” Boisvert said. “It’s a little defeating, but we’ll never give up.”

At the nearby Kitty Korner Café, owner Alexis Dexter said the shop wasn’t open due to the flood, but she hoped it would be back in operation by the weekend. The adjacent Forget-Me-Not Flowers and Gifts, a store she also owns, was able to open Thursday.

The cafe, she said, needed more time for cleaning since it serves food.

Dexter said she stayed Wednesday night through Thursday morning at the cafe with the 38 cats available for adoption to make sure they stayed safe.

“We hung out overnight, had a sleepover with the cats,” she said.

Asked how the cats handled the situation, Dexter replied, “I don’t even think they noticed.”

“I made sure not a single drop of water got anywhere near them,” she added.

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