Lyndon, a flood epicenter, takes stock of historic damage

LYNDON— Firefighters had been up for days: battling a structure fire Tuesday night, evacuating flood-stranded residents Wednesday night, and manning an emergency shelter Thursday.

“I kind of embrace stuff like this,” Jeff Corrow, the town’s fire chief, said Friday morning, speaking between bites of pancakes and bacon, and phone calls from the Red Cross and town staff. “My team has been up almost 72 hours.”

Lyndon, a town of more than 5,000 in Caledonia County, lies at the convergence of the Passumpsic River’s tributaries. As more than 4 inches of rain fell Tuesday night into Wednesday, the winding stream spread into the town’s main arteries, and the sheer speed of the downpour washed out ancillary roads.

One person, 73-year old John Rice of Concord, died Thursday after driving through floodwaters in the town.

The flooding in Lyndon led to 54 rescues as of Thursday morning, Corrow said. Many of them took place around sunrise at a manufactured home park near Bean’s Homes . At one point, 30 people were at an emergency shelter set up at the fire station, according to the chief.

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Eight people, a couple of dogs and a cat spent Thursday night at the station, according to Corrow. By Friday morning, the Red Cross was in the process of moving its local shelter from the St. Johnsbury School — which housed one person on Thursday, according to a spokesperson — to the Lyndonville Fire Department.

As spotty rain showers fell Friday, town officials worked to assess roads and other infrastructure damage. Lyndon’s sewer plant wasn’t breached — “a lifesaver,” according to Corrow — but there were still places in the town the department hadn’t yet visited, he said.

Along the central business district of Broad Street, also called U.S. Route 5, business owners and residents took stock of damage. Only 24 hours before, the road had been impassable, water pooling high enough to envelope cars.

Angela Bora and her family were airing out a rental home she owns on Broad Street around noon on Friday. Water filled the entire basement and about 18 inches of the first floor, she said.

“Within 12 hours it had risen, destroyed the home, and receded.”

Inside, she ran fans and filled trash bags with food from the cupboards, still wet from the deluge. Despite the basement fuse box, the power, alarmingly, was still running.

“I don’t even know where to start,” Bora said, surveying the damage. When the water first started rising, she drove to the property to help its residents, two adults with disabilities, evacuate.

Now, those two people were staying with Bora at her South Wheelock home while she worked to find them a place to stay.

“I feel like the lucky one,” she said.

Minute differences in elevation made all the difference on Lyndonville’s Broad Street. Some businesses, like the Bagel Depot and Miss Lyndonville Diner, were closed and cleaning up. Others, like Kinney Drugs and Lyndon Buffet, were open for business.

At Carquest Auto Parts, which experienced significant flooding, pizza helped fuel a lunchtime clean-up operation.

Mark Valois, who has worked at the store for 38 years and owned it for 15, said friends, family and even strangers had come to help.

“I’ve never seen the water come up this high,” he said, describing the waist-deep inundation.

Yesterday, Valois said his son kayaked to the store and managed — after some effort — to pry open the front door. Once inside, the younger Valois placed computers onto the highest shelves, where they remained on Friday.

The plan now, according to Valois, was to move the auto parts inventory into a storage container, clean out the shop, and get back to business.

“We’ll be back at it — I’m not going to say too soon — but maybe a week,” he said.

Some business, though, continued.

“I’m already waiting on customers,” Valois said. “It’s hard to turn ‘em away. I don’t want to.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Lyndon, a flood epicenter, takes stock of historic damage .