State moves from rescue to cleanup following Vermont’s catastrophic flooding

Updated at 2:31 p.m.

State officials have wound down rescue operations as water recedes from this week’s flooding in central and northern Vermont — and have shifted their focus to assessing the damage, rebuilding and keeping people safe during what could prove to be an extended cleanup.

At a press conference Friday morning in Berlin, Gov. Phil Scott said he was taken aback when visiting some of the hardest-hit areas the day before.

READ MORE

“From road and bridge washouts to homes destroyed, the damage is significant,” Scott said. “But as I visited towns yesterday and spoke with people, I was reminded how resilient Vermonters really are.”

At least two people died as a result of the storm that swept through a broad swath of the state late Wednesday and early Thursday, dropping 3 to 7 inches in some areas and leading to catastrophic flooding.

Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison said at Friday’s press conference that the state’s swift-water rescue teams had returned to their communities after rescuing roughly 120 people and 15 animals. Local first-responders had conducted many more rescues than that, she said. The State Emergency Operations Center remained open and available to support towns and cities in need.

Most rivers were receding Friday morning , Morrison said, though sections of the Passumpsic, Winooski and Lamoille rivers remained high. Some showers were expected Friday and Saturday, she said, but a greater risk could be “high and oppressive heat” as Vermonters labor away on flood recovery.

Scott and Morrison called on those whose property was damaged to document it and report it to Vermont 2-1-1 — in part to help the state obtain as much federal disaster assistance as possible. Vermont will make a request to the federal government once it has assessed the damage, Scott said, but he suggested that the state needed to “level-set expectations” as to how much assistance it would receive — given what it learned after last summer’s flooding.

“FEMA doesn’t solve all your problems,” he said, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Officials also implored Vermonters to keep safe — by avoiding swimming and boating, carefully evaluating drinking water, avoiding overdoing it and following guidance from public safety officials.

“Remain vigilant and be safe,” Morrison said. “This means staying out of floodwaters, observing road signs and generally not putting yourself in a position that causes you to have to be rescued.”

State officials on Friday described some progress on restoring transportation networks, though they said much work remained.

The number of closed state roads dropped from 54 on Thursday to 18 on Friday, Transportation Secretary Joe Flynn said at Friday’s press conference, but he emphasized that those figures did not include the many local roads that suffered damage in the storm. Eight state-owned bridges also remained closed, Flynn said, along with numerous sections of freight and passenger rail lines.

Amtrak’s Vermonter line was out of service, due to significant washouts in Middlesex, while passengers on the Ethan Allen line were being bussed from Middlebury to Burlington and vice versa, Flynn said.

To help municipalities cope with the cost of rebuilding roads, Flynn said, the Agency of Transportation plans to release $29.5 million in town highway aid payments by early August — ahead of schedule.

Dams throughout the state appeared to be in good shape, Secretary of Natural Resources Julie Moore said at the press conference, though inspections are continuing.

A number of communities — Barre City, Lyndonville, Barnet, Plainfield, St. Johnsbury, Hardwick and Richmond — have identified potential concerns with drinking water. Barre City, Barnet, Plainfield and St. Johnsbury have issued boil-water notices. Nine wastewater facilities were affected by the storm, Moore said, two with structural damage — in Plainfield and Hardwick.

Read the story on VTDigger here: State moves from rescue to cleanup following Vermont’s catastrophic flooding .