Storm cut off road access and power to Williamstown village, now largely restored

In Williamstown, Town Clerk Barbara Graham said Thursday that the heavy rains late Wednesday afternoon into the night flooded roads, particularly in the village. For several hours Wednesday night, she added, access to the village was cut off due to the road conditions.

A tree that crashed down onto a utility line also cut power to the village area Wednesday night, Graham said, further adding to the difficulties of the rising waters of the Stevens Branch.

The Orange County town, with a population of about 2,000, appeared to escape the harsher flooding that inundated nearby Barre City and Barre Town.

Williamstown town officials opened a shelter at the Williamstown Middle/High School Graham said, but it was closed several hours later having had little use. There were some people, she said, who arrived at the site in vehicles who opted to stay outside in the parking lot.

“People were just looking for higher ground,” she said.

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The rains that flooded the roads came in bursts, according to Graham. “There would be a heavy downpour, then stop, a heavy downpour and then stop,” she said.

Route 14 through the village, Graham said, was closed from about 8 p.m. Wednesday to around 11 p.m. Wednesday as crews worked to clear the roadway. By late Thursday morning most of the roads in town had opened back up, including Route 14 which runs through the village. The paved roadways in the town were wet and in some areas still had gravel on them that had washed over from the night before.

Robar Road, located outside of the village, appeared to sustain the most damage, remaining closed Thursday as crews worked to make repairs.

Graham said the storm Wednesday night, while severe, didn’t have anywhere near the impact of the one exactly one year ago. “That was a mud bath,” she said of last year’s storm.

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