The Day the Green Mountains Melted: Hurricane Irene in Vermont One Year Ago Today

Sadly my mom moved into this house two weeks before the flood

Now we know it's called River Street for a reason

Another house on River Street in Wallingford

Our local fire house managed to escape major flooding

Debris sits atop the trestle bridge next to the local fire house

The trestle bridge next to our local fire house acted like a dam at times

Debris sits in the parking lot of our local fire house

Looking towards River Street and Creek Road in Wallingford

Wallingford Rescue the day after Hurricane Irene paid a visit

One of Wallingford's few factories surrounded by water near River Street

River Street in Wallingford near the True Temper parking lot

Wallingford Rescue building in the early morning hours after the deluge

River Street and Creek Road converge in Wallingford

Wallingford Town garage view from the backside

My darling little thrift shop went from this...

...to this...after 4 feet of water inside my shop left sand everywhere

The force of the water ripped the back wall off my shop

My cute little thrift shop went from this...

...and this...

...to this muddy mess...

...and this soggy, disheveled heap

A piece of my neighbor's fence and my shop's back wall

The debris dam at the bridge next to my little shop

Veggies from a local grower upstream sit in the debris dam

Mill River used Rte 103 as a river bed and flowed through town

This from a stream that normally trickles down our mountain

The only way home the day after was on foot or 4 wheeler

Looking up Centerville Road just before the old log cabin

We had to hike a mile to get home

Looking down Centerville Road at the old log cabin built by my mom

Sugar Hill Road looking down from the top of the hill

Sugar Hill Road going up around the bend

Sugar Hill Road just above Seward's barn

Peeking through the front door and out the back wall of my shop

There will be no parking here for awhile

Shop items drying out on our new sandy beach

Debris built up around the river bank in my yard

We now have a sandy beach in our back yard at the shop

The hostas and chives survived...barely

Everything was laid to rest in this huge dumpster

Had to gut the shop down to the outer walls

Now we're just an empty shell...in so many ways

A year later remnants of Irene can still be seen around Vermont

Some people lost entire homes

Sometimes all we can do is move on but we're stronger for it...

...even the fragile can survive nature's mightiest blow

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Hurricane Irene left her calling card in Cuttingsville, Wallingford and East Wallingford, Vermont on Sunday, August 28, 2011

The following photos were taken with my digital camera during and after Hurricane Irene swept through Vermont on Sunday, August 28, 2011. On that day I was conducting an estate sale in Mendon, Vermont. We evacuated at about 1:00 pm and needed to turn around four times in order to find a route into Rutland. When we finally made it to Rutland we fueled up the van, bought some food for the crew and I dropped them off in Clarendon. From there I made my way to the firehouse in Wallingford in order to help. I am an auxiliary member for the Wallingford Volunteer Fire Department.

The WVFD was soon being flooded and needed to evacuate. From there we went to the Wallingford Rescue temporarily. The Wallingford Rotary building on Main Street was soon designated a shelter and all supplies were moved there. I helped to set up the kitchen as water soaked evacuated members of the community began to arrive. That night 14 of us slept on donated air mattresses from a community member and cots from the Red Cross. The fire fighters ate in shifts at the Rotary. Several of the evacuees helped prepare and serve the meals for the group and the fire fighters. Their courage was beyond belief as they all worked to help each other through the night not knowing if their own homes would be there for them in the morning.

Debris left from flooding in front of the WVFD fire house

Debris became clogged near the fire house

With no spare time to protect the firehouse a neighbor made gravel berms

My mom just moved into this house on River Street the week before

A house on River Street in Wallingford

River Street in Wallingford, Vermont

 

The water rose about three feet inside my mom's house on River Street

The water line at the Wallingford Rescue the day after

True Temper building in Wallingford

River Street in Wallingford near True Temper

View of River Street from the back steps of the Wallingford Rescue

The back of the Wallingford town garage

River Street the day after

Anna Q's Attic in Cuttingsville

What used to be lawn is now beach front property

Hurricane Irene entered through the back by tearing away the wall

Debris build up near John C. Stewart & Sons

A piece of my wall mingles with a piece of the neighbor's fence

The aftermath inside Anna Q's Attic

A lone green pepper sits among the debris pile at the bridge in Cuttingsville

The back yard at my shop is now prime beach front property

Centerville Road in East Wallingford

Looking back down Centerville Road in East Wallingford

That's the cabin my mom and brothers built many years ago in the background

It was a long walk home the next day for the first time since the flooding

Looking up Sugar Hill Road at the top of the gulf near the culvert

Looking down Sugar Hill Road at the top of the gulf near the culvert

Looking up Sugar Hill Road at the bend just before the big culvert

Looking down Sugar Hill Road just before the turn off

Looking up Sugar Hill Road in East Wallingford

We finally made it home for the first time since the storm in the evening on Monday. On Tuesday we hiked out the two miles and caught a ride to the shop in Cuttingsville to view the damage. Power was restored at home on Wednesday and our road was finally made passable by Thursday afternoon.

The flooding was biblical. I live on a mountain top with no brooks nearby and even my basement had 4 inches of water in it! As for all my family and friends we are safe. I may have lost my business and others lost their homes but an episode like this has a way of putting life into perspective.

These photos are of some of the minor damage caused by Irene. In some parts of Vermont the landscape is altered drastically along with the lives of those who live here. We will repair and rebuild. Life will go on.

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