Storm Damage

A friend and I took a little trip yesterday afternoon to check out how our part of the world was faring with all the rain we got as a result of Hurricane Irene. We were amazed to find that all of the small brooks and rivulets in the area had become raging torrents of chocolate-brown rapids, spilling over into the road, tearing up culverts and shoving boulders downstream. When we drove down the Brook Road, I could see that the bridges and a few properties were in danger of washing away completely.. We stopped and took photos of the local swimming hole, now a boiling cauldron, and then the little bridge in the village where it and two houses were perilously close to being overwhelmed. We continued our trek into Manchester to see that many properties were completely flooded before heading back up north to Danby. In the hour or so that we were gone, Danby village was impassable; one of the houses had completely collapsed to create a dam that blocked the passage of the stream, flooding streets, basements and backyards. Our second attempt to head back up into the hills to the store was stymied when we found that Route 7 north was completely under water, so we headed back south and through Dorset to Danby Mountain Road. We managed to get halfway through before the road had crumbled away where a giant culvert had been upended. Our fourth and final option was to try heading into Pawlet to approach Danby Four Corners from the west. As luck would have it, that road was closed too, but we were able to take Herrick Brook Road over to where we needed to go.

People this morning who stop in the store are reporting similar odysseys as they try to get where they need to go. The old Vermont cliche, "You can't get there from here" has never been more apropos. Humor aside, it is going to be weeks, perhaps months, before all the damage is repaired. And parts of our landscape will have been irrevocably changed.