Vermont is pretty much devastated.......

[greasyspider]

Hurricane Irene really spanked us here.  Pictures don't really do the damage justice.  If any fellow Vermonters are on this forum and need anything please don't hesitate to ask. My place was spared as I live on high ground, But virtually every town in VT got damage of one sort or another.

[RECHRGD]

 

[400/6/PAC]

Sad to see all that destruction, The pic's really show the devastation.

[PocketThunder]

Oh no all those vintage historic homes floating away.....

[Old Moparz]

Really sucks to see all that & makes me realize that the couple of inches of water in my basement is nothing. 

It was also obvious to me that all the newsertainment shows would be angry & disappointed that NYC didn't look like New Orleans after Katrina. Lots of criticism over evacuating, but seeing what happened in some areas it was the right thing to do. A lot of people died so far from this storm & would probably be a little higher if nobody took it seriously.

[69 OUR/TEA]

HOLY S%&T !!!!! Could'nt imagine having to go thru that!!!!! Very sad.

[greasyspider]

It's kind of surreal.  I've never seen anything like this.  3 people are dead and 1 is missing. We are fortunate we didn't lose more.  The water came up so fast it was too late for a lot of people to evacuate.  Thousand are stranded many roads are simply not there anymore.

[Tilar]

What a shame... When I was a young man I worked at a gas station that was in a flood zone, One thing you learn is if the water is coming up that fast and you don't have a full tank, Pop the lid and it will keep the tank from coming up out of the ground like that one did.  You'll lose the gas you have, but it's way cheaper than resetting a tank.

[terrible one]

What a shame... When I was a young man I worked at a gas station that was in a flood zone, One thing you learn is if the water is coming up that fast and you don't have a full tank, Pop the lid and it will keep the tank from coming up out of the ground like that one did.  You'll lose the gas you have, but it's way cheaper than resetting a tank.

Interesting! I was wondering about that when I saw the picture. It really did just float on up to the top 

greasyspider, thanks for taking the time to share, I wish you guys the best, that is some bad damage to deal with

[Old Moparz]

I've seen a lot of site plans that show the underground tanks anchored to huge concrete foundations to prevent this from happening. The concrete is usually wider & longer than the tank & usually several feet thick. I don't recall if it was bolted, strapped down, or some other method, but it won't go anywhere due to floating.

Tilar, I can't imaging what the DEC or some other environmental agency would do these days if someone actually admitted to opening a fuel tank.   

[Stretch]

WOW! it's hard to wrap your head around that dammage! I'm glad you are ok. Looks like there is a long road ahead of you guys.

[hemi68charger]

Man... I'm sorry to hear/see this....... As you know now like me, NO Hurricane is light-hearted. The only "safe" hurricane are those in the middle of the ocean that never come close to land.......

best of luck in rebuilding. Vermont looks like an absolutely beautiful place......

[Budnicks]

Wow that's too bad sorry to see all the damage...

[Johnny SixPack]

WOW! it's hard to wrap your head around that dammage! I'm glad you are ok. Looks like there is a long road ahead of you guys.

Yeah, it's so staggering it really is hard to comprehend the extent to which the flooding has completely changed the landscape.

I hope the residents are able to reclaim what they can.

Man... I'm sorry to hear/see this....... As you know now like me, NO Hurricane is light-hearted. The only "safe" hurricane are those in the middle of the ocean that never come close to land.......

best of luck in rebuilding. Vermont looks like an absolutely beautiful place......

So true, Troy.

Can't wait for November.

[Tilar]

Tilar, I can't imaging what the DEC or some other environmental agency would do these days if someone actually admitted to opening a fuel tank.   

With everything that floats down the river after a flood, I imagine the epa is the last one you have to worry about coming around.  Plus if you noticed, I said this was when I was a young man, which would make it back when the epa didn't do much more than worry about the black smoke coming out of the stacks of a Peterbilt with the injector pump turned up.

[69rtse4spd]

 .

[twodko]

Vermont folks are a pretty stout bunch. They will overcome this and show us all what resilience, self reliance and sense of community can accomplish. Plus you just know they will bitch slap FEMA if there is any bureaucratic delays in getting assistance soonest.

God bless 'em all. 

[tan top]

     been seeing all the devastation  on the news also    thats bad

[greasyspider]

The worst part is the loss of our covered bridges.  These things have withstood nearly 200 years of weather, from blizzards to hurricanes, including the great flood of 1927. 

I talked with the owner of the store today.  His name is Bill, I've known him for years.  He said the river came up 5ft in 15 mins.  There was really no time to do anything but shut the equipment off and run.  The river went from being 50ft from the back of the store to about 10 ft from it.














Notice the Brand new snowplow in the middle of the river.  The entire area where those rocks are used to be woods. 
This isn't even that bad compared to other parts of the state.  Many towns have 1 road in and 1 road out and they are completely cut off.  They are using helicopters to drop food to people. 

[vancamp]

Damn, sorry to see all that.

[jb666]

Oh my God... This thread just made me regret making all of the "Hurricane Irene" cracks I've made over the past couple of days...  You see , we were spared, and I thought it was another hyped up joke of a storm.... But, after seeing these pictures... whoah.. The dreams and hopes of so many washed away... Devastating...  I am so sorry for all of those people.

[Darkman]

It is shocking to see the devastation. Mother Nature at her angriest.

Not even the military could do much by the look of the troop carrier.

One thing I did like was the photo of the people at the base of the flag pole. Get that sucker back up straight away and boost morale 

[oldcarnut]

One of the bad things people will have to deal with is that many probably didn't carry flood insurance and won't recover anything lost financially from water/flood damage.  When hurricane Hugo came here in SC there seemed to be a lot of insurances denying claims by trying to say it was flood related.  No guessing how many classic cars were lost and will be passed off on Ebay and other sites soon.  Don't remember seeing that much road damage repair needed.  Best wishes go out to all affected.

[RallyeMike]

According to a politician who's name I will leave to your imagination, this is God's wrath for not having elected responsible leaders.   

Also, You probably can do without FEMA. They are a non-essential govt function not mentioned in the Constitution and should not exist.   



Sorry - sometimes I just cannot help but point out the idiocy that exists in this country at relevant times. I hope you and your fellow Vermonters will pull through ok. I'll be sending off a donation to the Red Cross and encourage everyone else to do the same. Good luck to you.

[BananaDan]

This is so sad.  Vermont is close to my family's heart, we've been vacationing up there since I was 5.  My parents bought a house up there near Swanton about 10 years ago and we were involved in the Lake Champlain flood this past spring.  In fact, we just got our house fixed and back to normal about 2 weeks ago.  Now this, I am at a loss for words for the residents of such a beautiful state.  I think the northern area of the state wasn't hit as hard as the southern area?  We're heading up this weekend for the holiday weekend.  I am already depressed about seeing one of my favorite places in this country so severely damaged.  Watching the videos on the TV have been heartbreaking.  

I don't care about the house at this point.  I just hope Vermont can recover and retain it's country New England historic charm and beauty and the residents can get their lives back together.  I can't even imagine going through something like that.

[greasyspider]

Northern areas fared well.  From what I hear there is no danger of the lake flooding.  If anyone would like to make donations, I urge you to donate to the vt food bank.  They can buy $6 worth of food for $1 and the money stays local.  You can text foodnow to 52000 to donate $10. 

[Charger_Dart]

I live in western Mass and many of the small towns around here are a real mess, but fortunately I was spared. It seems there was a lot of flood damage to southern VT and north west Mass near any of the rivers. This is what the Deerfield River is normally like this time of year

 

and a video of the same spot during flooding

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3A2jL-54Xw&NR=1 

so much water, so fast

[bakerhillpins]

Some more.

Rt132 is, or should I say was, my commuting route. I know the corner that washed out very well.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/incredible-pictures-of-irenes-destruction-in-verm

[Stretch]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/incredible-pictures-of-irenes-destruction-in-verm

INSANE!!!   Just insane!

[resq302]

wow. Im at a loss for words.  Here I thought the town where I worked got hit pretty bad but thats nothing compared to those pics.  Hope everyone in VT is safe and speedy recovery from this.

[BananaDan]

I'm at our VT house and the weather forecast is calling for 3"-4" of rain between Sun - Tue.  I really hope the rivers in the sourh have gone down enough to absorb that. They're still kind of high here up north.

[resq302]

Dan, how did your home up there handle the hurricane?  Any problems?

[bobs66440]

Damn, I just got back from vacation and the damage here in the NE is unbelievable. Very sorry to see all of this. 

[BananaDan]

Northern VT was ok. Just a lot of debris on the lawn.

[hemi68charger]

I live in western Mass and many of the small towns around here are a real mess, but fortunately I was spared. It seems there was a lot of flood damage to southern VT and north west Mass near any of the rivers. This is what the Deerfield River is normally like this time of year

 

and a video of the same spot during flooding

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3A2jL-54Xw&NR=1 

so much water, so fast

WOW !!!!

[bakerhillpins]

Some more

http://www.mansfieldheliflight.com/flood/

[PocketThunder]

Some more

http://www.mansfieldheliflight.com/flood/

Holy Smokes!      You guys have a ton of work to do up there.  Good luck man.