Deluge: Tropical Storm Irene, Vermont’s Flash Floods, and How One Small State Saved Itself

Preface

preface Every book has a story behind it. The idea for this book came as I rode my mountain bike home from Pittsfield, Vermont, at the end of August 2011. And it wasn’t a pleasure ride. On August 28, the remnants of Hurricane Irene had left Pittsfield, along with a dozen other Vermont towns, isolated from the outside world—at least by car. My sister, Betsy McKay, the Atlanta bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, was working on Irene coverage (hurricanes usually hitting the Southern states the hardest). Given the hundreds of washed-out roads in Vermont, it was difficult to get a reporter into many of the towns where damage was the worst. A writer and an avid cyclist, I offered to ride my mountain bike on a trail through the woods to reach Killington—and, I hoped, Pittsfield—then report what was happening in those cut-off towns. Loaded down with a ham sandwich, two energy bars, a half-gallon of water, cell phone, camera, notepad, pens, and digital recorder, I pedaled up the road and through the woods on what would soon be dubbed the Woodchip Parkway. Thanks to Killington resident Paul Buhler and his daughter Alison, who gave me a tour of the worst damage, I saw and heard far more than I’d expected. The devastation was astounding . Roads I had driven just days before were gone—not only flooded but completely washed away. Houses lay tipped every which way, with possessions strewn through the woods and washed far downstream. At least two houses were completely gone. This was not pastoral Vermont. It was a war zone. Then I began talking to people. I myself had never lived through a natural disaster, and I was struck by the fact that no one was waiting for outside help, and no one was waving a white flag of surrender—not even those who had lost everything. Instead, people had rolled up their Shinn - Deluge.indb 11 6/5/2013 1:04:14 PM xii Preface sleeves and were digging out themselves and their neighbors. The recovery brought out the best in people and illustrated what we can do when we are entirely focused on a goal, either removing hurdles or finding a way around them. The stories of their selflessness and stubborn can-do spirit warranted far more than a couple of newspaper articles. If Vermonters could respond like this against impossible odds, the future suddenly seemed brighter. This book does not aim to tell every Vermonter’s Irene story. There are simply too many. Instead, my goal has been to tell the story of the storm and the state’s recovery through the experiences of the following characters: Lisa Sullivan in Wilmington, whose bookstore was flooded, as well as town clerk Susie Haughwout, who saved the town records; Tracy Payne in Jamaica, who lost her home, everything in it, and the land on which it had sat; Geo Honigford, an organic vegetable farmer in South Royalton, who put his own mess on hold to help out others; the village of Pittsfield, which became a model of town unity and survival; and the guys who put U.S. Route 4, a major east-west artery, back together. My hope is that their stories encapsulate some of what we all coped with in the days, weeks, and months after the remnants of Hurricane Irene ravaged Vermont—and what many people will continue to cope with for years to come. These are stories that show how one small state saved itself, and what we all might want to ponder before the next Irene hits Vermont. Shinn - Deluge.indb 12 6/5/2013 1:04:14 PM Killington West Bridgewater Woodstock Ludlow Wardsboro Danby Cavendish Quechee Pittsfield South Royalton Brandon Mendon Bethel Rochester Waitsfield Waterbury Northfield Jamaica Wilmington • • • • • • • • • M O N T P E L I E R R U T L A N D B U R L I N G T O N B R AT T L E B O R O B E N N I N G T O N 91 91 91 91 93 89 89 89 100 100A 100 100 103 103 131 9 12 100 100 2 2 7 4 7 5 5 5 5 4 4 7 100 30 30 107 V E R M O N T N E W H A M P S H...