As the July 10 anniversary of unprecedented flooding in the area approached, I was thinking a lot about how our towns have responded and, with this year’s reprieve from more of it, what this post-flood era might look like. Mostly there doesn’t seem to be a debate about why the 100, or 500 or thousand year flooding events happened, then happened again just a year later. Those in the area seem to accept a new weather reality as days with temperatures over 90 degrees have increased, daily rainfall totals over two or three inches are no longer rare and buildings that have been dry for decades, if not a century, aren’t anymore.
The response to flooding in area towns was immediate and ongoing: Town officials, road crews, residents jumped when they needed to, helping stranded residents; repairing washed out roads, culverts and bridges, providing supplies and equipment to muck out, dry and clean flooded homes and businesses, filling out mountains of state and federal paperwork with proposals, plans, budgets, itemized lists and invoices.
New organizations have been created, and new ways of thinking about the local response to emergencies have been developed.
The environmental and human landscape have both changed. Rivers and streams have charted new courses, homes and businesses have been washed away, or flooded and removed, to become green space.
In Hardwick, The Inn by the River is gone, creating a park next to a riverbank that’s at least 50 feet closer to Vt. Route 15 than it was. Twenty homes in newly flood prone areas will have been bought out and removed if plans move forward as expected. The fire station will likely be moved, and the wastewater treatment plant made more resilient to future high water events.
Plainfield is creating a whole new neighborhood on higher ground, to replace lost housing, including the now aptly named Heartbreak Hotel.
Widened bridges throughout the area will allow a greater flow of water; hopefully enough for the foreseeable future, but engineers only have the past to guide them. No one really knows what the future will bring.
What we do know is that connections are being built. Community meals have been happening for years and new ones have sprung up, creating opportunities to build further connections unrelated to politics or divisive national rhetoric.
It’s impossible to list the many unsung heroes who stepped up to respond, many of whom continue to do so, among those who’ve made a difference are road crews throughout the area who hauled, dumped and placed mountains of gravel, stone and bridge parts; continuing to do so as the need arises.
Town clerks have been on the job, taking calls for assistance of all kinds, then helping or referring their townspeople to the appropriate place for assistance.
Jeudevine Library staff have taken calls for Hardwick Area Neighbor-to-Neighbor, a new organization created in response to flooding that Helen Beattie has been instrumental in making a permanent part of Hardwick’s emergency response plans. She has helped to create and document processes for it that are rumored to have been mentioned as an example to follow by someone at a conference far away.
In Greensboro, the Highland Center for the Arts recently became home to an emergency cooling center, using the network developed in response to flooding.
Hardwick’s David Upson has been on the job through it all, learning to navigate state and federal assistance and funding pipelines, almost always with a positive attitude and cheery greeting.
Kristen Leahy is an unsung hero of Hardwick’s flood response efforts. Diligent, devoted to the people who have been affected by flooding, she seems to be everywhere and to have a handle on everything flood and zoning related.
Northeast Kingdom Organizing (NEKO), started roughly a decade ago by the Center for an Agricultural Economy was ready to respond when the call came for help mucking out homes, as were The Civic Standard and kuRRve.
Organizations from other places came to help, with Team Rubicon’s Greyshirts appearing to aid those in the area post-flood.
Throughout it all, the organizations and people stepping up to help seem to have built stronger, more resilient connections between themselves and the people they have helped. Those connections don’t seem to be dependent on the organizations to continue, but will be strengthened and their networks of connection will continue to expand.
It seems Vermonters in this area are responding effectively to change and building a better future for themselves. I’m looking forward to it.
Paul Fixx, editor
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
