By STEVEN JUPITER
BRANDON—Though Brandon, Pittsford, and Proctor may have been spared the worst brunt of the storms last week, the aftermath was felt over the following days as the water that collected downstream made its way north through Otter Creek.
By Wednesday, July 12, Otter Creek began overflowing its banks and sending water into low-lying roadways, necessitating the closure of the outer stretches of Union, Pearl, and Champlain Streets (Route 73) in Brandon. In Pittsford, West Creek Road, Elm Street, Gorham Bridge Road, and Depot Hill Road were flooded and closed. And in Proctor, parts of Route 3 and West Proctor Road were closed.
The flooding along Otter Creek and its tributaries continued to worsen throughout the week, prompting the additional closures of Wheeler Road, Newton Road, North Street, Carver Street/Syndicate Road, Long Swamp Road, and Short Swamp Road in Brandon. Leicester Whiting Road in Leicester eventually flooded where it passes over Otter Creek by Old Jerusalem Road, necessitating closure as well.
By the morning of Tuesday, July 18, Union Street and Champlain Street (Route 73) had reopened while Lower Carver Street/Syndicate Road, Pearl Street, and Newton Road remained closed.
While these closures frustrated local residents, many of whom needed to find viable detours around their usual routes to work, the Brandon-Pittsford-Proctor corridor largely escaped the devastation experienced by Montpelier, Barre, Ludlow, and other towns along the eastern slopes of the Green Mountains.
Nonetheless, all residents of Rutland County are eligible for emergency funds and loans for physical and economic damage from the storm, through FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration (please see our coverage of these programs in this issue for more details).
After the devastation of Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, Brandon worked hard to prevent another such calamity. For example, an overflow culvert was installed to divert water from the Neshobe under Center Street and back into the river on the other side by the lower falls. Though the project seemed inconvenient to many at the time, the decision to move ahead with it now seems profoundly wise. Even as water roared over both sets of falls, the roadway above the culvert remained clear and passable throughout the week.
The water levels along Otter Creek, however, are not possible to control. It’s a much larger waterway and it flows through a floodplain: nature has already provided the space the Creek needs for its periodic expansions. FEMA has been working with Brandon to identify, purchase, and remove homes and structures at sustained risk for flooding because of their location in that floodplain. Houses along Newton Road in Forestdale and Marble Street in Brandon have been targeted by the program, for example.
