By STEVEN JUPITER
BRANDON/PITTSFORD—After the last two weeks, future job postings for town manager positions in Vermont are likely to list as a requirement “Must have experience with flood mitigation and recovery.” The ceaseless rains two weeks ago sent enormous volumes of water through many Vermont towns, totally inundating a few, like Montpelier, Barre, and Ludlow. Closer to home, the Neshobe and Otter Creek both jumped their banks and necessitated road closures and repairs in Brandon, Pittsford, and Proctor. The cherry on the disaster cake was a tornado that swept from Benson to Brandon just days later.
In such circumstances, it falls to town managers to coordinate the response, to ensure the safety of municipal infrastructure, to assess and repair any damage. The Reporter spoke with Seth Hopkins and Bill Moore, Town Manager and Deputy Town Manager of Brandon, respectively, and David Atherton, Town Manager of Pittsford, about their experiences during the past two weeks.
“It’s going to happen,” said Mr. Hopkins, referring to the extreme weather. “We can’t prevent it, but we can prepare.”
“A lot of times as a storm gets closer, the forecast changes,” said Mr. Atherton. “But this one didn’t change. I knew we were going to get a lot of rain.”
In Brandon, the main damage from Irene in 2011 was to the downtown, where the Neshobe River crosses Center Street. Famously, Brandon House of Pizza was lifted off its foundation over the river and deposited in the middle of the street. This time, though, Brandon avoided the worst effects of the storm because of the “overflow relief structure” the town installed to divert excess water from the Neshobe. The structure basically splits the Neshobe in two behind Blue Moon boutique and rejoins it on the other side of Center Street.
“There were some doubters, but it was a 1000% return on investment,” said Hopkins. “If that culvert weren’t there, there would’ve been total devastation of Mill Lane, Briggs Lane, and the Town Office.”
“I’ve had people who opposed [the culvert] come thank me for it,” said Atherton, who was Brandon Town Manager at the time the structure was installed in 2017 as part of the plan to restore the Town Offices after Irene.
When Brandon seemed to have avoided any significant flooding or damage immediately after the first heavy rains, there was a sense of relief.
“We were all feeling fat, happy, and dumb,” laughed Hopkins. Reporters from The Christian Science Monitor in Boston even came to town to learn what Brandon had done to emerge unscathed from a storm that ravaged so much of the state.
But the water from the southern reaches of Otter Creek, where the damage was more extensive, began making its way north. And the rains continued to fall, swelling the Creek and the Neshobe even further. By the end of the week, both waterways had jumped their banks and roads all through the Otter Creek watershed began to flood.
One of the perennial hot spots for flood damage is Newton Road in Forestdale. The eastern end of the road lies just south of the spot where the Neshobe crosses under North Street, near the Forestdale Post Office. The excess water from the rains spilled over the banks and into the road on Friday and Saturday, July 14 and 15. The Brandon Highway Department, led by Foreman Shawn Erickson, worked tirelessly to reinforce the riverbank, protect homes, and safeguard the critical town infrastructure, such as pumps, that are housed along the road.
“We had to get permission from the state to work in the waterway,” said Hopkins, as rivers and streams are legally state property, “but they were great.”
The town would normally rent the heavy machinery required for such work, but the equipment was in short supply. Fortunately, Mr. Erickson had an acquaintance with an excavator. Howard Stickney, who lives over by Whipple Hollow in Pittsford/Proctor, brought the machine over and saved the day.
“We had to use radios to communicate with the crew, since that area in Forestdale is a dead zone for cell phones,” said Hopkins. “We’d be working and have to drive so we could call the state.”
Oscar Gardner, who owns one of the homes toward the western end of Newton Road, was out on his own tractor working with the crew as well.
“On Sunday, everything was cool,” said Hopkins. And then the rains over the previous two days caused re-flooding around 12 am – 1 am on Sunday night/Monday morning. “All the work that had been done over those 48 hours was wiped out. We expended a lot of person hours and money.”
But Mr. Gardner was at the Brandon Selectboard meeting on Monday, July 24 to thank the town for its efforts and to say that without the work that had been “lost,” he was sure the subsequent flooding and damage would’ve been even worse.
Over the years, the Newton Road has flooded numerous times and the town has been working with landowners and FEMA to purchase properties that are particularly prone to flooding. Several parcels along the street are now owned by the town and three of the purchased parcels still have homes awaiting removal. The road was raised in the early 2000s, with the intent of reducing flooding, but the boost also eliminated some natural channels that led water away from homes, according to Mr. Hopkins. Water now collects on the sides of the road, causing a great deal of erosion on the edges.
“Anyone who lives in a flood-prone home and is interested in selling to FEMA should come see us,” said Hopkins. FEMA covers 75% of the purchase, with another 12.5% covered by the state. The town is responsible for only 7.5% of the purchase price. This is the highest reimbursement level FEMA offers and Brandon is eligible because of its extensive mitigation efforts over the years. Recent purchases also include properties on Wheeler Road and Marble Street.
In addition to Newton Road, other roads that were hit hard included Wagner Road in Forestdale, an unpaved road that “completely washed out” in the first heavy rains.
“Wagner was the first place the crew went out to,” said Hopkins.
In Pittsford, the flooding was extensive but mostly limited to the same places prone to flooding every spring, according to Mr. Atherton. Depot Hill Road, Gorham Bridge Road, Elm Street…all the usual suspects along Otter Creek. The water levels may have been higher than normal, but the flood pattern was pretty standard for the town. The wooden decking on the covered bridge on Depot Hill Road did suffer some warping but the extent of the damage isn’t yet clear.
“From here up to Salisbury is wetlands,” said Atherton. “It’s storage for Otter Creek. It does what it’s meant to do. Fortunately, Pittsford is mostly on a hill above the Creek.”
On top of the heavy rains, the tornado that swept through Brandon caused a stone chimney topper on the Brandon Town Hall to fall into the slate roof, causing “probably five figures of damage,” according to Hopkins. Water did enter the building through the roof and work its way down to the Brandon Free Public Library in the basement.
“It’s not actively taking water now,” Hopkins said. Dennis Marden, President of the Friends of Town Hall, worked tirelessly to remove the water, filling “bucket after bucket” and hanging out wet rags to dry on the front steps. The roof of the Town Hall had been the subject of some debate in recent Selectboard meetings, with members of the community and the Board noting that the beleaguered roof needed repair and suggesting that perhaps ARPA money be used for the project.
As for future weather events, Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Moore have implemented an opt-in text-alert system to inform residents of road closures and boil-water notices when water quality has been compromised. Mr. Hopkins also suggested that the town staff might hold drills to practice opening an emergency center at the Town Office.
Overall, though, the town managers gave their crews a great deal of credit for pulling through the last two weeks.
“The Public Works guys put themselves in dangerous situations for hours,” said Mr. Hopkins.
“We have an amazing staff that rallied,” added Mr. Moore. “They were all in and willing to do what was needed.”
