MORETOWN, Vt. (WCAX) – Some of Vermont’s smallest communities continue to rebuild after flooding earlier this month had a big impact.
Entering the third week after the flood, all roads in Moretown are at least partially open, but the town is still rebuilding and planning what to do if this happens again.
“This culvert here is going to be $1.5 million. Just this culvert,” said Rae Washburn of On Point Engineering & Consulting.
Washburn is coordinating road rebuilding efforts in Moretown and showed us local roads that were hit hard. Some were just replaced after last year’s floods.
“We’ve spent at least $800,000 and we know there is another $200,000 and that is just in the emergency repair. We still have many culverts that are undersized that have to be replaced,” Washburn said.
Coming up on three weeks since the floods, road crews describe the damage and the pinch points: rocks, silt, trees and dirt debris washing downstream from private properties out of their jurisdiction overwhelmed and washed out several culverts.
“We were noticing a lot of the culverts getting plugged with debris coming off the mountain. They were big culverts to start with, they just couldn’t handle that amount of water,” said Kelley Staples of Casella Construction.
Crews tell us they try to rebuild with future storms in mind.
“Armoring the sides of the riverbeds, putting the right culverts in, thinking about now and the future at the same time,” Staples said.
But some in town have told us they’re concerned about the pace of the work and that the rebuilding and tax dollars invested will be washed away next year if something isn’t done.
VTrans released about $20 million to fix state roads. Depending on the severity of the damage, FEMA will cover much of the damage. And the state pitches in, too. But in many small towns– like Moretown, Peacham and Plainfield– expensive repairs will fall on the local budget.
Moretown took out a $3 million loan to pay contractors and subcontractors over a period of time to lessen the burden on local taxpayers.
“There’s no way we can put $3 million in our budget to cover a possible flood,” Washburn said.
But questions remain if the storms keep coming, putting pressure on small-town budgets.
Whether it’s in Moretown or on other local roads, officials are reminding people to use caution when passing heavy machinery and to allow construction crews to continue rebuilding roads.