ISLAND POND, Vt. (WCAX) – Residents in Essex and Caledonia Counties are continuing to clean up and assess the damage from the latest round of devastating flash flooding that hit the Northeast Kingdom. That includes Island Pond, which received almost eight inches of rain earlier this week.
“There was no warning until it was too late. The flash flood warning had started and at that point the water was so high I was even hesitant to drive my car over, just risking the fact that it could collapse,” said Krystie Wood of Island Pond.
In the aftermath of the flood, many Island Pond residents can’t travel without reliving the devastation. Wood, whose bridge is out of commission for the foreseeable future, can only leave her home on foot. “It’s scary because I have two kids and we’re stuck here until it’s repaired. It’s definitely isolating. It already has that isolation feeling living up here, being in the woods, but to know that you can’t leave — It’s mentally taxing,” she said.
Wood’s farm stand, which she operates in her driveway, lost most of its foundation when water overwhelmed the base. “Until I get that repaired, the farm stand will stay closed for a little while,” she said. Without work — or immediate help from FEMA — Wood is figuring out how she’ll pay to replace the bridge.
“I checked the weather before going to bed and they were only calling for an inch of rain. And then after hearing it go all night long like that, we knew it was going to be pretty severe in the morning,” said Bryan Lefebvre with JBL Hauling, who hasn’t been able to take a day off since the flooding on July 10. He’s busy changing out cavernous culverts and fixing 12-foot washouts and other destruction. “Just finished a couple days ago with the town of Charleston, and then we came straight to the town of Island Pond to work for this most recent flood. We’ve been working close to 75 to 80 hours a week.”
VTrans continues to rebuild state roads across the Kingdom as local businesses like Lefebvre’s work on town roads. Who will pay for or assist private property owners is still unclear. Most community members we spoke with say that for now, they’re mostly relying on their neighbors for assistance.
Vermont officials on Friday requested a federal assessment of this week’s storm damage from FEMA. The numbers will help determine whether Vermont qualifies for a major disaster declaration for the damage sustained Tuesday and Wednesday. Early assessments already estimate more than $6 million in infrastructure damage.