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Montpelier, VT - Governor Phil Scott yesterday held a press conference at the Lyndonville Redemption Center to reflect on the anniversary of the 2023 and 2024 severe flooding events which impacted over 150 cities, towns and villages.
Governor Phil Scott: Good afternoon, thanks for being here. And thanks to Shane and Emily for hosting us.
Two years ago, areas across Vermont were devastated by catastrophic flooding we hadn’t seen in nearly 100 years, and it wasn’t confined to a single day. There were multiple storm systems that continued to pound Vermont for almost two weeks.
Then, one year later, to the day, more intense rain hit Vermont, devastating many of the same areas, as well as new regions, like the Kingdom.
In the last two years, more than 150 cities, towns, and villages across Vermont felt the impacts of flooding, which caused over a billion dollars in damage.
But instead of throwing up our hands, Vermonters rolled up their sleeves and got to work.
Mucking out basements, delivering meals to neighbors in need, and volunteering to clean up homes, neighborhoods and businesses.
Long term recovery groups were formed, some who are here today, and organizations like the Vermont Community Foundation stepped up to help manage donations as well as other volunteer groups, both in state and out of state to take on more than their share of work.
As we look back on the floods of the last two summers, we’ve come a long way. And that’s especially true here in Lyndonville.
I remember walking up Red Village Road soon after the flood and seeing the incredible damage. The field down below looked like a “log yard,” with debris stacked up like cord wood 25 feet in the air.
I saw a somewhat intact, but destroyed, home completely off the foundation and pinned against a bridge.
It had apparently been washed downstream hundreds of feet during the night with 2 women inside.
I didn’t know it at the time, but I learned soon after that I knew one of the women who “rode it out” from my racing days decades ago. It was 98-year-old Pete Blackadar and her niece Paula.
They both survived due to the help and heroics of a neighbor and Pete had her 99th birthday celebration in Danville a couple months later, which I attended. But unfortunately, she passed away in her sleep a couple weeks later. I guess July 10, 2024, wasn’t her time to go.
Down by the house, I looked down at what I thought was the road and there was a chrome bumper sticking out. But it wasn’t just a bumper, it turned out to be an entire car completely buried in gravel and sediment.
Walking up the road you couldn’t tell where the brook had been previously, it looked so tame and harmless that day. But there were pieces of shredded metal culverts and what remained of concrete bridges across the new stream banks, a stark reminder of what happened that night.
And Brook Road didn’t look much better.
I saw a pipe sticking up out of the ground about 15 to 20 feet, but when I got closer, I realized the pipe was a well casing which hadn’t moved, it was the ground around it that was no longer there and the remains of a home in the brook right next to it.
So much devastation to homes, businesses and infrastructure. So much heartache. But we were fortunate, because we didn’t experience the tragic loss of life…we’re seeing in Texas and North Carolina today.
And while the last couple of years have been tough for many, there have been some bright spots.
Take Andee and Allie Ackerman from Hardwick, two young sisters who set up a lemonade stand and donated $700, every single penny, of their earnings to the Hardwick House of Pizza, which was flooded in 2023.
Or the Mennonite Disaster Relief Service who sent a group of volunteers from Virginia and Pennsylvania to help clean up after the flooding in Barre, carrying out 2,700 buckets of muck from a basement in a single day. That’s about 45 tons.
As we look back at how far we’ve come, it’s also important to remember the work is far from over.
In fact, after Tropical Storm Irene, it took over a decade to complete the final project. So, we have to stay focused and continue to build back better, stronger, and more resilient.
The floods reminded us again how connected we all are. Many of you here today didn’t think twice when your community or neighbors needed a helping hand, and that’s what makes us Vermont strong, and tough too.