As water receded across much of Vermont yesterday, business owners surveyed the damage, shoveling mud and sweeping silt, desperate to figure out when they might be able to reopen.
Vermont Public’s Erica Heilman met with one such business owner — Jina Alboreo, co-owner of Harry’s Hardware and the Den in Cabot, a combination hardware store and bar.
Note: This story was produced for the ear. We recommend listening to the audio, but provide a transcript below. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Erica Heilman: It’s loud because…
Jina Alboreo: Because they’re taking out our gas tanks because the water destroyed the foundation they’re buried in.
Oh, I didn’t know it was that bad.
Oh yes, it was bad. What happened, our passage was blocked. The culvert is behind the Cabot garage. So the water comes down a tributary that joins the Winooski River which is behind us. And it was blocked with trees and rubble. And it was, I think, on Monday around 6 p.m. And Johanna, my business partner, her husband Rory Thibault, he was just here checking to make sure everything was okay and noticed water coming over the garage between the garage and the Wiley building and then called Anna and told her to come here.
And suddenly the water started to flow here. And luckily our tanks saved the building because debris hit it and the water then hit the tanks, diverted and flowed around the building. And Rory and Johanna also put piles, earth and everything they could in front of the door to prevent water damage.
In the shop.
Yes. What happened was… the water that flowed on that side just eroded everything. … The tanks were almost full. So the tanks weren’t washed away because they were so heavy. But the water got under the tanks and lifted the concrete slab holding them down. And it just gave them a boost, and they ended up hitting bottom. There was no breakthrough, there was no leak at all, but we can no longer use the tanks.
So these gentlemen get the tanks out. And then we’ll figure out how to fix that. We probably won’t have tanks there. Because this is the second time it has happened – it happened to Irene in 2011. So now we see a pattern. So if that happens again, we just can’t have the tanks buried there.
Erica Heilmann
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Vermont Public
Harry’s Hardware in Cabot on Wednesday. The flood destroyed the back of the hardware store.
Is there anything you could do differently in preparation for another storm?
Well, we’re still recovering from the shock. So we can’t even go there yet. Because we’re thinking about what to do with the back of our building. On this side that was a driveway that led to a place where everyone gathered in the summer and we had picnic tables down there. And it had been a beer garden.
And there is also a bridge, a pedestrian bridge, that leads to the hinterland. And the water has eroded it to the point where it’s a canyon – so now it’s a canyon. And it destroyed the bridge. The river swelled, changed direction and now the river is under our hardware store in the back. And I’ll show you that too. It literally took to destroy the back of the hardware store in the basement. So you can see the river from below – from our plumbing department.
Erica Heilmann
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Vermont Public
Jina Alboreo inspects damage at Harry’s hardware store in Cabot on Wednesday.
So the back of the hardware store is at risk. It is a separate attached building from the 1980s. This was built in the late 19th century. So this part is at risk. So we need to call in a civil engineer and see if we can salvage that part or just dismantle and rebuild it. So we’re just trying to stay open to the community. And easy – and we got an incredible love from this city. Everyone came. The volunteer fire department was out here Monday night until I don’t even know 4 am. Everyone shoveled the mud off our storefront and our streets. And it’s just beautiful and very encouraging.
What should the world know now?
That we rebuild. We – this city loves our place. We love our place and it is the heart of our city. And we set up a GoFundMe page to help us because the insurance and flood insurance will cover very little of it because it was a culvert issue. And that’s unfortunate. So we’re just trying to raise some money to get our building back into working condition so we can start serving food and beer again and play live music on Saturdays. And this is where people come together and we just want to go back there. Because it’s important to this city.
Where are we drinking beer now?
Well, we’re working really hard to make it happen. We’re not even sure – I haven’t even left this town to even know what’s happening in the neighboring towns. I hear Harwick got hit pretty hard. … At the moment we are open to hardware. And we hope to be able to serve some food that we don’t need a full kitchen for. And then beer once we know it’s safe to do so.
Beer is important.
It is so important. Only local Vermont beer is served here.
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www.vermontpublic.org
https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2023-07-13/in-cabot-floodwaters-tore-a-hole-through-the-plumbing-department-of-harrys-hardware
