At the Shaw’s grocery store on Main Street, men and women in yellow safety vests wheeled stacks of shopping carts full of groceries into the parking lot. Then they threw the contents — a tray of avocados, bundles of lettuce, a can of coffee — into dumpsters.
“It’s pretty bad,” said one of the workers, who declined to give his name. “There was water all over the store.” The worker identified himself as an employee of ServiceMaster, the company Shaw had hired to clean the store.
Inside, two dozen workers pulled groceries from the shelves and loaded them into shopping carts. Her boots left footprints in the thick layer of mud that covered the ground. Cases of beer and bags of potato chips lay strewn in other aisles, apparently torn off the shelves by the water that poured into the store on Monday.
At a Sunoco gas station across the street, Tiffany Marsh, a Ludlow resident, said she heard Shaw’s wouldn’t be reopening for at least two weeks.
“It’s going to be devastating,” she said, noting that there isn’t a major grocery store within 20 miles. “It’s a lifeline for the community…”[and] Travel is still limited.”
In Johnson, a town of 1,300 people in north-central Vermont, Dan Copp, principal operator of the Johnson Waste Water Treatment Facility, found the facility completely submerged Monday.
“To get the whole thing up and running again, I’m talking about six months,” he said this week. “Mainly supply problems. We have to replace miles of cables.”
The city’s water system withstood the storm, meaning people have water at their disposal, which Copp says is “both good and bad.”
Good, because people have water; Bad because the sewage flows directly into the Lamoille River.
But Copp emphasized that “huge dilution is occurring” because “the river is now flowing at 10 times its normal rate.”
And a growing number of communities, including Ludlow, have issued water-boil orders for residents who have been able to stay in their homes, according to the Vermont Emergency Management Agency.
By 10 a.m., Route 103, the state highway that runs through Ludlow, was closed in both directions.
Three trucks marked “Vermont State Hazmat Team” were parked at the side of the road, one with its lights flashing, and the smell of gas in the air. A Suburban Propane worker, who declined to be named, said his company is working with the state to recover missing propane tanks.
“We have two 1,000-gallon tanks here,” he said, gesturing beyond the roadblock. “We think they’re from Sam’s Steakhouse.”
The salvage of the first tank went smoothly, the worker said. However, according to footage from a Globe aerial drone, the second tank appeared to be stuck under a tree.
The tank’s valve, the worker said, was stuck in the ground. A state hazmat worker, wearing full-body firefighting gear, said the crew was preparing to dig up the tank.
“If we release it,” he said. There will be a lot of propane in the air.”
Earlier Wednesday, Rowan Anderson was stopped near the intersection of Routes 10 and 103 where a bridge had been washed away. In its place is a lane of new roadway that must have been laid in the last few days. On Route 103, orange cones blocked the road to Ludlow and there were two “Road Closed” signs.
From the side of the road, Anderson called her boss, who told her people were passing the cordon. After seeing about a dozen cars drive by, she did.
“I need to get paid,” she said.
On Tuesday, President Biden approved a federal declaration of emergency for the state and Governor Phil Scott warned that the “historic and catastrophic” flooding could cause more damage.
Damage has already “surpassed the magnitude of Tropical Storm Irene in 2011,” Scott said. Although the rain has stopped in many areas, the water will not recede immediately, he warned on Tuesday.
“They could actually keep going up,” he said. “I would therefore like to make it clear: we are not over the mountain yet. It’s far from over.”
A flooded tennis court in Northampton. Barry Chin/Globe Staff
Parts of downtown Montpelier, the state capital, were inundated by nearly 10 inches of rain through Tuesday night. It was also where residents like Molly King-Gove, her husband Benjamin Gove and their 15-month-old son Reed were stranded in their second-floor apartment on Main Street but were more worried about others, the Globe reported .
No flood-related deaths have been reported in the state as of Tuesday.
In Montpelier, there were concerns that the nearby Wrightsville Dam was nearing capacity, but there was also some positive news: The Winooski and North Branch rivers receded Tuesday night and the threat of a dam rupture has passed, city officials said.
Public construction crews began clearing mud and debris from the streets on Wednesday, and the city will conduct inspections in downtown areas.
Public Safety Secretary Jennifer Morrison said early Tuesday that riverine rescue teams had conducted more than 100 rescue operations and remained busy. National Guard helicopter crews also conducted about a half-dozen rescue missions on Tuesday, Morrison said.
About 70 people were evacuated from damaged buildings and cars, said Mike Cannon, Vermont Urban Search and Rescue Task Force program manager. In addition, 17 animals were rescued, he said.
A woman crossed the street through a cloud of dust kicked up in downtown Montpelier after mud left over from the floods began to dry in the sun.
Jessica Rinaldi/Globe staff
According to state Transportation Secretary Joe Flynn, nearly 80 state roads were closed, up from 24 on Monday.
Around 3 a.m. Tuesday, a New Hampshire rapid water team conducted “an extremely high-risk rescue operation” in Waterbury that washed a woman’s car off the road after she drove around a barricade, officials said.
Flooding in Barre, Vt. seemed to throw a garage off balance. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe staff
No flood-related deaths have been reported in the state as of Tuesday.
A flooded tennis court in Northampton. Barry Chin/Globe Staff
Meanwhile, Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday toured the storm damage in western Massachusetts and vowed her government would do whatever it takes to help farmers who have lost their livelihoods due to flooding and local residents struggling with property damage.
This is an evolving story and will be updated.
Mike Damiano can be reached at mike.damiano@globe.com. Kevin Cullen can be reached at kevin.cullen@globe.com. John R. Ellement can be reached at john.ellement@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @JREbosglobe.
www.bostonglobe.com
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/12/metro/floodwaters-recede-western-mass-vermont-extent-damage-becoming-clear/
