Author Topic: VERMONT! Massive flooding and destruction of roads and bridges. (Read 3689 times)

Frankencake · « **on:** August 28, 2011, 06:52:51 PM »

I don't have many pics to share but I just want to say that there has been a major catastrophe here in Vermont. There are many communities that have been cut off by washed out bridges. The motorcycle shop here in Brattleboro had 40" of water. You can see a power outlet by the front door. Water was 4" below it. This was the meeting place for the Godzilla relay for the Vermont to Maine leg.

The state has lost three covered bridges that I know as well as some conventional bridges. Many more are washed out and damaged. A few houses were lost downstream that I've seen.
Damage reports are still coming in. If you have any travel plans coming up in New England, forget 'em or put on some knobby tires. It's that bad.

scunny · « **Reply #1 on:** August 28, 2011, 07:19:49 PM »

sad to hear you are getting a hammering. mother nature always has the final say.

Gordon · « **Reply #2 on:** August 28, 2011, 09:39:14 PM »

My wife just told me about this. The town she grew up in, Johnson VT, is partially under water.

faux fiddy · « **Reply #3 on:** August 29, 2011, 12:26:41 AM »

Quote from: scunny on August 28, 2011, 07:19:49 PM

sad to hear you are getting a hammering. mother nature always has the final say.

As we say when we see the blue and red disco lights ...

Better them than us.

And then there is empathy , too.

andy750 · « **Reply #4 on:** August 29, 2011, 05:12:17 AM »

Some more pics from VT...

1. Flat St, Brattelboro,

2. Rt 30, Jamaica, VT

3. Wilmington, VT

I guess you wont be getting much riding done this week Cupcake $:-\$

BobbyR · « **Reply #5 on:** August 29, 2011, 07:06:49 AM »

I guessed we dodged the bullet somewhat in my part of NY. I hate to see homes and businesses destroyed. it amounts to the death of a dream.

Frankencake · « **Reply #6 on:** August 29, 2011, 07:06:50 PM »

Quote from: andy750 on August 29, 2011, 05:12:17 AM

Some more pics from VT...

1. Flat St, Brattelboro,

2. Rt 30, Jamaica, VT

3. Wilmington, VT

I guess you wont be getting much riding done this week Cupcake $:-\$

Andy, I don't see that any riding in Vermont will take place this year. Over 200 roads are closed. Countless bridges are washed away. In the picture of Flat street, the two trucks belong to Stanley Lynde. They are right in front of his shop there. I took the day off from work and helped him dig out. He got 40+ inches of water in and through his shop. The floor was covered with 8-10 inches of mud. A vintage Oliver lathe, a Bridgeport mill, a TIG machine, were all under water. Plastic bins of old Harley engines sunk. Tool boxes completely submerged. Not to mention the bikes that were underwater. I counted about 15, maybe more. Three bikes made it out unscathed as they were on lifts. His 1917 HD was under water, a Hercules 2000, A real Kenny Roberts ZX11.
We managed to get all or most of the mud out of the shop. Everything was taken outside and most of it got hosed off. The bikes were taken away. There is a weeks worth of clean up there. Months to rebuild an established business.
Apparently, his insurance doesn't cover anything.

Stev-o · « **Reply #7 on:** August 29, 2011, 07:11:09 PM »

Saw this on the news, sorry to hear.

We really wanted that hurricane in Texas. Seriously.

Terry in Australia · « **Reply #8 on:** August 29, 2011, 07:19:09 PM »

Sorry to hear it mate, we've had some bad floods here in Oz this year, and the funny thing is, most of the insurance companies haven't paid out months after the event. People are still living in their garages and now the media spotlight has moved away, they don't have any good news coming soon. I hope things work better on your side of the pond Cheers, Terry.

mrbreeze · « **Reply #9 on:** August 29, 2011, 07:20:13 PM »

Quote from: Dustreel Revlooshun Cupcake on August 29, 2011, 07:06:50 PM

Quote from: andy750 on August 29, 2011, 05:12:17 AM
Some more pics from VT...

1. Flat St, Brattelboro,

2. Rt 30, Jamaica, VT

3. Wilmington, VT

I guess you wont be getting much riding done this week Cupcake $:-\$

Andy, I don't see that any riding in Vermont will take place this year. Over 200 roads are closed. Countless bridges are washed away. In the picture of Flat street, the two trucks belong to Stanley Lynde. They are right in front of his shop there. I took the day off from work and helped him dig out. He got 40+ inches of water in and through his shop. The floor was covered with 8-10 inches of mud. A vintage Oliver lathe, a Bridgeport mill, a TIG machine, were all under water. Plastic bins of old Harley engines sunk. Tool boxes completely submerged. Not to mention the bikes that were underwater. I counted about 15, maybe more. Three bikes made it out unscathed as they were on lifts. His 1917 HD was under water, a Hercules 2000, A real Kenny Roberts ZX11.
We managed to get all or most of the mud out of the shop. Everything was taken outside and most of it got hosed off. The bikes were taken away. There is a weeks worth of clean up there. Months to rebuild an established business.
Apparently, his insurance doesn't cover anything.

Sorry to hear this and REAL sorry about the insurance part of it. Guess they call it an act of God and not covered.....

74cb750 · « **Reply #10 on:** August 29, 2011, 07:37:28 PM »

Yep, pretty bad in my area.
3 bridges out, 2 almost finished being rebuilt, other was a covered bridge
recently restored.

Neighbors 3 kilometers from me have extensive damage.
One house we watched as the Saxton's River took first the
shed, then the gardens, childrens' playset (heavy 4x4 construction)
then started lapping at the foundation.....

I have been out since 7am helping neighbors.

Local villages were being partially evacuated due to the rise in the
Connetticut River.

Only can go in one direction from my house out to the highway due
to flooding of houses going in the other direction (where houses were
damaged by the flooding)

Watched as many large trees, play toys, debris and oil heating tanks
were swept down the river spilling their cargo,
and slamming into the local bridges. Really smelled like oil for a long distance.

One local kid rescused a lady trapped in her bottom floor apartment as she
did not want to leave without her cats. They were freaking out, naturally. By the
time he got her out the
Water was over the doorknobs.

I must have cut/moved at least 2 cords of heavy, debris ladened wood today and
it is time for me to crash so I can help a local dude clean out his garage and house of
mud ant try to convince him that "Hey, it's only a new muddy Harley. Now if it was a Honda CB550..."

peace,
michel

ps i will post pictures at my offsite storage later....

74cb750 · « **Reply #11 on:** August 30, 2011, 03:27:45 AM »

Here is a link to some of the pictures my son took.
No honda Motorcycles were damaged in this storm,
but I can't say the same about my Honda Civic.
FYI: do NOT use your Honda Civic to catch falling tree branches!

http://www185.pair.com/canukvt/odd/2011_VT_STORM/

the videos will not mean anything to you if you don't know the area,
so I did not post them.

peace,
michel

andy750 · « **Reply #12 on:** August 30, 2011, 04:50:58 AM »

Hey Scott and Michel

So sorry to hear about all the damage to the beautiful state of VT. Not good at all. And yeah I think you are right Scott that there wont be much riding done in VT for the rest of the year. Now to figure out how am I going to get to Brattleboro!!??

Good luck in cleaning it all up and let me know if you need a hand.

cheers
Andy

Duke McDukiedook · « **Reply #13 on:** August 30, 2011, 09:31:11 AM »

Quote from: Stev-o on August 29, 2011, 07:11:09 PM

Saw this on the news, sorry to hear.

We really wanted that hurricane in Texas. Seriously.

No kidding, the ground there would have sucked up all that rain, no flooding at all.

Frankencake · « **Reply #14 on:** August 30, 2011, 05:49:54 PM »

Andy, The road to Brattleboro is open, so fear not. Michel, let me know if I can help. I'm an under an hour or so away.

74cb750 · « **Reply #15 on:** August 30, 2011, 06:51:20 PM »

After work today I went to help a friend clean out his house....
now I know why he was crying on the side of the road.....
his house went down the river along with his wierd HD/Triumph/Yamaha sidecar project,
his turkeys and chickens...

(traffic was not allowed down the road past his house yesterday,
and RT 121 is still blocked off
at the end of my road, between Saxtons River and Grafton VT.)
So sad.

Have not been able to locate him, but what can I do?
Where his house was is now a field of stones.

Will try to find him in the next few days to see if he wants me to find
a bulldozer or backhoe to start rebuilding.
Maybe I'll cheer him up by giving him a "project CB750".

Thanks for the offers of help people.

Not much I can do at my house except wait for FEMA to show up
to help me rebuild the retaining wall next to my garage.
If it fails, I lose tons of bikes, tools and parts,
kinda dangerous right now as it is leaning AT least 10 degrees, ie,
I will go out of business for a while....

Send me your prayers for now.

peace,
michel

PS will post more pictures if I can find the time on wednesday/thursday.

burmashave · « **Reply #16 on:** August 30, 2011, 06:52:29 PM »

It completely blows me away that I was riding those very same roads just two weeks ago. It was indescribably beautiful then.

burmashave · « **Reply #17 on:** August 30, 2011, 06:55:35 PM »

Prayers your way, Michel.

74cb750 · « **Reply #18 on:** August 31, 2011, 03:11:41 AM »

Actually if someone wants to help me,
if you know someone with Large Rocks whom can build a
real retaining wall 1.75meters x 27 meters
have them contact me
that would take a load off my mind.

I posted on Craigslist, but only got one reply from a guy
whom said he could not do it soon as he broke his leg....

peace,
michel

BobbyR · « **Reply #19 on:** August 31, 2011, 09:32:33 AM »

I would imagine you will be able to find debis fairly easy to find. Cement, blocks, asphalt. They will probably give it to you for nothing and dump it. Then you can dress the top with gravel so it looks decent.

Greggo · « **Reply #20 on:** August 31, 2011, 11:16:32 AM »

My thoughts are with you guys dealing with this right now. Bobby, you are 100% right about the death of a dream with those homes and businesses. Reports are saying this is now one of the top ten most damaging ($$ wise) natural disasters in American history.

74cb750 · « **Reply #21 on:** August 31, 2011, 07:41:28 PM »

Bobby,
yeah well can not use deb ris as I want it to look nice,
and it is a straight drop with the roadway only 9 feet away.
Town would not allow it and it wouldn't work.

But thanks for the thought.
peace,
michel

burmashave · « **Reply #22 on:** September 01, 2011, 05:32:50 AM »

I know this would be really sub-optimal, but what about jacking/bracing the wall until somebody becomes available? I'm guessing that heavy equipment and supplies are hard to find right now.

74cb750 · « **Reply #23 on:** September 02, 2011, 05:31:45 AM »

Bobby,
you have got that right!
I am functioning on 4-6 hours sleep for past week.
Very busy cutting trees etc etc,
helping neighbors and
then comes the reconstruction jobs I have lined up....
So far looks like I'll be busy for next 8 weeks.

Good does come out of it , I guess.

Time, just don't have the time to shore up the garage,
besides, I am not really sure how to do it and the people
whom do, are not available. If it goes over the side, then the insurance
people will have to pay for not being timely to repair the wall.

Difficult to find 1 meter rocks and the equipment to move said rocks.

peace,
michel

Bob Wessner · « **Reply #24 on:** September 02, 2011, 09:36:51 AM »

I Know it is of little consolation to those affected, but the news here lately has been about how long folks have been without power. All I can say is, that last Friday my wife and I were headed from Ann Arbor to Columbus, OH to visit the kids. I can't tell you how many Consumers Power and DTE trucks we saw in mini-convoys heading south on US-23. They exited at the I-80/90 interchange heading east. Then in Ohio, we noticed the same, but they were heading north on I-71. I'm sure they were all pre-positioning to move in and help as soon as the worst weather was over. These reciprocal efforts are common in disasters. Hang in there.

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Author Topic: VERMONT! Massive flooding and destruction of roads and bridges. (Read 3689 times)