Here's what I have on last night's severe storm damage in our area:

DANVILLE ROUTE 2
ROAD PROJECT

TRAFFIC ALERT 5/27/11

ROUTE 2 LANE CLOSURE

Strong storms last night caused extensive damage to Route 2 between Marty’s Store and Danville Village. Route 2 has been reduced to one lane travel through this section while crews work on cleaning up the damage.

Traffic control will be present to maintain traffic flow. Motorists can expect lengthy traffic delays around the project today.

Due to storm clean-up on the project, crews may work throughout the day rather than leaving the project at 12:00 Noon for the holiday weekend.

Contact Francine Perkins, Public Relations Officer, FRP Enterprises, LLC with any questions or concerns with regard to this project at 802-479-6994 or for a more up to date schedule visit www.roadworkupdates.com.

In St. Johnsbury, the construction site on Western Ave. was hard hit, the Passumpsic River is 11 ft. above flood stage and rising. The National Guard has been called upon to help out with the damage there. A house near the park on upper Main St. in St. J. was hit by lightning last night.

People along the Winooski River in both Cabot and Montpelier have been evacuated. It is expected that river has not crested yet.

I'm listening to my scanner and the damage to roads in the area is considerable. Rte. 2 to Montpelier is closed because there is a bridge out by Goodrich's Sugar House, water over the road in near Twinfield School in Marshfield/Plainfield area, flooding in E. Montpelier. As of right now, Rts. 14, 15 and 16 all have damage, so basically there's no easy way to get to Montpelier/Barre area from here.









Along the west shore of Joe's Pond, culverts have some damage, but W. Shore Rd. is still passable. The culvert on Sandy Beach Road that has been one of the trouble spots, having damage every rain storm, is completely washed out this morning. Cabot was going to replace it anyway, so some of the prep work has been done by the storm. (Pictures above.)

I just heard from Homer Fitts - he was at camp and had to get to Barre this morning for an appointment at the hospital. He said Rte 2 is closed but by going to Hardwick and taking various back road routes and streets, he was able to get to where he needed to be. Not easy, but possible. I was glad to know Rte. 14 from Hardwick to E. Montpelier is now open but he said lots of debris, so be careful.









The pictures above show some of the minor damage along W. Shore Rd. (left) and the culvert on Barre Ave. (right) where it looks as if the water raised the end of the culvert and ran beneath it. Across the road, the other trouble spot at the corner of Barre Ave. and W. Shore Rd. is intact, but again the rush of water is taking sediment from the hillside and ditch along W. Shore Rd. directly into the pond.












The brook by Ned Hamilton's was probably over the road last night, judging from the holes where it washed out either side of the bridge. The water level in that brook is still high, and you can see a large log that was deposited on the bank after floating down from above the tennis court. There is a large culvert there, but even that is being tested by the amount of water needing to get through it.

Road crews are working frantically to get roads open, but they are having a hard time getting where they need to go with equipment and manpower. Homer said he was amazed at how well covered the roads were, with cones and barriers warning traffic of bad spots. We were up well after midnight and I was listening to the scanner and hearing the chatter about getting barriers and cones out, traffic direction, closing roads, etc. Right now the crews are spread pretty thin trying to keep up with all there is to do. If you don't have to be on the road today, it's definitely better to stay at home.

There was hail, heavy rain, wind and severe thunder storms raging through most of northern and central Vermont last night. There were some lightning strikes and flash flooding, with about four inches of rain in just a few hours. I measured 3.92 inches of rainfall.

I'll keep you posted as more information reaches us. We're going to go to Cabot - Billy and Diane Rossi, on their way to Barre were directed through Cabot and called us to report things are very bad in the village, especially at the hardware store.