This morning as I watched some of the 9-11 memorial services on television, I was so saddened while watching the names and ages displayed on the screen as family members read the names, and I thought how dreadful that so many lives were destroyed that day, so many families' lives changed in an instant. So much sadness. I was relieved when I had to leave to send my CoCoRaHS report.

After sending my report of no precipitation (something to be thankful for, these days), I checked my e-mail. I had a message from a cousin in Connecticut with a link a friend had sent her of the devastation from Hurricane Irene in parts of Vermont. I know we've seen lots of this, but there were more here I hadn't seen, and as I scrolled down through the slides, I began to think about how the flood, for those people directly in its path, is another huge catastrophe right here in Vermont. Surely, not comparable to the lives lost ten years ago on this day, but people are having to deal with so much loss - of property, crops, their independence and dignity - it must be overwhelming. Take a look: Mansfield Helicopter Photos

When I see all the roads and bridges that will need to be repaired and replaced, I wonder if our small state, even with the help of FEMA, will ever fully recover - and how in the world even our federal government, while financing wars and facing a economy that continues to spiral downward, can continue to prop up again and again disaster areas after floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and fires.

Another thought that plagues me is, can/will the roads and bridges be rebuilt in some way to prevent such widespread disasters in the future? Short of moving out of valleys, I'm not sure how this could be done, but after the great Flood of 1927, dams and reservoirs were constructed to hold back water from rushing into towns, and some of our infrastructure such as railroads, was never the same. Did the reservoirs work this time? Would towns have had more damage had there not been the reservoirs in East Barre, Wrightsville and Waterbury, for instance? Was the scare at the Molly's Falls Dam during Hurricane Irene because they didn't anticipate the storm and let some of the water out before it arrived? or was there just too much flowing in so it was nearly overwhelmed? Are our rivers filled with sediment and therefore need to be dredged to allow more flow without overflowing their banks? I'm sure people with lots of expertise are looking at these things - there are on-going studies about river management in Vermont , so I expect measures can and will be taken to prevent future natural catastrophes, just like measures have been taken to prevent terrorist attacks. But, will they work? We'll have to wait and see, I guess. They will surely be another test.