Weather, Flood, and Joe Pye Weed

 Good Morning!

There is a lot going on these days - the recovery from the recent high water here at Joe's Pond and the terrible damage done to surrounding communities; and just when road crews and contractors working to clear debris and repair the damage had made some progress, yesterday and last night we got another blast of rain. I measured .98 inches this morning, and I know other areas got more. Not what we needed, by any means, but flash flood warnings are being put up again.

In case you haven't seen it, WCAX produced a segment about Cabot Village's flood damage. It's impressive. The Cabot community has come together to clean it up - again. The town has a long history of flooding. Years ago in the 1840s when the few remaining businesses finally moved from the geographic Center of Town, part way up what is now Danville Hill Road, to the banks of the Winooski River where the business center is today, an old-timer grumbled that the town fathers were "fools to move into the swamp." It was (and basically still is) swamp land where Cabot's Main Street is today. There was a mill pond where the soccer field is now, and both sides of the present Main Street were marshy pastures and wetlands. With the Winooski River running north to south through town, and brooks feeding into it from hillsides along the way, all at points within the short distance between the foot of Bond Hill on the Northeast and the creamery at the other end of town, the Winooski gains much of it's strength as it flows through Cabot Village. With buildings, paving and other "tinkering with nature" activities, the natural wetlands have been filled in, and while this may work for a time, it is certain that the laws of nature (and physics) are always going to work to take back whatever has been altered and taken away. Thus, excessive rain will create floods that will continue to rip apart what humans have built, unrelentingly tearing away anything unnatural in its path to find new routes and resume a natural flow.

There have been many flooding events over the years. Here are photos of the two main problem area in Cabot - the first picture was taken in 1897 and is of  the brook from Cabot Plain coming into the Winooski River at the north end of the village, where the old town garage used to be. It runs under the road at the foot of Bond Hill and enters the Winooski by the ball field. Photo is from the book, Cabot, Vermont, A Collection of Memories of the Century Past, pub. 1999.

The second photo, also from the Cabot oral history book above, is also damage due to the flood of 1897 and shows the Farrington Block, which is where the Cabot Garage is now. This brook comes from Danville Hill area and runs through a large culvert next to the hardware store in the business district. This area has washed out numerous times. Over the years there have been repeated similar events - in 1927, 1958, 1973, Hurricane Irene in 2011, just to mention a few. The same location (shown below) took another hit from our recent flooding.,

This photo was posted on FPF a few days ago by Cabot resident Neil Bainton. It shows the same spot, only instead of the Farrington Block, the Cabot Garage is there now and took a direct hit as the brook overflowed, washing out the street and bank at the Hardware store on the west side of the street in the foreground. Mud and water flowed down Glinka Road above the Willey building (the gray building on the right that houses the town offices and library) filling the parking lot and the town offices on the lower level with water and mud. To see more photos of this latest disaster, go to the Album of photos from citizens in Cabot and posted on FPF by Neil Bainton.

Here at the pond things are looking pretty good, and it seems most folks have located missing dock parts and water toys that floated off. Jamie and Marie (Jamie is the "buoy boy" for Joe's Pond Association, and my youngest son) took a ride around the two larger ponds yesterday and he told me this morning things were looking pretty good. Most people have set their waterfronts back in order and aside from some random sticks and possibly small logs that may have been a result of washed-out beaver dams in the channel, they didn't see a lot of debris in the water. It is still very murky, so probably not a good idea to go swimming yet - but that may depend on where you are located. Some spots may be clearer than others. However, at the beach there are two hazards - contamination coming from everywhere as the water flows north to south and ends up by the beach before it goes over the dam and down the brook; and there is the increased current of water flowing over the dam. Right now, that current is unusually strong, and anyone swimming at the beach will need to be extra careful not to get caught by that swift current.

This notice came this morning from Marti Talbot, 1239 West Shore Road: 

FREE used wooden raft available. We recently bought a new inflatable one and looking for someone to take this 4 ft x 4 ft one. Available for pick up at 1239 W Shore Road. Will require a few strong folks to lift out. Free delivery by boat for those on Joe’s Pond. 

FREE used wooden dock section available. Recently replaced by metal structure. Section is 3 ft x 6 ft. Eye hooks for tying up boats on sides and for connecting to other dock sections.

I will end with a photo from Cousin Ora, presently at Newark Pond. this is Joe Pye Weed - common along roadsides as well as cultivated in natural flower gardens. It is a favorite of butterflies and bees, with a pleasant vanilla-like scent. Thanks, Ora - very pretty. It looks to be not fully opened yet, but I expect in a few days the butterflies will be very happily sipping nectar from it.

We have a day or two of nice weather to dry out a bit, but more rain expected off and on, and especially this weekend. In the meantime, the smoky haze from Canada wildfires is back. Stay safe.