January 22, 2025

By THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

A caravan of cars drove cautiously on Wednesday up East Mountain Road, Killington. They passed the remains of an old guardrail, and then large sections of road that were still intact.

Becca Balint (D-Vt.) toured the damage caused by the flooding, initially on the mountain, and later on Clover street in Rutland. One driveway in Killington was completely submerged and another had a stream that crossed it.

Brian Collamore (R-Rutland County) was one of several Rutland County lawmakers who accompanied Balint, local officials and other legislators on this tour. The group decided to stop and get out of a large washout that was on Trailside Drive.

James Haff, Killington Selectman said that this culvert never got clogged. It was at full capacity and more water poured over it. That didn’t fail. Just too much water. “Then, the water washed out everything.”

It rained between 512 mm and 6 mm in two hours during the storm on July 7.

All our culverts had reached the flood level of 25 years as a result Tropical Storm Irene. Nicole Kesselring, from Enman Kesselring Engineering, upgraded our culverts to withstand floods of 50 to 100 years.

Haff claims that federal officials are not interested in approving the bigger culverts.

The Skyeship Base Lodge was heavily damaged.

Amy Laramie, the director of communication at Killington Ski Resort said: “The entire lodge has been stripped.” There is no food preparation equipment, ticket counters or toilets.

Laramie stated that the resort is working on fixing everything in time for the Spartan Race to be held at Bear Mountain. The other half of resort has been open and fully functional.

Balint stated, “This is a challenge for Vermont.” How it impacts businesses, even when they need cash.

The flooding of Clover Street in Rutland on August 4 was dramatic, but the damage that occurred Wednesday appeared to be less severe.

Michael Doenges, the Mayor of Los Angeles told Balint to stand on Clover street and hold his hand mid-chest.

He said that FEMA didn’t cover the damages because it was an entirely different storm which caused much less damage than previous flooding.

Jim Robinson, a resident of Clover Street who lives on his property, emerged during Balint’s conversation with Doenges. Robinson told Balint after the group introduced themselves that he was not a Democrat, and the last time he had spoken to a political figure, the conversation got heated.

It’s repairable. It’s repairable. The only issue is that I fixed it last year. He said, “I pay taxes.” You go to FEMA, and you get a face slap. … I can only do so much. There is only so much you can do. … It’s repairable. “The only problem I have is that it was repaired last year.”

Robinson claimed that the application process had left him so angry and frustrated. He claimed that his family received better help locally through Goodwill and BROC.

Robinson gestured to the house across from him, saying “I’m sorry for him.” They never receive any assistance. I’m not sure if he is there. “We’re waiting for him to hear about BROC.”

Robinson said a few residents are considering legal action against the City. The storm in July had created debris that, according to Robinson, was the cause of the flooding. The city was notified but had not cleaned up the debris before the storm in August. Doenges stated that this was the very first time he heard about the incident and would investigate it. However, if it is true that the floods were linked, federal officials need to understand the nature of storms.

We were already saturated, and that’s what caused our damage. He said that the two are not related. We didn’t receive six inches of rainfall immediately.

Balint and she agreed.

We’re not going to argue about FEMA’s funding, we are debating about what criteria should be used when the storms don’t differ that much. What I’m most worried about is that people like those (on Clover street) will fall through the cracks. … It has been a strange weather. On this, we can all agree. This means that the average person is suffering.

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