With all the flooding problems just south of me in the southern Maine beach towns backing up northwest to the Concord, NH area and can't help being reminded of the great flood in the MRV forcing the cancellation of the B&J Festival up at the Bush and reeking heavy damage to many areas of the valley. Any of you have some memories or stories of survival of this devastating event you can share?

At the time I was communiting from Montpelier to the valley. I worked the previous winter at the Bush but had not been hired fulltime/yearround yet so I was doing some small job contracting until I was rehired in August. I was headed to a house I had been building some massive brick steps and walkways from the owner's house to his pond. This was the first time in several years I was going to miss the B&J Festival but I had some bills to pay. Turns out I didn't miss it and was streak was still going...lol

When I got to Kenyons Hardware on Rt 100 Vermont troopers had closed the road into Waitsfield. What a site to behold! The fields on both sides of Rt 100 between Kenyons and the WT building were turned into this huge lake that looked like hot chocolate and the hay bales sealed in that white plastic were floating and bobbing like those little marshmellos you get in instant cocao. I did make it to my jobsite but the most amazing damage was done to Rt 100 going thru Granville Gulf. It looked like one of those up and down rollor coaster rides consistant more like an eathquake than a flood.

I was amazed how fast they rebuilt that road.

I remember that..I was in Monroe NH at a friends house...don't remember why. Her brother was heading over to the Fest then turned around after he heard it was cancelled. He was pretty bummed as I'm sure many valley residents were!
Just on the other side of the Valley, Bristol had quite a flood 2 summers ago. A thunderstorm sat on top of Bristol for 2 hours. Bridges were washed out, some folks on Mountain Street had substantial damage from run-off of the mountain, and the Merchant's Bank almost went over it's bank into the New Haven River. Some friends of ours who lived in New Haven at the time were trapped on an "island" for a while as all bridges were washed out around them. There are still some homes that cannot be occupied due to flood damage...one of which is at the intersection of 116/River Road in Bristol which many of you folks may have driven by on your way to the Valley (if you go that way).

nelsapbm wrote:

I remember that..

Welcome over here, nelsapbm!

nelsapbm wrote:

I remember that..I was in Monroe NH at a friends house...don't remember why. Her brother was heading over to the Fest then turned around after he heard it was cancelled. He was pretty bummed as I'm sure many valley residents were! Just on the other side of the Valley, Bristol had quite a flood 2 summers ago. A thunderstorm sat on top of Bristol for 2 hours. Bridges were washed out, some folks on Mountain Street had substantial damage from run-off of the mountain, and the Merchant's Bank almost went over it's bank into the New Haven River. Some friends of ours who lived in New Haven at the time were trapped on an "island" for a while as all bridges were washed out around them. There are still some homes that cannot be occupied due to flood damage...one of which is at the intersection of 116/River Road in Bristol which many of you folks may have driven by on your way to the Valley (if you go that way).

Welcome to the forum! As you can see there are several NELSAP'ers here.

I used the think the northeast was devoid of the huge natural disasters more common in other parts of the country but not anymore. Major floods ice storms leave signs for many years to come.

ski_resort_observer wrote:

I used the think the northeast was devoid of the huge natural disasters more common in other parts of the country but not anymore. Major floods ice storms leave signs for many years to come.

We've got our own brand of disasters... we definitely don't get the hurricanes (well, maybe the October storm that was the remnants of Wilma, but that's not really a hurricane)... tornadoes are extremely rare... very few mass fires... what else...no volcanic eruptions!

I do feel that my current house is about as safe as you can get, with the geographic advantages, and the fact that we're at 800 feet and way up the hill from the river...