Dozens of Barre residents were evacuated from their homes as high water washed through the downtown area Sunday night. Debris built up at the bridge on Harrington Avenue, causing water and mud to spill over the bank and flood neighboring houses and roads.
Barre Fire Chief Tim Bombardier told reporters Monday afternoon that some 80 structures were damaged by flooding. Seven buildings are considered uninhabitable, he said, including several apartment buildings.
Fifteen evacuees spent the night in an emergency shelter set up by the American Red Cross in the Barre Auditorium late Sunday, according to American Red Cross spokesman Lloyd Ziel. The shelter remained open Monday, and staff had met with a dozen families to ensure that evacuees have access to shelter and other services.
The Vermont National Guard, the Vermont State Police, Colchester Technical Rescue and Stowe Mountain Rescue were in Barre to help with evacuations, according to a statement from the Vermont Department of Public Safety.
Three members of the state police tactical team and Det. Lt. Lance Burnham used the vehicle to reach houses surrounded by mud and high water. According to state police spokesman Scott Waterman, the vehicle was used to rescue six children, two dogs and eight adults, including two elderly people.
Traffic moved slowly through clouds of dust in downtown Barre on Monday afternoon as bucket-loaders scraped mud off the streets. Bombardier said the street cleanup would continue over the coming days.
Amy Sherman sat with her mother-in-law, Dawn Mason, on the porch of Mason’s Harrison Avenue home, looking out at a four-foot deep gully the high waters had left behind.
Four years ago, Mason had lost most of what had been stored in her basement. After that, the family didn’t put anything back in the building’s lowest floor. Now, she said, there’s damage to the foundation and damage from an electrical fire that started in the basement Monday morning as a result of the flooding.
Gov. Peter Shumlin lauded the Barre responders and the community members.
“No lives were lost, we will rebuild, and we will make the investments necessary to ensure that we’re not back here time and time again dealing with this kind of flooding downtown and in this area of Barre,” Shumlin said.
The state and city have been working on a plan to find a long-term solution to flooding in the city’s downtown, which could include buying some 25 houses along Gunner Brook and making the area a part that could act as a flood plain, state officials said.
Plainfield Selectboard Chair and Road Commissioner Bram Towbin warned commuters to and from Barre to avoid back routes through Plainfield.
Two roads — Gore Road and Bean Road — are not passable, leaving residents stranded, Towbin said. There is also significant damage to bridges on the boundary with Barre Town, he said.
A bridge in downtown Plainfield on Brook Road is closed to traffic after a build-up of woody debris caused the water to rise up and flood a neighboring property, according to Towbin. Flooding in May 2011 led to a similar situation with the bridge, he recalled.
“We have to really come up with a way of funding these infrastructure problems, that is sure,” Towbin said Monday.
Towbin encouraged anyone affected by the flooding to take photos and document the damage.
Mark Bosma of the DPS Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security said the state will collect damage estimates from stricken communities. If the flooding caused damage of $1 million, the state could apply for a disaster declaration from President Barack Obama.
That would start a process that could result in federal disaster relief dollars to assist in the recovery effort.
Shumlin said it is difficult to know whether the state will qualify for federal assistance so soon after the flooding.
