When Tropical Storm Irene blew through the southern Vermont town of Wilmington 10 years ago this week, it pulled Dot’s Restaurant from its foundation and — unimpressed that Gourmet magazine had deemed the diner “a national treasure” — perched it precariously over a riverbank.
Reopened after a $1 million renovation, Dot’s occasionally has closed this year, either because of the pandemic or a labor shortage plaguing eateries nationwide. But the local landmark was serving up coffee and berry-berry pancakes as usual Monday.
Tropical Storm Henri, all there could see, was no second helping of Irene.
This month’s onetime hurricane drifted over Wilmington and the southern half of the state Monday, bringing a few inches of rain and, for Vermonters who recall the devastation of a decade ago, relief.
When Henri made landfall in Rhode Island Sunday, the National Weather Service issued a Monday flood watch for the Vermont counties of Addison, Bennington, Orange, Rutland, Windham and Windsor. But when meteorologists awoke 24 hours later, they reduced the alert to only Windham and their precipitation projections to an inch or two.
“There was an overall great concern and rightfully so,” Scott Whittier, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Burlington, said of the anxious anticipation. “Any time you’re talking about a tropical system, especially on the anniversary of another one, people are going to remember.”
Vermont Emergency Management helped local government entities plug into an online communication center and put shelter workers and water rescue teams on standby. President Joe Biden signed a pre-landfall emergency declaration requested by Gov. Phil Scott to allow the state to quickly receive federal support.
“The request was made out of an abundance of caution,” said Vermont Emergency Management spokesperson Mark Bosma, whose office had yet to receive a call for assistance Monday.
Utilities including Green Mountain Power, the state’s largest, spent days preparing for the storm, only to face just a handful of outages.
“Fortunately the storm caused very little damage, and crews will respond to any more reports,” Green Mountain Power spokesperson Kristin Carlson said.
Meteorologists, remembering how Tropical Storm Irene ravaged the state, feared Henri could spark a similar rash of flash flooding along small streams, in poor drainage areas or mountainous regions where water can roll down and pool.
“It’s always better to over-prepare than under-prepare,” Whittier said as Henri moved east. “In a positive way, that allowed people to plan to take action if needed.”
