Towns across the Northeast Kingdom suffered flood damage to roads and buildings yesterday, but nowhere was hit harder than Hardwick where the Lamoille River runs directly through town.
Major travel routes to and from town in all directions were cut off due to flooding that continued into the night. On Tuesday morning Town Manager David “Opie” Upson said he had confirmed that emergency vehicles are able to access Hardwick via one lane of Route 16. Approximately 75% of the town’s back roads have also been affected, he estimated. The town’s road crew, aided by volunteer truck drivers, was moving gravel attempting to shore them up where possible.
Emergency personnel conducted one water rescue operation on Wolcott Street and low-lying areas downtown near the river were evacuated, Upson said. Guests left the Inn by the River, a motel on the east side of town between Route 15 and the Lamoille, before half of the building washed away. The other half was teetering on the edge of the river bank, he said mid-morning.
An emergency shelter at Hazen Union High School hosted around 40 people overnight and is providing them with meals, Upson said. The town’s wastewater facility was submerged, but drinking water has not been impacted. Electricity outages in the Hardwick Electric Department territory have been minor and concentrated in Woodbury, he said. Power outages were also reported in Craftsbury Village, which is served by the same utility.
Of all the road damage in Hardwick, the washout of Jackson Bridge just east of the intersection of Route 14 and 15 is perhaps the most significant. An exhausted Upson, who was awake overnight monitoring the situation downtown, said he hoped the state would be in touch soon with a plan for repair.
The recently completed Lamoille Valley Rail Trail, hailed as a new economic driver for the area, also runs through that corridor. “This sucks,” Upson said. “The rail trail is toast.”
Major road closures from flooding were also being reported in and around Barton, Craftsbury, Irasburg, Lyndonville, Troy and Wolcott. Backroads throughout the region have been eroded, some severely.
Town road crews were busy throughout the afternoon trying to restore access.
In North Troy, where the Missisquoi River crested at over 13 feet midday on Tuesday, there was extensive damage to several town roads that ran along the river, according to Town Clerk Terri Medley. Local emergency teams rescued several people who had become trapped in their cars after trying to drive through deep water, she said. To her knowledge, no residential evacuations had been required.
