Editor’s note: Today’s account of VTDigger’s coverage of this summer’s historic flooding comes from Senior Editor Diane Derby.
Dear Reader,
From the portico of the Statehouse on the morning of July 11, I watched a river of water flow steadily down State Street. The tops of parking meters were barely visible as debris bobbed in the water. The air stank of a foul mix of sewage and gasoline. Alarms in nearby state buildings were sounding as those who came out to survey the damage quietly took it all in, seemingly a bit shell shocked by the images.
Again. It happened again.
Having lived and worked in Montpelier for more than three decades, this would be the fourth major flooding I have witnessed downtown. As a Statehouse reporter in 1992, I covered the aftermath of the March flooding that devastated our businesses after an ice jam backed up the Winooski River. In 2011, we had back-to-back flood events in May and August (Irene).
But it was clear that this one was of a larger magnitude. Comparisons with 1927 would soon follow.
VTDigger had several Montpelier-based reporters on the ground when the flooding began to take hold July 10. Erin Petenko, Lola Duffort and Fred Thys eyewitnessed events unfolding in real time: business owners scrambling to protect what they could; rescue boats plucking residents from the upper floors of apartment buildings; motorists left stranded by the rising rivers.
It would be only the starting point of VTDigger’s coverage of our capital city’s water woes. And it was only one of many flooding events that VTDigger would be covering as reporters set out to reach hard-hit areas in every corner of the state, challenged by washed-out roads that made some towns inaccessible.
As a senior editor, I did my part to help coordinate that coverage. For days on end, our team worked long days and nights to find the people who had stories to tell. Our photographers captured the heartbreak of lost homes and possessions. We delivered dozens of on-the-ground eyewitness accounts to our readers.
And I remembered why I returned to a journalism career after a 20-year hiatus.
If you value VTDigger’s reporting, please join us with a contribution during our fall member drive.
Thank you for your ongoing support. We could not have responded to this summer’s events without your contributions.
Sincerely,
Diane Derby
Senior Editor
