MONTPELIER — The day after catastrophic flooding hit Montpelier in July, layers of mud and dust, piles of debris, and shuttered businesses showed that Montpelier and neighboring Barre had suffered millions in damage and forecast months of closure for businesses and homes.
By contrast, in Montpelier on Tuesday morning there were few signs of the flooding that hit the area the day before. Sandbags that businesses had used to protect their entrances were calmly stacked on the sidewalk, waiting for pickup. Stores and cafes opened on schedule and had little or no visible damage inside.
The Montpelier-Barre area received 1.8 inches of rain Monday, far less than the 5.3 inches the area received during the July flooding, according to the National Weather Service.
Business owners and city officials in both cities described how changes made after the July floods helped them to mitigate the damage they received this week.
“We were much more proactive and much more ready this time,” said Jo-Ann Dexter. Her daughter Alexis Dexter owns Kitty Korner Cafe and Forget Me Not Flowers and Gifts in Barre.
The pair had sandbagged the entrances of the business, piled their wares in the center of the room and even stuffed towels into the inside cracks of the door, just in case, Jo-Ann Dexter said.
In Montpelier, business organization Montpelier Alive and city employees set up a volunteer “hub” outside of city hall on Monday. Volunteers worked through the rain, grabbing sandbags as they arrived from the Department of Public Works and dropping them off at businesses that needed them.
Katie Trautz, director of Montpelier Alive, said the flood was “quite a scare.” The National Weather Service changed the forecast halfway through Monday, raising the estimated height the Winooski River would reach.
But fortunately, there was not that much to report, she said. Some businesses had flooded basements and were scrambling to pump them out as quickly as possible.
“They don’t want to miss a beat with this holiday shopping,” she said.
After the July floods, many businesses stopped keeping inventory and equipment in their basements, Trautz said. Some have even tried to waterproof their basements with foam lining.
Lauren Parker, owner of the North Branch Cafe on State Street in Montpelier, said she couldn’t help but keep some of her food storage and paper products in her basement, even after it flooded 12 feet in July. The restaurant is too tightly squeezed for space.
But after that flood, she purchased refrigerators and freezers that could more easily fit up the stairs of the basement. On Monday, she enlisted 10 volunteers to move equipment upstairs and ended up not losing any food.
KSherpa, an immigrant-owned restaurant on Main Street in Montpelier that suffered heavy flood damage in the July flood, was not as lucky. The restaurant was scheduled to open Saturday, but its basement flooding has potentially pushed back that date.
Business partner Jatinder Singh, 32, who also goes by the name Sunny, has been busy pumping water out of the basement all day. The water came up from beneath the building this time and left just under a foot of water, so the new furniture and kitchen equipment on the first floor was spared, he said. But it’s still extra work and more losses for the Nepali/Indian business that has been closed since July 10.
Water also made it into the basement of the Barre house where he and owner Kamal Sherpa live. The home also sustained heavy flood damage in July.
Singh said he expects to pump all the water out of the restaurant basement today but then has to dry it with a fan and clean the mess. He hasn’t even started thinking about the house yet, he said.
Montpelier City Manager Bill Fraser said the places that decided to move heating and electrical equipment to the first floor were glad they did Tuesday.
The city closed lower State Street to traffic on Monday night due to flooding, Fraser said. The street had reopened as of Tuesday with little visible signs of damage.
Fraser said there were no rescues had been performed, and he knew of no homeowners or renters who had been displaced.
Barre City Manager Nicolas Storellicastro said he also wasn’t aware of any displaced residents. The Barre Auditorium hosted a Red Cross shelter with 18 people overnight, but all of them had left by Tuesday morning.
Barre city officials closed Main Street on Monday night from City Hall Park to Depot Square. On Facebook, the city said cars passing through the water on Main Street were pushing it toward storefronts.
Jo-Ann Dexter described the floodwaters outside of Forget Me Not as about a foot high. She watched a firefighter frantically redirect cars away from the closed road — and sometimes angrily gesture at cars that defied his orders.
Storellicastro said he was proud of his staff’s response, adding that they’re “getting really good at this, unfortunately.”
He said Barre “dodged a bullet” that the flooding wasn’t worse. Berlin Street Bridge, a low-clearance bridge, still has debris lodged underneath it from July, which the city needs a specialized contractor to remove.
Luckily, Monday’s flooding was a “low debris event,” so the bridge did not sustain any further damage. But it was a reminder that the city has to fast track raising the bridge, he said.
Parker said she feels strongly that the communities in the region need to figure out a way of “dealing with the river.”
“We need watersheds. We need ways for it to slow down before it reaches downtown,” she said.
Rep. Jonathan Williams, D-Barre City, popped into Forget Me Not on Tuesday to see how the business was doing. He said Gov. Phil Scott should have taken stronger action on Monday.
“I do think the state needs to coordinate a better response,” he said. “And that doesn’t fall on him alone. That falls on everyone, including all of us.”
Auditi Guha contributed reporting.
