Ludlow, Cavendish continue cleanups, rescues after historic floods

Emergency service providers and private citizens in Ludlow and Cavendish continue to work around the clock to clear roads so that displaced residents may eventually return to their homes.

Green Mountain Railroad freight service had to be suspended because railroad tracks in both Cavendish and Ludlow collapsed, according to CBS News.

Click any photo to launch gallery.

Emergency response equipment sits at the Ludlow Police Department. All photos by Cara Philbin.

Response teams along the eastern seaboard continue to make their ways into towns devastated by flooding in south-central Vermont. “We have a lot of resources coming in,” Ludlow Emergency Response team leader Angela Kissell said on Wednesday, two days after Monday’s deluge turned Ludlow into a mud-filled mess. Kissell was noticeably moved by the outpouring of support. “It’s just been overwhelming.”

Ludlow Fire Chief Peter Kolenda agrees. “There has been tremendous support from the community, an outpouring of food and water from area businesses.” Kolenda says the main priority right now is “to get the roads back in shape and make them passable so we can access all of Ludlow. Getting them back to their previous condition isn’t the focus right now. We just want to get people access to their houses.”

ALSO IN THE TELEGRAPH

• July 13 Cleanup begins after massive rains wallop region
• July 13 More storms in forecast Thursday night through weekend
• July 13 West River Farmers Market in Londonderry suspended for July 15
• July 12 SBA readies to aid individuals, businesses and nonprofits with disaster recovery aid
• July 12 Flooding updates from town of Londonderry
• July 12 Chester ‘boil water’ order is lifted
•  July 10 THE IMPACT: Homes, businesses flooded, roads washed out  
• July 10 As flood waters rise, crews rescue campers, residents in Andover, Cavendish, Derry, Ludlow

Kolenda said more than six emergency teams are helping with clearing and rescue, including local fire and ambulance units, Urban Search and Rescue and Swift Water rescue teams, the Vermont National Guard and Civil Support team, and a state HazMat team from in Rutland.

Joe Connors came from Merrimack, N.H., to lead up Shaw’s recovery efforts.

In addition, Shaw’s sent workers from as far away as Texas and California to help clear and reopen the only grocery store in town. That team is run by Joe Connors of Merrimack, N.H., who said the Ludlow store had “a little over 2 feet of water that affected the whole store.”

He said they will muck out and clean the entire store, from shoveling out silt and debris to pressure washing and sanitizing and doing a full product inventory. Connors anticipates they’ll be done in a week or so.

On the other side of the Shaw’s parking lot, volunteers unloaded a truckload of supplies sent by the company for residents, including food, diapers and water. Several towns are under a boil water advisory due to contamination of their water supply from run off.

Supplies were initially brought to an emergency tent at the Ludlow Police Station, but starting Thursday that hub will  be moved to the Ludlow Community Center because of impending flood threats. And according to volunteer organizer Lynda Jelley, there may not be much left to move. “Shaw’s promised another truck  from down country because this whole delivery just came in and it’s almost gone,” said Jelley.

On Wednesday, emergency teams worked to dismantle and remove leaking propane tanks and massive trees blocking mountain and village access roads, and multiple tons of mud that washed down from Okemo Mountain has been plowed into heaping piles.

‘The infrastructure they repaired after Irene
largely held, but this storm found new weaknesses.’

Mike Ripley
Member,
Cavendish Select Board

From left, volunteers Chris Rogers, Austin Barr Ficken, Otis Nelson and Jessica DeRosia unload a truck of donated provisions from Shaw’s.

Local business owner Troy Caruso has been one of the main providers of utility vehicles, said Shannon Barton-Stark, Ludlow’s cemetery commissioner. The golf course he owns borders the cemetery she manages. After other access points to his fleet of four-wheelers and side-by-side UTVs washed out, he called her to unlock the cemetery so emergency teams could use the vehicles.

Barton-Stark also owns a cleaning service and has been connecting displaced people with second homeowners willing to house them. “So far, I’ve put four families into three homes.” Her nieces also ran a donation-based lemonade stand that raised over $250 for families in need in a single afternoon, and local restaurants like DJ’s and Johnny’s Kitchen have been offering free meals and air conditioned places to decompress in sweltering temperatures.

Frank Cioffi Jr. of Vermont HazMat told The Telegraph that his team is working closely with the National Guard’s Civil Support team to access rogue propane tanks. One started leaking on Pleasant Street Extension. “The way it landed, it was upside down in mud, which kind of sealed it up. But when they went to roll it over, it started leaking like hell. The valve had been sheered right off, leaving an inch and a half hole.”

Ludlow Fire Department Fire Chief Peter Kolenda, Deputy Chief Frank Kissell and Frank Cioffi Jr. of the Vermont HazMat team discuss their coordinated response to the flooding.

Cioffi said the gas “vented into the atmosphere, and we never got any real high reading, even with four or five people holding meters down there.” The teams used the National Guard’s utility vehicles to get to some of the tanks. “They have all the good toys,” said Cioffi.

Ambulance Chief Stephanie Grover, a paramedic, said, “Ludlow was cut off from everywhere very early on” and that emergency response teams have done several water rescues. Her team set up a First Aid station in both Ludlow and Cavendish because “there was no way to get people out of the town.” Those units temporarily operated as clinics because it was impossible to reach hospitals. Grover said the only reason she was able to return to Ludlow on Monday was because a member of the Proctorsville Fire Department had an “army truck” capable of driving on washed out roads.

Grover said one truck driver had to be rescued. She said he tried to drive through flood waters but then had to climb onto the roof of his truck when it began to fill with water and float away. The driver then jumped into a hot tub floating next to it and USAR had to use drones to find him, Grover said. She said the team had to hike in for the rescue. Once they located him, she said, “they got him on the roof of the Timber Inn, gave him a life jacket and swam him back to the Community Center,” about half a mile away.

Main Street residents Erin Kirk-Elkin and Christian Mayo returned home to find their Honda Fit submerged in water.

Cioffi chimed in. “I thought, what’s a hot tub doing in a tree?  … But it saved that truck driver’s life. He was there for five hours before USAR got there. The current was so strong they had to wait to get to him.”

According to Grover, by the time crews reached the truck driver, he was hypothermic from being in water for five hours, but paramedics also couldn’t access a hospital. “We did everything we could on scene.” The driver was eventually taken to a hospital for further treatment, Grover said.

And Grover said their work extends far beyond water rescues. “We’ve been to one person in town three times today because they can’t check their blood sugar and can’t get their prescriptions because the pharmacy and Post Office were flooded.”

Every person The Telegraph spoke with said the damage is worse than Tropical Storm Irene.