Douglas, federal officials survey flood damage

RIPTON, Vt.—Gov. Jim Douglas and federal officials toured flood-ravaged parts of Addison County on Thursday as more storms dumped more rain on Vermont, triggering yet more flooding, including in the capital city of Montpelier.

"The most significant problem I think is the village of Ripton, that's isolated because Route 125 is closed both west and east of that area," said Douglas, a resident of nearby Middlebury.

"It took us 40 minutes to get to Ripton from Middlebury because we had to snake our way through the North Branch road, the Lincoln Road, some back roads that make it very difficult to get up to Ripton in an emergency," he added.

Douglas toured the area both by road and in a National Guard helicopter with Arthur Cleeves, regional administrator with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Barbara Farr, director of Vermont Emergency Management.

Cleeves said he expected the damage the state saw on Wednesday likely would qualify for federal disaster assistance.

"We wanted to look today, to be with the governor and director Farr as we look at the damages from the most current storm that just happened yesterday, to see that first hand." He called the damage he saw "significant."

Ripton saw flooding in June; some of the roads the town had worked to fix were damaged again.

Hours after the morning tour in Addison County, torrential rains began falling farther east, in Washington and Caledonia counties. In Montpelier, people waded through knee-high water outside the Kellogg-Hubbard Library on Main Street and numerous businesses had water in their basements.

Douglas said state crews were working to restore at least one lane of Vermont Route 125, the main road to and from Ripton, before dark on Thursday, to ensure emergency vehicles can reach the community. That work was completed later in the day, but the road was kept closed to regular traffic.

Many of the roads closed Wednesday were being reopened on Thursday, but more storms were moving through Vermont, bringing more rain.

Douglas said that worried him. "All of our rivers and streams are quite high now, even where there's been no damage, the rivers are running high and there's not any capacity for additional rainfall. So, I would urge all Vermonters to maintain vigilance in their personal lives and property and to stay aware of warnings that the emergency management office may be putting out over the coming days to ensure they don't suffer any other harm."