Vermont Irene Disaster Hurts Us All

I haven't posted on this blog for a couple of days because like everybody else in Vermont, I've been dealing with what is perhaps the worst disaster the Green Mountain State has ever seen.

Four people have died, buildings and houses have washed away, hundreds of roads are closed, a few of our iconic covered bridges that had been there for over 150 years were swept away, and towns are isolated.

I'm suffering from a bit of survivor's guilt. I was extremely lucky. Property damage at my house in St. Albans, Vermont consists of a few fallen branches.

The Winooski River roars past Winooski,
Vermont Monday. 

I work as a reporter at the Burlington Free Press, so I've been talking to lots of people who lived the worst of the flood.  Vermonters, me included, are proud and parochial about our state. It's corny as hell to say, but we love our beautiful villages, farms, small shops and rivers.

Some of that is in ruins. There's a video floating around YouTube of a covered bridge in Rockingham,  Vermont collapsing in the flood. Everyone who has seen it said it brought them to tears.

The power of the water, and where it went astounds everybody. I'll never get over it. There was white water on Main Street in Brandon, Vermont that pushed a pizza restaurant 25 feet downriver. In Wardsboro, four houses disappeared. They found a roof in the middle on Route 100 in Wilmington. Nobody knows where it came from.

Many of the towns hit hardest by the flooding were some of Vermont's prettiest. Grafton. Wilmington. Weston.

Some of my favorite places in Vermont are wrecked. The Weston Playhouse. The Alchemist, a brew pub in Waterbury that had the best beer in the state. (They hope to rebuild) My favorite swimming hole in the Mad River was surely hit. I wonder what that looks like.

Below is a video I shot of the torrent rushing past Winooski, Vermont yesterday.


But my mild anxiety pales in comparison to everybody else. I know a lot of people who suddenly have no house. Or no job. No prospects. What are they going to do? Nobody knows, and that's what really gnaws.

That's the refrain I keep hearing. Nobody knows. When will the road out of town reopen? Nobody knows. When will the electricity come back on? Nobody knows. The weather has been weird. Will we get a storm like this again in the coming years? Nobody knows. And that's the scariest unknown.

As always, Vermonters are turning out in droves to help out their flooded neighbors. There's no shortage of good ideas to help. On radio call in shows yesterday people suggested we raid our undamaged gardens and take the harvest to emergency shelters.  A couple of women in Waitsfield set up a table yesterday to solicit volunteers to help business owners start cleaning up. In less than an hour, the pair had 30 people helping out.

We help each other here in Vermont.  At this point, that's about all we've got. And that just might be enough.

Irene's Magical Sunset

Hurricanes are giant heat engines, blowing hot, wet air high into the atmosphere ahead of them.

The upper atmospheric hot air forms a layer of high thin clouds that are essentially smoke coming from the hurricane's chimney. Those clouds often spread out well ahead of an advancing hurricane.

That "smoke" spread high over Vermont today, ahead of Hurricane Irene.

By tomorrow, Hurricane Irene is expected to unleash 60 mph gusts and torrential, flooding rain on Vermont.



Which means I'm not sure the nice sunset was worth it, but it was still a treat anyway, as the photos in this post show.

Thinking About Irene.....

With Hurricane Irene poised to hit the Northeast, and blast Vermont with gale force winds, flooding, power failures and a tangle of falling trees, my thought naturally turn to various aspects of this storm.

Satellite view of Hurricane Irene taking a cruise
through the Bahamas yesterday

Are people named Irene pissed off that a major storm share their name?

Who names these hurricanes anyway? After Irene, we can look forward to the rest of the hurricane season featuring the likes of Jose, Katia, Lee, Maria, Nate and Ophelia.
'
Will the lines at the liquor store in advance of Irene be longer than the lines at the supermarket and hardware stores?

Along those lines, what is the best Merlot to sip while riding out the storm in your (dark) home?

New York transit officials say millions of subway rats might seek higher ground as the subway tunnels flood during Irene. Pleasant thought, no? "Honey, these 3,000 rats think our living room is a Red Cross storm shelter. What in heaven shall we do?"

I wonder how many people will die stupid deaths in Irene. I don't mean the poor people killed when a tree randomly crashes through a house. I mean the people who look at the violent storm surge rolling toward the beach and say, "Let's go surfing!"

Speaking of which, how many news reporters are going to do the I can barely stand in the wind routine while standing on the beach telling viewers to stay away from the beach.

Will a two-by-four finally sail through a news reporter's head at 90 mph, thereby ending the tradition of news reporters standing on beaches during hurricanes?

You can always tell in advance where the storm will cause the worst damage. Just figure out where the Weather Channel's Jim Cantore is (He's a native Vermonter!) And for the record, last I checked, Cantore was reporting live from Battery Park in lower Manhattan.

Every November, I have a big bonfire from the piles of branches I clean up from storms on my property during the year. I'm going to have a really, really big bonfire this November, aren't I? Bring the marshmallows!

Will all that humidity and moisture from Hurricane Irene wreck my naturally curly hair?

Muppets Vs. OK Go

Readers of this blog know that I'm obsessed with the excellent videos from the band OK Go.
The music is good, but they do make the funniest, most innovative videos.

Well, recently they just teamed up wtih one my other obsessions. The Muppets.

The Muppets and OK Go have teamed up to do a video of the theme song for "The Muppet Show" with hilarious results.

Watch this:

Say Something NIce

I love little public pranks, especially those that are fun and make people feel a little better. We have too many negative public scenes, so why not have some goofy, smiley ones.

Which is why I like what this group called Improv Everywhere did in New York recently. The group bills itself as a "prank collective that causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places."

A couple of people accept the invite in New York
to say something nice

The group set up a lecturn with a megaphone on it. A sign on the lecturn encouraged people to pick up the megaphone and say something nice. Sure, a few people used it to promote their business or group, or just be stupid. But a lot of people said and did nice things with the megaphone, which was great.

My only worry: Flash mobs started as goofy, fun ad hoc public performance pieces. Now, some of the flash mobs are just groups of people organizing to commit crimes. I hope the inevitable copy cats to the Say Something Nice project don't go to the dark side and start hurling insults, or worse. Meanwhile, enjoy the video, below.

Zap!!! Lightning!

My weather geekdom hit me again last evening as I went on another storm chase, as severe thunderstorms crossed Vermont. I missed the wildest ones, as the storms I picked to chase weakened before I intercepted them. Oh well, Can't get them every time.

I did manage to see some cool cloud to ground lightning near Brookfield. Watch this storm video. The best moment comes a little after 20 seconds into it.

When Summer Weather Attacks

Overall, it was a nice day in northwestern Vermont today. Perfect for sitting outside for a nice lunch, a stroll along the lake, just soaking up the sun.

As a sudden downpour strikes, some diners at outdoor
tables in downtown Burlington flee, others
try to stick it out

Until, that is, until one of those tall, narrow, wet clouds passes overhead. Suddenly, the sun disappears, the sky opens up and drops a downpour, trashing your nice, outdoor lunch.

After the damage is done, in just five minutes, the sun comes back out. Back to a pleasant summer day.

One of those tall, narrow clouds that
dropped sudden showers on an otherwise
gorgeous Vermont August day.