Douglas to witness storm damage
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By Brent Curtis Herald Staff - Published: December 29, 2008
Gov. James Douglas and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials will be touring storm-damaged portions of southern Vermont today starting with a visit to what one Vermont official said was "ground zero" of one of the most damaging ice storms in the state's history.
Seventeen days after sheets of icy rain, snow and sleet knocked down trees and power lines around the state, a team of FEMA officials begin work today to determine whether the state passed the $1 million threshold that determines whether the state will receive federal aid.
"The governor wants to check in to see how things are going with the cleanup and give his support," Douglas spokesman Stephen Wark said. Douglas will visit Wilmington, Marlboro and West Dover between 9 a.m. and noon today.
The ice storm on Dec. 12 knocked out power to more than 35,000 people in Windsor, Windham, Bennington and Orange counties.
At 9 a.m. today, Douglas and FEMA officials will meet with town officials in Wilmington to see what damage the storm inflicted on what Vermont Emergency Management Director Barbara Farr described Sunday as the hardest hit town in the state.
"That's ground zero down there," she said of Wilmington. "They were hard hit."
Every resident in town lost power during the storm and the temporary shelter set up by the Red Cross at the town's high school attracted a dozen temporary tenants and dozens of other people who came to the shelter to eat.
"Most people didn't have power until the following week," Town Manager Bob Rusten said.
The townspeople's hardships won't be on display when the governor and FEMA arrive in town today.
But a mess of fallen trees and limbs left over from the storm can still be seen lying in roadside ditches, Rusten said. He said he plans to emphasize the importance of cleaning up that debris before a serious thaw sets in and the debris creates dams that flood roads and bridges.
"We could have another disaster," he said.
To get federal help, the cost in damage and cleanup to Vermont's municipalities must total $1 million. Farr said Sunday the state was close to hitting that total due in large part to "hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars" worth of damage to two publicly owned utilities in Readsboro and the Whitingham village of Jacksonville.
She said VEM officials were calling on municipalities with any storm related damage or expenses to tally their costs and add them to the state's total.
"Five-thousand dollars of damage adds up when you've got 20 towns with that amount of damage," she said.
Contact Brent Curtis at brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com.
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