Charlotte facing huge bills for storm-damaged road repairs
This story has been updated.
Charlotte residents can be forgiven if they have been sleeping with one eye open and a hand on their wallets for the last couple of weeks.
After the flooding that came to town the night of July 10 and 11, there have been a series of storms that might have increased their concerns about the possibility of more property damage — both public and private.
A number of town roads and private driveways were torn up by rushing waters, and the cost of making things safely drivable could be big.
Selectboard chair Jim Faulkner said the price tag for all of the road repairs may be as steep as $2 million.
East Thompson’s Point Road is back to two lanes after extensive work to repair the areas where it had become dangerous to drive near the side.
Faulkner said, so far, the town has not gotten a clear answer from the federal or state government about how much, or even if, they will help pay for fixing the damage.
“It’s a real issue. How are we going to fund this? We need the federal money and need the state to give us some money as well,” he said.
Although the town is already applying for help, Faulkner said, “There’s really no guarantee that they’re going to give it to us.”
“There are people in town who are thinking, ‘Oh, well, FEMA will take care of it.’ That’s not the case,” he said. “With a little bit of luck on some of the projects that we’re doing on the road to have FEMA pay for 75 percent.”
In a later conversation, Faulkner said, although FEMA officials have been in Vermont, they haven’t made it to Charlotte yet, so there is still no word on how much if any help the town might get from that agency.
But even if the town gets lucky, it will still be on the hook for 25 percent of the expense.
Repairing the damage on Spear Street between Carpenter and Lime Kiln roads where the Mud Hollow Brook’s raging waters wreaked havoc, washing a culvert downstream, will be expensive. Faulkner said it may cost as much as $700,000 to repair the damage here, so even if the town benefits from government largesse, 25 percent will be a hefty price to pay.
Road commissioner Junior Lewis said it may be two-three months before Spear Street is opened here.
Besides the expense, the town needs permission from the Vermont Land Trust, the state’s river and stream management department and the landowner. There is just one landowner in the one-mile stretch of Spear Street that is closed, but the erosion is so extensive that it goes beyond the town’s right of way.
For the time being, Spear Street is closed where it crosses Mud Hollow Brook. Lewis has parked trucks at both Carpenter Road and Lime Kiln Road, blocking vehicles and the curious from traveling here.
The rest of the damaged roads in town are open and back to two lanes, Lewis said.
Getting the roads back in use has been quite a bit of work for Lewis and his crew of two. They have been working 12-hour days, since tropical storm Beryl dropped 6 inches of rain in one night, on road damage, including East Thompson’s Point, Greenbush Road near the Williams Woods Natural Area and State Park Road.
Charlotte’s infrastructure isn’t designed to handle that much rain in that short of a time, Lewis said. Normally, the town is OK with an inch and half of rain in that timeframe, but now the ground is saturated, so he hopes heavy rain is gone for now.
Charlotte Library director Margaret Woodruff said in a post to social media that the Vermont Department of Libraries has asked libraries around the state to remind communities about the following resources available for flood damage:
- Whether or not they are submitting an insurance claim, residents should report damage to Vermont 211 by using the Resident Form (vermont211.org/resident-form) or Business Form (vermont211.org/business-form). This data will be used to help the state apply for a federal disaster declaration.
- The Vermont Agency of Transportation is offering a package of enhanced incentives for income-eligible Vermonters whose personal vehicles were damaged by flooding (accd.vermont.gov/flood).
- The Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity has resources available for flood victims who live in mobile home parks including the Flooding Recovery Assistance Fund (cvoeo.org/get-help/mobile-home-park-rights-and-resources).
Lewis praised the help he has gotten from Faulkner, saying the selectboard chair had gone “way beyond the call of duty.”
When Faulkner asked what he could do to help with the road repairs, Lewis said that, if the town was going to apply for financial help, it would need pictures, and Faulkner and his wife Nancy have been photographing the damage.
Of course, the damage isn’t limited to public roads. On Thursday, July 11, after the rain had stopped, Lewis got 76 calls, for driveways or private roads that needed to be fixed. He had to tell them that, as road commissioner, the town is his first priority.
On this Tuesday, July 16, he received 17 calls for people needing road repairs. On Wednesday evening, as he was being interviewed for this story, Lewis said it was pouring at his home on Ferry Road.
Getting the roads back in use has been quite a bit of work for Lewis and his crew of two. They have been working 12-hour days, since tropical storm Beryl dropped 6 inches of rain in one night, on road damage, including East Thompson’s Point, Greenbush Road near the Williams Woods Natural Area and State Park Road.
Charlotte’s infrastructure isn’t designed to handle that much rain in that short of a time, Lewis said. Normally, the town is OK with an inch and half of rain in that timeframe, but now the ground is saturated, so he hopes heavy rain is gone for now.
Lewis praised the help he has gotten from Faulkner, saying the selectboard chair had gone “way beyond the call of duty.”
When Faulkner asked what he could do to help with the road repairs, Lewis said that, if the town was going to apply for financial help, it would need pictures, and Faulkner and his wife Nancy have been photographing the damage.
Of course, the damage isn’t limited to public roads. On Thursday, July 11, after the rain had stopped, Lewis got 76 calls, for driveways or private roads that needed to be fixed. He had to tell them that, as road commissioner, the town is his first priority.
On this Tuesday, July 16, he received 17 calls for people needing road repairs. On Wednesday evening, as he was being interviewed for this story, Lewis said it was pouring at his home on Ferry Road.