THE IMPACT: Homes, businesses flooded, roads washed out

Gene Palma of Weston shot this video of the Weston Green. The West River once again jumped its banks in a torrent, flooding the historic Playhouse, apparently higher than it was during Tropical Storm Irene in August 2011. Homes and their residents along the river and the Town Office Building are also being impacted. Streets have also been washed out.

See our earlier article: As flood waters rise, crews rescue campers, residents in Andover, Cavendish, Derry, Ludlow

Thank you to the many people who contributed to this article with the information, photographs and videos.

Click any photo to launch the gallery.

By Shawn Cunningham, Cara Philbin and Cynthia Prairie
© 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Residents of Ludlow were awakened before sunrise to news of widespread flooding from the Black River that runs through the small resort town at the foot of Okemo Mountain.

By 6 a.m., swing sets, mailboxes and lawn chairs were floating past incapacitated vehicles. And wildlife, including a family of skunks, were  seen fleeing for higher ground. Route 103 both north and south bound soon became impassable.

While waters briefly subsided, officials anticipated additional surges and recommended “evacuating 100 south and Andover Street.”

They weren’t wrong. By 9 a.m., the shopping center at the bottom of the Okemo Mountain Access Road which includes two sporting goods stores, a restaurant, the post office, and the local Chamber of Commerce, was so far underwater that even road crews had to pull back.

Jeffrey Blais, who lives above Tacos Tacos on Main Street in Ludlow and shot this video to the right, describes what he sees from his front steps. It’s a humorous and poignant 90 second narration.

Shortly after 1 p.m., residents began reporting a dam breach at Site 1 between Route 100 south and Ken Adams Road, as photos from the eastside of town showed water levels midway up the doors of an Audi SUV. Thirty minutes later, a dispatcher with the Ludlow Police Department told The Telegraph that “every river in town decided to come over at once. There is no way in or out of Ludlow.” He said the dam had not broken but that emergency responders and town officials were already too overwhelmed to give a full interview. “Stay out of Ludlow, if you can,” he cautioned.

Residents have not seen flooding this catastrophic since 2011, when Tropical Storm Irene swept over 8 inches of rain through the middle of Vermont, destroying many roads.

If you are in need of medical attention, there is a temporary first aid station set up at the police station on West Hill Road.

Weston Playhouse floods again

Nearly 12 years ago, when Tropical Storm Irene whipped through Vermont, the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company was just about to stage the world premiere of the musical Saint Ex. The Playhouse had just done some major renovations including an upgraded elevator and a new orchestra pit with a new grand piano.

By the time Irene left town, the piano was floating in the basement of the Playhouse and the rest of the instruments in the orchestra pit were ruined. The costumes in the dressing rooms were muddy mess and townspeople were washing them and hanging them to dry in the sun.

Today, according to David Raymond, president of the Weston Community Association that owns the building, the water level in the basement of the Playhouse is nearly a foot higher than it was during Irene.

“It’s a mess,” Raymond told The Telegraph. “And it doesn’t make much sense to try to pump it out. We found that out last time.”

Raymond said that this time there’s less to be destroyed. There’s no restaurant and the entire space is less used. He noted that the building superintendent had taken a few days off, but is returning to see what needs to be done going forward.

Susanna Gellert, executive artistic director of the Weston Theater Company, said that while the basement is still used as a dressing area, the orchestra pit was not in use because the current show Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, features musicians playing on stage. Gellert had those actors leave their instruments on the stage during the storm.

“We don’t have a hard and fast plan for getting going again,” said Gellert noting that the best case would to be back on stage in a day or two. The theater company’s other stage — at Walker Farm  — was dry according to Gellert.

Neither Raymond nor Gellert had been able to make their way to the Playhouse by early afternoon due to flooding over the bridge into town from Landgrove Road.

One person who did manage to make it into the building was Gene Palma, who lives on Main Street in Weston. He was out early this morning shooting photos and videos of his community including some shots of the flooding of the theater.  By mid-afternoon he said that while he was OK – his home was suffering from a wet basement – others “were not so good.” He said one local store owner lost both a car and a boat, both of which went down the river.

Jeff Seymour, owner of the Colonial Inn on Route 100, just south of Weston proper, said even though his inn is on higher ground, that ground is saturated from the constant rains and his basement is taking in water. The other thing his inn is taking in are flood evacuees. He said that he and his wife Kim are housing a couple of residents of Weston plus 11 people from the Weston Theater Company.

The above drone footage from Tuckerman Wunderle on Monday afternoon shows Chester coming south from the Stone Village, with the now muddy Williams River first on the left hand side, then on the right coming feet from the historic Yosemite Fire House, Town Hall and Elm Street homes.

The weather catches up with Chester’s roads

Chester  seemed to miss a lot of the fate that engulfed Weston, Londonderry and Ludlow. But that was not to last.  “We skated earlier today on most road issues, but unfortunately it is catching up with us now,” Chester Police announced on Facebook as it listed the following road closings:

Lovers Lane, Jewett Road, Thompson Road, Coburn Road, Smokeshire Road, Legion Road, Wymans Falls Road, Popple Dungeon at Contro Road, Andover Road/East Hill Road, Route 103 north of Route 10, Green Mountain Turnpike, Flamstead Road to Route 11 east and Fenton Road.

But those were just the start: Route 103 north of the Stone Village was then shut down and Popple Dungeon Road at Ethan Allen had become a river running east.

Chester Police also said that there was a U.S. Geological Survey team monitoring water levels in area and that at 2:27 p.m. rivers had increased by more than 2 feet in one hour. Police advise that 4 inches of moving water can lift and move a fully loaded cement truck off a roadway, so if you see flooded areas and moving water, please do not attempt to cross it.

Police are saying that they will try to keep up with the road closures but emergencies are the first priority.

At 4:21 p.m., Weston Emergency Management announced that the rivers were still rising.

Sharon Baker, who lives above her downtown Chester business, said late Monday afternoon that she walked around and saw a lot of “ponding on Main Street and my back yard is ankle-deep in water.” She also noted that both the Jiffy Mart and the Sunoco — two gas station/convenience stores across from one another — are now flooded.

A drone photo by Tuckerman Wunderle shows water from the Lovers Lane Brook all but surrounding the Chester-Andover Elementary School.

The Bartonsville Bridge and power outages

Anyone who was here in 2011 remembers the video of the Bartonsville Covered Bridge being tipped off its abutments and into the Williams River. In less than two years, a replica of the bridge was constructed and opened with some engineering — including raising the bridge — to help it fend off future flooding.  Burleigh Sunflower got this photo of the bridge still standing and we can hope it stays that way.

Flooding and its damage has been the most difficult problem.  But at 5 p.m. Green Mountain Power announced that 788 customers in our area were without power in four towns: Chester  72; Andover 2; Londonderry 9; Windham 68; Springfield 17; Ludlow 30; Cavendish 353; Weathersfield 223.