SCARS REMAIN IN BRATTLEBORO
As published on page one of the September 17, 2011 edition of The Keene Sentinel, and online.
BRATTLEBORO -- Stanley Lynde sat in a folding chair outside of Lynde Motorsports on Flat Street Friday afternoon, enjoying the sunny, crisp weather and the company of a half-dozen friends.
"I haven't done any work to get paid for since the flood," he said, sounding unexpectedly cheerful.
Lynde's shop, where he specializes in repairing and restoring vintage motorcycles, was filled with more than 3 feet of water when flooding caused by Tropical Storm Irene tore through Brattleboro and much of the rest of Vermont last month.
Almost three weeks later, the small, brick building is dry and almost mud-free. To a casual observer, it's hard to see where flood damage starts and the typical organized jumble of a workshop begins. But -- as with much of the town -- behind the improvements of the past weeks lies serious damage that will take longer to heal.
Lynde has thrown out $100,000 worth of merchandise and equipment, he said, and the shop's $1 million dollar insurance policy does not include one penny for flood damage.
"When I left my house (after the flood) I knew the government would be no good to me, and the insurance company would be no good to me. And when I got here there were 20 of these guys here with shovels and rakes and gloves," he said, gesturing to his friends.
Since then, Lynde and his rotating crew of volunteers have worked 10-hour days, organizing and cleaning mud from thousands of motorcycle parts.
A 1917 Harley Davidson Motorcycle has been carefully dried off.
"That will always live," Lynde said. "If you don't fix that, it's a part of history gone."
Flat Street, the business district thoroughfare that became a tributary to the Whetstone Brook when it burst from its banks on August 28, reopened to traffic again on Thursday.
Up the road from the motorcycle shop, the Brattleboro Boys and Girls club reopened its doors to its approximately 1,000 members last week.
Inside the club, a hole about a foot high runs around the base of the walls, cut to facilitate drying. The wooden basketball court and dance floor have been removed.
"We're playing basketball on concrete for now; it's not that bad," said Ricky Davidson, the club's director.
He, too, praised the outpouring of volunteerism that followed the flood.
"We wouldn't have been able to open were it not for that," Davidson said. "I had strangers walking in off the street asking what they could do to help."
But the doors to other Flat Street institutions remain closed. A sign outside the Latchis Theater still reads "Closed Sun. Hurricane."
Next door, workers were passing in and out of the lobby of The Latchis Hotel Friday afternoon, still busy cleaning out the building's basement.
A notice on the hotel website offers hope that the business will be open at the end of this month.
All the roads in Brattleboro have been reopened, according to Brattleboro Fire Chief Michael Bucossi. But "open" is not the same as "passable" -- the Williams Street Bridge is gone, but can be approached from either side.
Two hundred and eighty-six housing units in 143 properties were damaged by the flood, according to town officials. Most residents have been able to return to their homes, but there are exceptions. The Brattleboro Housing Authority has relocated residents from Melrose Terrace, a housing complex for seniors and people with disabilities in West Brattleboro.
And Bucossi estimated that five other West Brattleboro households also remain displaced.
Town employees are still going door-to-door in affected neighborhoods, helping people assess the damage to their property and work through the paperwork to register for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Many residents are faced with problems involving water contamination, mold and air quality, Bucossi said.
In addition to the Williams Street bridge, only one other bridge in town is still closed.
The Stark Road Bridge over Halliday Brook was completely washed away, Bucossi said, and the gap that was once spanned by a 28-foot bridge is now 150 feet wide. That bridge -- and the changed landscape where it once stood -- is an example of the kind of problem that will take longer than a few weeks to resolve.
"We've done the emergency work, but we haven't really done the permanent repairs," Assistant Town Manager Patrick Moreland said.
Other washed out bridges have been replaced with temporary structures designed to last years, rather than decades, Moreland said, and working on the permanent fixes will require the town to establish it's own relationship with FEMA.
Meanwhile, residents are continuing to pitch in to help each other, through ongoing volunteer efforts and fundraising concerts.
Assistance can be as simple as visiting Brattleboro for dinner and a little shopping, according to Selectboard Chairman Richard A. DeGray.
"We're open for business," he said.
Back at the motorcycle shop, Lynde said he's already learned one lesson from the disaster.
"Once I recover monetarily, I'm going to get flood doors," he said.
tagged with: brattleboro, Hurricane Irene, Vermont
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