C-Forum

Having moved away from Vermont just 15 months ago, I am listening to the news and stories from friends about the flooding throughout inland New England with an overwhelming feeling of helplessness. I am keeping Jeremy, Kaz, the folks at Zoar outdoor, and all of the other members and friends of the c-boating community in my thoughts and prayers.

As you all are digging out, please let us know what, if anything, we can do. Hope you are all safe!

Paul

http://ireport.cnn.com/open-story.jspa? ... DOC-663819

Thank you for your thoughts from all of us in the Northeast.

The storm itself wind-wise wasn't as bad as expected - trees down, some cars crushed and roofs punctured, power out in the Adirondacks in places for at least the next 4-5 days - quick frankly we go through this every year or two and it's not a big deal.

What IS a big deal is the water. Typically with the usual storms we get some localized flash flooding, which when it hits the main rivers brings them up a little, but it's not a big deal.

THIS time entire watersheds (multiple) got hammered... with more rain.

Check out some of the images from the Albany, NY paper:

http://www.timesunion.com/

And realize that things up north are often worse. Bridges, roads washed out, and will likely not be passable for some time.

That said, locally (Glen Falls) we were very, very lucky and it wasn't a big problem. The Hudson in front of the house isn't any where near flood stage. The same can't be said of the Hudson 40 miles south....

Over in VT I hear several (many?) covered bridges were washed away. Montpellier was almost flooded, too.

It's not over yet, either - some rivers won't crest for another day or two.

Lots of trees down in Eastern NC. Many of them on or in homes. We got power back late Monday night (in town). Some folks won't have it this week. Yesterday I drove through where a tornado wiped out several homes. It's sad to see folks looking at their world scattered across a field. I was out of communication w/ the world for a few days & haven't seen what happened after the storm left us on Saturday. The damage is worse than should be expected for this category of storm. Y'all stay safe while digging out from this.

we largely were spared around here. I never lost power, didn't lose any trees, and I'm on high ground. We do have a small brook running through the yard, but even that stayed mostly in it's banks. There are some roads that washed out- the Kancamangus Highway is going to be closed for quite some time. The East Branch Pemi was completely re-arranged. But overall, it's nowhere near the scale of what VT got.

A friend of mine was at Loon during the storm (her boyfriend, a class V hair-boater, started paddling early and walked off when whatever he was on started flashing). She sent photos of the East Branch of the Pemi that looked like more like the Zambezi. Do you know where the Kanc get washed out?

Thanks,
Shep

Richmond, Va. got clobbered pretty hard. The vast majority of trees that came down in our area were red oak--pretty odd fact. Our neighborhood has all above-ground lines and filled with old-growth trees. Many home got damaged from falling trees. My family was lucky--the 50-year old red oak that fell in our backyard picked an angle that just barely brushed our house but fell across our power lines and my fence. I was on the front porch when it fell and I could clearly hear the cracks of the tree falling and the cracks of the powerline poles as they were bending and snapping from that sudden weight.

Power got restored Saturday night after 8 days of no electricity. Got phone/internet/TV back just a couple of hours ago. We were fine at home with running water and coolers filled with ice, and my little trusty camping stove for brewing coffee the old-fashioned way.

Utility crews in our area are from Georgia Power, and Duke Power. They're still restoring power to our neighborhood as we were one of the worst-hit areas they've seen. Add the hurricane to all the earthquakes and tremors (originating about 35 miles from my home, at least 12 since the first 5.8 shake) over the past three weeks and we've been having quite an exciting few weeks.

Thanks for the good thoughts, shep.

Charlemont MA took a big hit I know zoar had some major Issues, Lost a raft barn in the flooding, retrieved all the rafts I think, But there was alot of the raft guide/Kayak instructers with their gear stored there as well a couple of related lost posts on NPMB due to that storm. I know the road past Zoar Gap on the Deerfield had one lane collapse into the Gap so well ave to wait and see how that changes the rapid.