CHESTER, Vt. – Like many of the surrounding communities, Chester faced considerable damage wrought by the flooding on Monday, July 10. Several days later, on Thursday, July 13, the Chester Selectboard held a special meeting to hear updates from town manager Julie Hance on the flood’s impact, the town’s emergency response, and the plans for rebuilding going forward.
“Almost all municipal roads had some impact on them,” Hance told the board, noting that the vast majority of Chester’s roads are dirt roads, which erode much more easily than paved ones. Six roads had what Hance called “extreme damage,” including Smokeshire Road, an important thoroughfare which runs along the Williams River. As a result, there was no connection between Chester and Ludlow, and would not be “for a while.”
Hance noted, however, that mitigation efforts put in place in the wake of hurricane Irene had done as intended, making the damage less severe. Infrastructure such as bridges had held, and structural assessment on all five of Chester’s bridges was to be carried out by VTrans engineers the next day, Friday, July 14.
A boil water order had been put in place in the wake of an eight-inch water main break, though as of the meeting on Thursday the order had been lifted. There was only minor damage to the sewage plant, said Hance.
The Chester Reservoir Dam was the greatest concern at the time of the meeting, with “significant damage to the earthen part of the dam,” Hance told the board. As of Sunday, July 16, engineers had surveyed the dam, and the earthen part of the dam had been backfilled and stabilized. The Town of Chester continues to monitor the dam’s stability.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was, according to Hance, going to be arriving in Vermont at the “beginning of next week,” a timetable which had been pushed up from previous estimates of several weeks. This would allow property and business owners to apply for disaster relief funds. Hance noted that, unlike during the aftermath of Irene, property owners did not need to hold off on making repairs until FEMA was able to see the damage, but did need to thoroughly document all damage and work done on their properties. FEMA funding, Hance said, was currently set at 75% reimbursement, with the possibility of increasing to 90%, pending continued action by the state.
Selectboard Chair Arne Jonynas thanked Hance for her work, and issued a warning to motorists driving on roads around Chester. “I want to make sure that people go slow on these roads,” he said, “because there’s places that are undermined that we don’t even know about.” Jonynas also noted that “20 or 30” water rescues had been performed on the first day of the storm, thanking the emergency services and personnel who had been involved in carrying out those rescues.
Hance told the board that she would continue to compile a list of takeaways from this response, and present them to the board at a future meeting. One takeaway she did note was that, while the town used social media to communicate information via direct posts, they are unable to respond in a timely fashion to social media comments. The best way to be in touch about urgent matters is to call or email the town office, Hance said, explaining, “We cannot monitor social media comments during an unfolding disaster.”
There was discussion of a possible update meeting the week of July 17, with the date to be announced. Otherwise, the selectboard’s next scheduled meeting is Aug. 2, at 6:30 p.m., at the Chester Town Hall.