Ripton versus climate change

The National Climate Assessment has appeared, and it has challenging news for Ripton.  Climate change is going to hit us hard, and is already hitting us.

According to the Addison Independent's summary, climate change impacts appear in a variety of ways:

The Northeast will be plagued by heat waves, heavy downpours and sea level rise. 

The changing climate will greatly affect the maple syrup, timber and seafood industries. 

States with aging infrastructures, like Vermont, will be further damaged by more frequent and more damaging floods 

Boreal forests will recede to higher elevations

Those of us who remember tropical storm Irene will find special meaning in this extra point:

The report also noted that states with populations centered along rivers and in flood plains are particularly vulnerable to increased precipitation.

“In mountainous regions, including much of West Virginia and large parts of Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire, more intense precipitation events will mean greater flood risk, particularly in valleys, where people, infrastructure, and agriculture tend to be concentrated,” the report states. 

Ripton's own Bill McKibben appears in the article.

“It was one more rock on the pile; there has been a steady stream of giant reports dating back to 1995 and all have said about the same thing,” McKibben said. “This one just adds that climate change is no longer a future threat — since we haven’t done anything about it, it’s now a very real part of our life.”

Seminar on our river

Flood mitigation experts Mike Kline and Amy Sheldon will hold a seminar in Middlebury on September 5.  They will discuss "strategies for avoiding post-flood impacts through river corridor and flood plain protection. "

The event is free, and will take place at the Vermont Folklife Center.

Rains becoming dangerous in Vermont

This summer has been unusually rainy, which has been annoying.  But now the rains might become dangerous to people and to roads.

Governor Shumlin warns us to watch for flooding.

“The ground is so saturated after days and days of rain that any precipitation can cause serious flooding at this point...

Vermonters need to use common sense in avoiding high water areas, keeping an eye out for flooding, watching the level of Lake Champlain, which is approaching flood stage, and notifying local emergency officials if they spot problems."

Road crews are working on some of the same roads Irene hit.

Federal assistance for hurricane relief

(Very useful information received in email - thanks to Sally Hoyler)

As of today, FEMA has approved $4.3 million in assistance -- $4.2 million in housing assistance and $165,228 for other needs such as replacement of personal property. More than 2,000 Vermonters have registered for assistance, a number that will increase. To date there have been just over 700 homes confirmed as severely damaged or destroyed, and assessments continue.
There are 30 inspectors in the field and 750 property inspections have been completed. In addition, three disaster recovery centers are open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day until further notice: in Barre at Barre Municipal Auditorium, 16 Auditorium Hill; in Brattleboro at Living Memorial Park Skating Rink, 61 Memorial Park Drive; and in Waterbury at the Waterbury Fire Department, 43 South Main Street. The recovery centers are staffed with disaster recovery specialists from various federal, state and local agencies and organizations who can provide information and answer questions about storm-related assistance. Additional centers will be opening soon.
FEDERAL ASSISTANCE:

The White House has approved individual assistance for homeowners and businesses in eight counties: Addison, Chittenden, Orange, Bennington, Washington, Rutland, Windham and Windsor.

Assistance for losses sustained anytime after the storm may include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help recover from the effects of the disaster. Even those with insurance may be eligible for help from FEMA if their insurance policy does not cover all their needs, FEMA said.

Step 1: Register with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. There are several ways to register:

Apply online anytime at www.DisasterAssistance.gov.

Call 800-621-FEMA (3362) or TTY at 800-462-7585. Those who use 711 or Video Relay Service (VRS) may call 800-621-3362. The toll-free telephone numbers operate from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week until further notice. Multilingual operators are available to assist with the application process.

By smartphone or tablet, use m.fema.gov, or for devices with the Android operating system, a FEMA App can be downloaded at market.android.com/details?id=gov.fema.mobile.android.

When applying for aid you will receive a nine-digit registration number that can be used for reference when corresponding with FEMA.

It is helpful to have the following information handy:

Current telephone number;

Address at the time of the disaster and current address;

Social Security number, if available;

A general list of damages and losses;

If insured, the name of insurance company, agent and policy number; and

Bank routing number for any direct deposit.

Step 2: Receive a property inspection.

Within a few days after registering, eligible applicants will be telephoned to make an appointment to have their damaged property inspected. The inspectors, who are FEMA contractors and carry identification badges, visit to make a record of damage. They do not make a determination regarding assistance. There is no cost for the inspection.

Step 3: All applicants will receive a letter from FEMA regarding the status of their requests for federal assistance. Some will also receive an application for a low-interest disaster recovery loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Anyone who has questions about the letter from FEMA should call the helpline (800-621-3362 or TTY, 800-462-7585).

Those who receive an application packet from the SBA should complete and submit the forms. No one is required to accept a loan but submitting the application may open the door to additional FEMA grants.

STATE ASSISTANCE:

An additional resource for those whose homes have been damaged is their local Homeownership Centers. These centers are funded, in part, with Community Development Block Grant funds from the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. They make low or deferred interest loans for home repairs and can help pay for damages that are not covered by insurance, FEMA or SBA disaster loans.

Renters who have been displaced can contact the organizations listed above, local housing nonprofits, housing authorities or search for available apartments on www.housingdata.org, or by contacting:

Central Vermont Community Land Trust HOC – 802-476-4493 or www.cvclt.org

HOC of Chittenden County – 802-862-6244 or www.getahome.org

Gilman Housing Trust HOC – 802-535-3445 or www.nekhome.org

NeighborWorks of Western Vermont – 802-438-2303 or www.nwwvt.org

Windham and Windsor Housing Trust HOC – 802-246-2109 or http://www.w-wht.org/homeownership-center/

In addition, The Department of Banking, Insurance, Health Care and Securities is available to assist with questions related to floor insurance at http://www.bishca.state.vt.us/insurance/insurance-consumer/vermont-flood-informationor (800) 964-1784 in state or (802) 828-3302.

In response to the storm, the ACCD is:

· Creating a Housing Task Force, headed by Jennifer Hollar, Deputy Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Economic, Housing and Community Development to work with VEM and FEMA to develop a housing recovery plan and guide its implementation.
Working with our fellow housing agencies, Vermont Emergency Management and FEMA to identify vacant apartments that could be available for temporary housing.

Requesting a waiver from the Treasury Department that would make vacant apartments in many federally-supported properties available to any displaced Vermonter regardless of income.

Seeking additional housing and development resources in the form of block grants and Section 8 vouchers from HUD, in coordination with the congressional delegation.

Establishing a Housing Task Force of state agencies and federal and local partners to work with FEMA to develop a housing recovery plan and to guide its implementation.

Running a call-center at the Agency of Commerce to collect damage information from mobile home park and apartment owners at 802-828-3211 to provide to FEMA.

Accompanying FEMA today as they tour impacted areas and assess housing needs. Senior ACCD officials are traveling with FEMA today.

Reaching out to the private sector and the philanthropic community to help fill the gaps. T

This is a lot of information and if you have any questions, please let me know or call Ashley at 828-3806.

Very truly yours,

John



John F. Campbell

President Pro-Tempore

Vermont State Senate

The State House

115 State Street

Montpelier, VT 05059

Be careful of flood-damaged crops: Dept of Health

What crops are safe to eat, in the wake of hurricane Irene?  Vermont's Department of Health issues this advisory:

Throw away ANY food that has come into contact with floodwater.


Throw away any food that is not in a waterproof container if there is any chance that it has come into contact with floodwater. Food containers that are not waterproof include those with screw-caps, snap lids, pull tops and crimped caps. Also discard cardboard juice/milk/baby formula boxes and home canned foods if they have come in contact with floodwater because they cannot be effectively cleaned and sanitized.
For canned goods that came into contact with floodwater, remove labels, wash thoroughly with soap and hot water. Then place in a weak bleach solution made with 1 tbsp. unscented liquid chlorine bleach for every gallon of water from a known safe source and leave for 15 minutes. Re-label with marker.
If refrigerator and freezer doors are kept closed as much as possible during a power outage, a refrigerator will keep food cold for about four hours. A full freezer will keep the temperature for about 48 hours, a half-full freezer will keep the temperature for about 24 hours.
Do not cook and eat meat, poultry, fish, eggs or other refrigerated foods that have been above 40 degrees F for two hours or more.

Wash hands thoroughly with clean water and soap before and after handling food items.

Never taste food to determine if it is safe. Some foods may look and smell fine, but if it has been at room temperature for more than two hours it can make you sick. Bacteria multiply very quickly at room temperature.

If you have any doubt about any food item, throw it out.

For more information about food safety after the flood –Go to the Health Department’s website, call 800-439-8550 (toll-free) or 863-7220 – or dial 2-1-1.

Another post-hurricane resource

There's another fine Web resource for our post-Irene needs. It's from the Vermont League of Cities and Towns.

Resources offered or requested by Vermont municipalities relating to Irene
flood damage. Contact Cory Gustafson at cgustafson@vlct.org if you would like to
add city/town resources or needs to this list.

Collitt and Jewett speak to the storm

Two Riptonites reflected on our roads after the storm. From the Addison Independent:

In one location, the Middlebury River took out a swath of guardrail, noted
Ripton Selectman Richard Collitt.

“It’s nothing as serious as 2008,” Collitt said, harkening back to a brutal stretch of rain that erased several portions of Route 125 and took out entire sections of some local roads in Ripton, East Middlebury, Salisbury, Leicester, Goshen and Hancock.

“The town roads fared a lot better,” Collitt said, though he cautioned that some
small bridges on private roads in Lincoln likely sustained some damage that
might not be covered through federal disaster aid grants.

Indeed, most of the repairs made to local infrastructure following the 2008 flood — including the new Lower Plains Bridge in East Middlebury — stood up to Irene. The exceptions proved to be a small trunk of the Ripton Road and a washout on either
side of the culvert near the town garage.

Rep. Willem Jewett, D-Ripton, noted the washout areas of Route 125 were in some of the same locations as in 2008.

“I have a strong feeling that a different way of repairing (Route
125) would be in order,” Jewett said.

125 closure

Route 125 is being closed, from Hancock to East Middlebury. Flood damage.

125.

Thunder on the mountain

Ripton was hammered by a sudden, fierce thunderstorm just now.

We received a flash flood warning, and weren't alone:

... A line of strong thunderstorms will move through Caledonia...
eastern Addison... north central Rutland... northwestern Windsor...
Orange... south central Orleans... southeastern Chittenden...
southeastern LaMoille... southwestern Essex and Washington counties...

At 531 PM EDT... a line of strong thunderstorms was located from
Stillwater State Park to West Cornwall... moving southeast at 25 mph.

Central Vermont floods

Parts of cental Vermont suffered flood damage from rain this week. Here's one story about Barre, and a blog post about Montpelier.



How did your home make out, in Ripton or elsewhere in our rainy zone?

Bill McKibben, Riptonite, interviewed: part 1

Ripton writer and cofounder of this blog Bill McKibben is working energetically to help mitigate and understand climate change. He graciously agreed to let me ask him some questions about our small town's role in an age of a transformed planet.

This post is the first in a short series.

Some of these questions were crowdsourced from the Web. I'd like to thank Doug Reilly, Kathryn Tomasek, Fred Moody, Ed Webb, JohnnyGunn, Erica Stephan, and others for their thoughts.


What are some of the best ways for a small, rural town like Ripton to respond practically to climate change?

well, we have to figure out how to make ourselves as resilient as possible in the face of changing conditions--the flood should have been a major wakeup call, and it feels like we've at least begun to respond. and we have to figure out how to make ourselves more self-reliant in the face of what will be rising energy prices/increasing shortages. efforts to figure out hwo to power our lives clsoe to home are a great idea--i keep hoping the day will come when we'll look up at the ski hill and see a windmill turning

and most of all we all have to figure out how to play a part in the political drive to cut emissions. ripton has been enormously supportive of our efforts at 350.org, for which i'm eternally grateful. in a sense it's where it all began, at the frost turnout when we stepped off on that first march to burlington in 2006

Which habits should we consider changing?

well, for rural areas transportation is always hard. patronizing the actr bus would be a good start--even though it's sometimes inconvenient. one of my resolutions for the year!

What are the best ways to learn about climate change in 2011?

for people who like weather, i recommend a blog by jeff masters at weather underground. it's pretty consumed with tracking hurricanes during the summer, but all year round it gives good updates on new climate information.

(more questions and answers to follow)

Ripton and a Riptonite's new book

One Ripton author has a new book out. And this article prominently features our town in discussing it:

I wrote the preface to my new book EAARTH on a gorgeous spring afternoon in
2009, perched on the bank of a brook high along the spine of the Green Mountains, a mile or so from my home in the Vermont mountain town of Ripton. The creek burbles along, the picture of a placid mountain stream...

Bill McKibben then returns to some recent Ripton history:

...but a few feet away there’s a scene of real violence a deep gash through
the woods where a flood in the summer of 2008 ripped away many cubic feet of
tree and rock and soil and drove it downstream through the center of the
village. Before the afternoon was out, the only paved road into town had been
demolished by the rushing water, a string of bridges lay in ruins, and the
governor was trying to reach the area by helicopter.

Notes from the November flood mitigation meeting, part 2

Notes from last night's town flood mitigation meeting:
*These notes are rough. We welcome amendments and corrections!
The first part of these notes can be found in this blog post.

Part III: the plan
Roy Schiff then described the proposals for mitigation flood damage.

1. Shoring up riverbanks, or "armoring" them, with stones. These stones, called riprap, should have a mean diameter of three feet, will be obtained from rocks already on site, as far as possible.
2. Emplacing a "grade control structure" to further stabilize banks. This will be a large rock structure, situated on the riverbed.
3. Excavating a flood chute across the stretch of land enclosed by the river's bend. This chute can carry extra water straight across that land, drawing it away from the road. The chute already exists, as we can tell from sand repeatedly appearing after rains and high water on the western edge of the land; this excavation will deepen the chute, letting it pull more water from the river. Digging won't stretch the whole length of the chute, but will focus on the first third, east/above the village, since the middle third of the land is already low enough to serve.

Part IV: discussion and questions from the community

Amy and Roy fielded questions and comments throughout the meeting. I didn't catch 'em all in these notes, so please don't hesitate to add yours in comments!

Question: what's the timeline?
Answer: over winter, the plan is put out for bidding. Permitting should happen in early 2010 (with the Army Corps of Engineers, among others). Work should start - roughly - in July. Timing depends on a lot of factors, of course (including V-Trans schedules).

Question: who pays for this, and how much will it cost?
Answer: FEMA and the state of Vermont have agreed to support this, which should cover much of the cost. The town might have to pay some. Some affected landowners may also be approached to contribute. It's very hard to cost the project out at this stage, given complexity and fluid (sorry) circumstances.

Question: what will cover the flood chute?
Answer: it apparently won't look that different, a mix of rocks and foliage. More of the former will be exposed through digging, while more of the latter will be planted for cover.

For more information, please contact Amy Sheldon. We'll also blog this story as it unfolds in the coming months.

Notes from the November flood mitigation meeting, part 1

Notes from last night's town flood mitigation meeting:
*These notes are rough. We welcome amendments and corrections!

I. Introduction
Warren King introduced the session by describing the planning process and background. After the disasterous 2008 floods, Ripton sought to reduce damage from future events. The emerging plan runs counter to current wisdom about river management, but is best suited to Ripton's conditions.

Timeline for the project: In March 2009 the subject came up at town meeting. Community involvement grew, grown by a May publish meeting to mull options. Contacts with Vermont river professionals led to the development of a plan, and winning funding from FEMA and the state of Vermont.

The purpose of this meeting (November 17) is to share developments with the town, while eliciting community responses and reflections.

II. Managing an unruly river
Next, Amy Sheldon explained the content of river management. When the 2008 floods struck, she and others were already working to improve the Middlebury river corridor's sustainability.

The current state of the art in river management holds that the best way to reduce flood damage is to let waters find their own equilibrium, shifting human construction and habitation accordingly. The state of Vermont is transitioning to this view, but the Ripton case is exceptional, due to local conditions (the closeness of village to water, plus costs).

Some work has already been done for the whole Middlebury River. For example, an East Middlebury bridge now has a properly sized span. A group has also purchased land on the south side of the river there, in order to led futures floods have room to carry water and silt. Upslope, this group is also working with landowners on the middle branch of the river.

In Ripton, the group is now working with landowners east/above the town to acquire land in order to allow future floods to run off there.

(The meeting continued with another presenter; see next post.)

More information on the Ripton flood mitigation project

More information on the Ripton flood mitigation project: first, the title is

Ripton Village Flood & Erosion Protection Project

Second, some history:

In August of 2008, the Middlebury River jumped its bank and flooded Ripton
Village. Areas along the right (north) bank of the channel were severely
eroded during this storm event and portions of Vermont Route 125 upstream and
downstream of Ripton Village were washed out. Addison County
received an emergency declaration after this event and Federal money was made
available to Ripton to stabilize the stream bank and reduce future erosion and
flood hazards.

Third, about the present, and the near future:

The Town of Ripton has received funding from the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) through the Vermont Emergency Management (VEM) Hazard Mitigation Program to hard armor (rip-rap) approximately 710’ of the right bank of the Middlebury River, to construct a channel grade-control weir, and to re-connect an historic flood chute on the left bank.

(thanks to Amy Sheldon for emailing)

Agenda for Tuesday night's flood mitigation meeting

Here's the agenda for Tuesday night's flood mitigation project meeting:

1. Introduction – Laurie Cox and Warren King, Town of Ripton
2. Project Overview – Amy Sheldon, Project Manager
3. Construction Details – Roy Schiff, Engineer
4. Discussion and Questions

Ripton river problems: meeting this Wednesday

How can we reduce flood damage to our town?

That's the subject of a meeting this Wednesday, May 20th, at 7:30 pm, in the community house. Riptonites will be there, along with some Vermont River Management Program staff and a locally-based river geomorphologist.

The goal: to look at Ripton’s flood history and consider strategies for dealing with future floods. We suffered last year from an unusual flood (see these posts for more stories and background).

Warren King notes:

“With the increase in the intensity of storms we are now experiencing, Ripton faces the threat of additional flooding, especially in the area of Ripton village in the Ripton Hollow area along Route 125, where an additional foot or two of flood water last summer would have been devastating.”

For details contact Warren King, 802 388-4082, or kinglet@together.net.

Free Press reflects on Ripton flood and post office

"Last year was a tough one for Ripton," begins a Burlington Free Press article. The story summarizes developments with FEMA aid for our town after the 2008 floods.

Note, too, this quick summary of last year's postal service crisis:

Then because of an administrative error, the town's post office was closed, which meant that folks in Ripton had to drive to East Middlebury to collect their mail.

Not long after the town's residents raised a fuss about the post office closing and brought the service back online...

Three Green Mountain trails to be closed to snowmobiles

Three Green Mountain trails will be closed to snowmobiles this winter, according to the Times Argus.

The Green Mountain National Forest recently announced three trails — Leicester Hollow, Texas Gap and Boyden Brook — will not open for snowmobile traffic this winter, cutting off trails utilized by the non-profit Vermont Association of Snow Travelers (VAST).

"These are trails that were damaged during the Aug. 6 flood," said Rob Hoelscher, acting district ranger for the Rochester and Middlebury Ranger District. "This will impact VAST to a degree because none of the trails have alternative routes and there are no alternatives that can be made between now and snowmobile season."

East Middlebury bridge out until May?

The Lower Plains Road bridge in East Middlebury won't be repaired until May, according to the Addison Independent.

Middlebury officials are proceeding with planning on a replacement bridge at Lower Plains Road, but they currently don’t foresee the new span being in place until next May. Middlebury, Ripton and Salisbury are among several communities still awaiting a disaster declaration through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which would pave the way for up to 75-percent aid for damage to public property associated with the Aug. 6 flood.

“Our goal is to be ready to put the project out for bid as soon as the official declaration is made,” Middlebury Town Manager Bill Finger wrote in a Sept. 8 e-mail to neighbors updating the status of the Lower Plains Road Bridge.

Affected families said they are pleased the town is working to replace the bridge, but they aren’t keen on waiting until May.