BARRE CITY, Vt. (WCAX) – Barre City was caught in the crosshairs of this round of flooding. Thursday afternoon, residents were digging out and drying out.
It’s similar to the scene a year ago, with Main Street left in a cloud of dust as homeowners and businesses again assess the damage and work to dig out from the deluge.
Floodwaters from Gunner Brook and from the Stevens Branch ripped through town, and once again flooded basements.
The north side of town again took on heavy water damage, and there’s also minor damage to several side streets and railroad tracks in town
For a community still in the throes of recovery from last year’s floods, the storm is painful.
Ann Boutin co-owns Guy’s Repair Shop, coming up on 50 years. After seeing two of the worst flooding events in their history in just the last year, they say they’re considering closing up shop for good.
“I’m thinking about closing the doors. I know we’re an asset to the community, as there’s only two businesses that do this type of work. We have our clientele built. But we’re in our 70s and we have to think about ourselves now,” Boutin said.
The flooding and the total damage aren’t as bad as last year, since many raised their utilities out of the basement per city regulations. But everyone says this is difficult timing– one year since floodwaters upended lives.
It was still an active scene Thursday afternoon as the community looks to clean up, again, from another big flood.