PLAINFIELD, Vt. (WCAX) – For the second time in two years, Plainfield residents were left to assess their new reality after Wednesday night’s torrent that left some homeless.
“I heard the boulders rolling, they’re bigger than Volkswagens, they’re rolling down the hill. Just this jarring, really grating sound. Almost sounds like the ground shakes,” said Scottie Harrison of Plainfield.
In Plainfield, residents awoke to a different world outside their doors. On Mill Street, an old bridge washed away, leaving the remaining pavement dangling dangerously over the edge. Locals gathered to gawk at the destruction.
“This is kind of it. I’m kind of in shock. This is pretty bad,” said Jane Bradley of Plainfield.
On the other side of the river, an apartment building known as Heartbreak Hotel ripped open, revealing an intact kitchen. The rest of the walls fell into the river.
Officials say three other homes, a mobile home and several cars were washed away, too.
“There are some people here they’ve lost everything. And it’s just really, it’s overwhelmingly sad. Overwhelming and sad,” said Winona Johnson of Plainfield.
Around the corner from the bridge, a thick layer of silt coated cars and fallen trees on Hudson Avenue.
“Very quickly, the water was up on the porch, up to the door, pouring everywhere,” Bradley said.
Some can’t even access their roads. Harrison watched from her Brook Road home as an entire portion of the road gave way.
“The road disappeared and we had to walk into the woods and walk around to get to where the next piece of pavement was,” she said.
Many residents said they were just beginning to patch up the damage of last year’s flood only to watch it wash away. Johnson said her neighbors had just fixed their home when the floods hit.
“I would walk back past and see them you know, it’s just a young couple and the child and just changing their garden changing everything and you know, and now it’s gone,” she said.
While stunned locals assess the damage, emergency crews are working to restore water to the town and fix several gas leaks. They say it could be a few days before there’s tap water.