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Royalton Highway Department employee Lucas Getman walks back to his truck after talking to foreman Demi Boles while working to repair storm damage on Happy Hollow Road in Royalton, Vt., on Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. Water overtook a culvert and washed out a large section of the road, and the combination of warm weather and heavy rainfall created muddy conditions on several back roads. “This year has been a freak nature type of year,” Getman said. “It’s definitely the worst one I’ve seen.” (Valley News / Report For America – Alex Driehaus) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. -
Len Amell drives up a washed-out portion of Happy Hollow Road in Royalton, Vt., on Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. Amell said he knew his truck wouldn’t make it up the hill from his home on Rix Road, so he pulled out his side by side to check out the road work being done. “I’m just coming to be nosy,” Amell said. (Valley News / Report For America – Alex Driehaus) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.
LEBANON — Many Upper Valley schools had a delayed start Tuesday or were canceled altogether after Monday’s heavy rainfall left some dirt roads a mess.
“They’re muddy,” said Royalton Town Administrator Victoria Paquin. “They’re really muddy.”
Starting Sunday evening and tapering off Monday night, between two and three inches of rain fell across the Upper Valley, filling rivers already ballooned by unseasonal snowmelt. The temperature in Lebanon peaked at 65 degrees Monday, 30 degrees higher than the historical average for that day, according to Weather Underground.
Broad Brook Road, which has been closed since July’s flooding, lost another foot of road in a landslide. But Paquin said that’s to be expected. “No need to panic,” she said.
She estimated that the handful of roads closed would open by the end of the day on Tuesday.
As of 2:30 p.m., power had largely been restored in Vermont but remained out in parts of New Hampshire, including for over 200 residents in Haverhill. The New Hampshire Department of Safety urged residents who had long-term power outages to throw away any food that had been exposed to temperatures above 40 degrees Farenheit for more than two hours.
“When in doubt, throw it out,” wrote Robert Buxton, the director of the department’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Buxton also advised residents to contact their doctor if there is concern about medications having spoiled.
The Upper Valley largely fared Monday’s foul weather better than other areas in New Hampshire and Vermont. In Jackson, N.H., a swollen Ellis River rushed through town, and the Winooski River in Vermont remained at “major” flood stage into Tuesday.
Road crews at work in the area of the White River Valley Supervisory Union had concerns about sending buses on fragile, crumbling back roads, said Superintendent Jamie Kinnarney. After an early release on Monday, schools in the supervisory union, among others in the Upper Valley, remained closed Tuesday.
Amended WRVSU bus routes in Royalton will be in place Wednesday and Thursday.
A truck and car stuck in the mud on South Road in Bradford, Vt., thwarted a Bradford Elementary bus nearing the end of its route, but the incident didn’t impact attendance and should have no bearing on the afternoon drop-off, wrote Orange East Supervisory Union Superintendent Randy Gawel in an email. “Not too bad considering the weather we had,” he wrote.
Gawel gave a shout-out to the area’s road crews: “Their hard work made it possible for us to have school today and for our students and staff to get there safely.”
Things are looking up. Colder temperatures harden the roads and make it easier for crews to grade out ruts, he said.
Frances Mize is a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at fmize@vnews.co m or 603-727-3242.