Irene's Wake

This is a synopsis printed in our local paper today (10/9/11) of Irene's impact to our roads, statewide. And as complete as it appears, they say the local impact is much greater than what is depicted here. Note that this doesn't begin to count the cost of reconstruction (only guesstimating that of labor on the state roads - so far), nor of the impact of all this infrastructure having been missing. Note too that Irene came through six weeks ago.

A look at the damage Irene caused to Vermont's roads and bridges

Irene's damage - state

• STATE ROADS CLOSED POST-STORM: 146

• STATE ROADS REOPENED AS OF LAST WEEK: 140 (27 with some restrictions)

• STATE ROADS THAT REMAIN CLOSED: Vermont 107 in Stockbridge, Vermont 107 in Bethel, Vermont 131 in Cavendish, Vermont 106 in Weathersfield, Vermont 100 in Jamaica and Vermont 12A in Roxbury.

• STATE BRIDGES CLOSED POST-STORM: 34

• STATE BRIDGES REOPENED AS OF LAST WEEK: 28 (three with some restrictions).

• STATE BRIDGES STILL CLOSED AS OF LAST WEEK: Vermont 100 in Readsboro, Vermont 73 in Barnard, Vermont 73 in Rochester, Vermont 100 in Jamaican and two bridges on Vermont 12A in Roxbury.

• MILES OF STATE ROAD CLOSED POST-STORM: 531.77

• MILES OF STATE ROAD REOPENED AS OF LAST WEEK: 518.76

• STATE TRANSPORTATION WORKERS ASSIGNED TO STORM RESPONSE: 700

• OUTSIDE HELP: 349 from Maine Department of Transportation; 20 from New Hampshire Department of Transportation; 667 from six states’ National Guard units, 1,860 from 185 private contractors.

• AGENCY OF TRANSPORTATION OVERTIME: 55,000 hours for a total cost of $1.8 million.

Source: State Agency of Transportation

Irene's damage - local

• LOCAL ROAD SEGMENTS DAMAGED IN STORM: 2,260

• LOCAL ROAD SEGMENTS CLOSED AS OF LAST WEEK: 175

• LOCAL ROAD SEGMENTS OPEN ONLY TO EMERGENCY TRAFFIC: 33

• LOCAL BRIDGES DAMAGED IN STORM: 289

• LOCAL BRIDGES CLOSED AS OF LAST WEEK: 90

• LOCAL BRIDGES OPEN TO EMERGENCY-ONLY TRAFFIC: 6

Source: Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission

What roads are still closed

Agency of Transportation Secretary Brian Searles said the longest-lingering projects to reopen roads closed by Tropical Storm Irene are:

• VERMONT 107 between Bethel and Stockbridge, which has two separate washouts where the White River rerouted itself. The road is expected to be open by Thanksgiving.

• VERMONT 106 in Weathersfield, which is likely to be done in December.

• VERMONT 131 in Cavendish, where Irene opened a canyon. It should be open by Thanksgiving, possibly earlier.

• VERMONT 12A in Roxbury, where two bridges and a section of road are washed out. The bridge repairs will be permanent rather than temporary and are expected to be done by Dec. 15.

Other work to reopen state roads is expected to be done by the end of October, Searles said.

A long couple weeks

My posts have been slow at best. Life has been moving at lightning speed, and full to overflowing. Honestly, the "fullness" hasn't been what's been hard; what's been hard have been the "overflowing" emotions.

Hurricane (aka Tropical Storm) Irene hit the state hard. While she failed to bring the anticipated rain to our particular region, she deluged the state as a whole, and emotionally I have struggled with the suffering felt by my fellow Vermonters. Many I know suffered job dislocation due to flooding, or business impact (destroyed workplace etc). Our infrastructure has been impacted, and it's affected much both directly and indirectly. It will take years to recover. While I know God is good and sovereign, I have had to work through my place in all this - how to process it, how to respond, etc.

School began, a busyness in and of itself, and there's always a lot of adjusting to do, between managing Patience's diabetes and setting everything in place for her at school, establishing everyone's basic routines, scheduling activities, a lot of "start-up" meetings to get the school year going. Multiply that by four. Deal with character issues as they arise. And fatigue. And growing - and seasonal changes - and thus clothes.... Always clothes to deal with, be it too small, too big, too cold, too hot, or too dirty. And the garden and groceries and so on and so forth...

And then the activities themselves: soccer, music lessons and practices, church activities...

And retreats, doctors appointments, ministry involvements, PTO involvement and so on and so forth.

And weddings (3 in 4 weeks - one down, two to go!)

And my host mother's death.

And the emotions. I'm tired. I'm concerned. I'm not "settling in" as quickly this year as prior years. I'm torn in my priorities. I'm wondering where God wants to use me. I'm happy. I'm sad. I'm grieving. I'm rejoicing. I'm busy. There are things that must be done. There are people who need me NOW. There are people who need me - and I can't keep putting them off. And the stuff must get done. Etc. For moments, things are clear, and then not so clear again. And then something will happen (like the vacuum breaking - still don't know where that's at and the house is not cleaning itself in the mean time) and the emotions will overflow. I'm going to need lots of tissues at this upcoming wedding because the joy and happiness will make me remember my host mom coming to my wedding which will remind me that she's dead and I'll cry again. I came close to crying cutting bread last night at dinner, because it was she who taught me how to properly slice bread for a meal ( THICK so you can taste it!). It's amazing how my emotions run in waves and have done so all month.

It's been a good month, really, somehow. But God is keeping me on my toes, depending on him. And if this is the new normal (this busyness), it's going to take me a while to adjust it would seem. But I am managing, day by day, to do what needs to be done. And somehow, I am not leaving a complete disaster (emotionally and relationally) in my wake. This is good, and this is progress. I am glad for that evidence that He is working in my life over the days weeks and years.

That's why I haven't written much. You see, between sprained ankles, falls on the ice skating, dodging the rain while attempting to clean out the garden by this weekend, earthquakes, hurricanes, meetings that last 3x the planned length, phone calls overseas, and bobbing and weaving a 1000 more things that I didn't expect, words have just not been there.

But they will come. This is a step, again, towards "speaking". And it's definitely a bit "eclectic".

I know the primary readers of this are family members, most of whom we'll see in just a few days at a very exciting and much-anticipated event. Between now and then I need to do laundry, juggle school, wrap a gift, put away the harvest, and somewhere find time to call Switzerland and write a bunch of cards. Pray for me to keep perspective, keep putting one foot in front of the other, and do, please, even if it makes me cry, ask me how I'm doing, and about my host mom. I need to take the time to keep finding those words..... and I also need some sleep.

Sad news

A week ago, I was notified of the death of my beloved host mother, Lucette Rupp. She spent much of the last years of her life fighting and recovering from illness. She was a spunky lady, full of life and love for those around her, and I will miss her tremendously.

Click here to see the obituary (in French)

Back to the Rink

Today was our first day back at the rink this fall (it just opened late last week). Vivace and I had the place to ourselves - all of it. Fresh ice, one hour, two dollars... we had a blast. I do so enjoy it, though it will take me a couple weeks to get my "ice legs" back. We are looking forward to this time together once a week from now until April!

Soccer for Two

Two of our kids wanted to play soccer this fall. Vivace and Constance are both signed up for the six-week rec league. It's fun, and both are on teams with good friends (two different teams, playing back to back times), which is a nice thing. So far, the weather has been fantastic. We are looking forward to enjoying lots more fresh air watching them run around after a ball - really it's quite fun, at least for me!

First day of school Fall 2011

Off to school again - this time everyone goes!
Wow how time flies.

Flooding on the Winooski - part 2

Here are some pictures of the local farm stand, August 29 after the remnants of Hurricane Irene blew through VT. It was the highest they have EVER seen the river rise. The fence was in the water! Just click on the pictures to see a larger version. The water was still rising and topped out just shy of the bottom of the gray "roof" of the stand.
And yes, those are fields - fields full of herbs, flowers, and many, many crops. Our farmer had to throw out $70,000 worth of contaminated produce, not to mention the damage to the stand and its contents. They raised everything to shelves about 4' high, having never seen anything like this before, never dreaming that wouldn't be high enough. The water was at least twice that high.

Locally, we saw little damage except a few branches down here or there - with the exception of the Winooski rising to completely unexpected heights. As you can see, there's some "drowned corn".

Upriver, not too far away, it was a different story, with the same record heights deluging the main streets by feet of water, and debris everywhere. Our state is a mess and these pictures are about some lost crops, not about destroyed roads, bridges, homes, and infrastructure. I cannot even think of trying to share that story - only that my heart aches for the loss sustained by my fellow Vermonters.