CTnativeswith ties to Vermont deal with severe flooding: 'Debris is just absolutely everywhere'

Jul. 13—Jim Leahy of Tolland said his condominium just escaped floodwaters that raged through Vermont Sunday into Monday after as much as nine inches of rain fell in parts of the state. Swift water rescue teams from Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts and North Carolina performed more than 100 rescues across the state, the Burlington Free Press reported. National Guard helicopter crews evacuated people in remote areas that the ground teams could not reach. A team from Connecticut specifically rescued eight people.

Farms, including many dairy farms that supply Connecticut grocery stores, have suffered devastating damage, Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Anson Tebbets told ABC affiliate WMUR.

"We are looking at clearly millions of dollars in destruction (of) crops, you know, whether it's hay or corn or vegetables," Tebbets said. "And then on the dairy side, you know, the lack of capacity to get some of that product to the processing facilities will be impacted. So we're looking at millions of dollars in damage."

Both Leahy and Blanchette said Vermonters were comparing the damage to the wake of Tropical Storm Irene 12 years ago, when 11 inches of rain fell in about 24 hours. At least six people died in the state in August 2011, but officials say that so far, no lives have been lost in the current flooding.

Leahy, 61, managing director of a Boston-based public affairs firm and a Connecticut lobbyist, said he bought the Ludlow condo about a year ago. He and his family had been on skiing trips to the mountain town in south central Vermont many times in the past.

Leahy was in Ludlow all last week and went for a hike Saturday in Jamaica, Vt., where he said the West River looked "pretty angry." But he left his condo, which is about 30 yards from the bank of the Black River, on Sunday, not anticipating severe flooding and planning to return on Tuesday to retrieve some items.

That trip had to be delayed until Wednesday due to the flooding, which raged inches under ground floors in the condominium complex, which builders fortunately raised on six-foot-high concrete pillars as a precaution against once-in-a-century flooding, Leahy said.

Blanchette, 33, said his third-level condo on Okemo Mountain also escaped damage. On Wednesday, he was driving his Volkswagen Tiguan around town, handing out bottled water to emergency crews and town businesses. Restaurants, ski shops and other businesses suffered severe flooding damage, but road work and other repairs already are starting to make a difference, he said.

"Vermonters are some of the most resilient people I've met in my lifetime," Blanchette said. "The resiliency of my little community is amazing,"

Damage to bars and restaurants will cut into his livelihood as a professional musician (Sammy B) who plays mainly in he Ludlow area, Blanchette said, but he has other jobs to see him through, including winter work at the ski resort, as a sales representative for a local brewery and as a dog walker along with his girlfriend. His family still owns Blanchette Sporting Goods in Shelton, where he worked when he was younger, Blanchette said, but he plans to stay in Ludlow.

Leahy, former executive director of the Connecticut Daily Newspaper Association, said he expected to use his pickup truck to help clean up around his condo complex, in the spirit of his neighbors.

"They just pitch in like a lot of small towns do," he said.