By Polly Mikula
Town officials held a special meeting Tuesday morning where they announced plans for recovery work after two weather events severely damaged town and state roads. The first event, Friday and into Saturday, saw flash floods and mudslides cut off East Mountain Road and Route 4, respectively. The second event, Sunday into Monday, saw more widespread flooding and erosion. The two events are being treated separately by the state and FEMA, Town Manager Chet Hagenbarth explained.
“We’re looking at trying to determine what additional damages there was since Sunday,” he said. “We are in the process of working with Nicole Kesselring [of Enman Kesselring Consulting Engineers] to prepare a damage assessment document,” Hagenbarth continued. “Right now, we are authorized by the FEMA rules to do any emergency repair. That would include getting things back stable and getting people access to their properties and the roads passable for emergency use and things of that nature. Then when we get to the point where we know what we have to do for permanent repairs, that becomes a separate process where anything over $250,000 goes out to bid.”
As of Tuesday, the town has lost sections (and sometimes the complete road) on East Mountain Road, Trailside Drive, Trailview Drive, Roundabout, Ledge Road and Rim Road, Hagenbarth said.
Four local and regional contractors have, and will continue to, do the work for the town: Craig Mosher, Mark Fiore, Ray Harvey and Casella Construction.
On Tuesday morning the select board announced that the lead was given to Craig Mosher who will coordinate all work on East Mountain Road and its offshoots. Fiore, Harvey and Casella will all support that work.
“I want to thank all those who have put in so many hours over the past few days in service to the town and its residents,” Selectman Jim Haff said. “Specifically, the fire department has been out there helping residents with flooded basements, cleaning out culverts with the hoses and helping direct traffic around closures; we really appreciate all of you and all those residents out there helping each other out in all sorts of big and small ways. Our community is so resilient when we support each other as a community.”
President of Killington a Resort Mike Solimano also gave a brief update Tuesday, saying: “Skyeship is still underwater and Bear Mountain Base Lodge took on a lot of water, but compared to Irene when all our base lodges got flooded, we did a lot better. I appreciate the town, working with us on a bunch of different things you were able to… We’re planning to open the resort tomorrow and are kind of going through and reassessing everything now … there’s some bike trail issues, there’s a lot of little issues, but from a big standpoint, it’s mostly Skye and Bear we’re watching.”
Killington Police Chief Whit Montgomery reported that his primary focus is now, “traffic control to assist the contractors out working.” Adding, “we’ve also been asked and I’ve volunteered and offered our services to the public to do property checks. Some people are nervous about their properties so we can do a quick drive by or walk out make sure there’s no major damage and look for signs of any force entry or flooding and stuff like that into the property,” he said.
Montgomery, who just last week was tasked with taking over Killington Search and Rescue (KSAR), activated the team Friday when he received a report of a senior citizen living at Sunrise Condominiums on oxygen and without power.
“Sunrise was inaccessible due to Bear Mountain Road being washed out,” he said.
He activated KSAR with two members who took a tracked ATV to the scene. Robert Giolito was also notified and responded to the scene.
“I literally turned to my left, spoke to a KSAR team member, and the activation was underway,” Montgomery said.
The subject was located and his vitals checked. “He felt comfortable staying the night and a Killington Fire Department generator was left in case he needed oxygen throughout the evening,” Montgomery said.
Chief Montgomery stated this is what he envisioned with KSAR coming under the preview of the Police Department. “Although this was a wellness check, it could have very easily become a medical emergency. With calls like these, seconds are minutes, minutes are hours. It is important to get to a potential patient quickly, safely and evaluate the situation and take action,” he said, adding: “These calls are fluid in nature and having a direct line to KSAR members from the police is important to expedite the response and the changing information as it arrives.”
And conditions did change. By 2 p.m. Sunday, all residents in Sunrise, Top Ridge and those along the east side of East Mountain Road and Bear Mountain Road were evacuated as roads were expected to continue to erode with the forecasted rain through Monday.
On Tuesday, after the rains finally stopped, Montgomery made an official recommendation for Giolito to be appointed director of KSAR; the select board unanimously approved it.
Montgomery further reported to the select board that KSAR currently has 15 members on its roster; seven already trained and certified under Wilderness First Aid and the other nine capable of “ground and pound” rescue work and working toward certifications.
Editor’s note: Look for more information about the new KSAR team and its director in future stories in the Mountain Times.
