Rochester, Vermont - August 31, 2011
Dew hangs on grass in flood-ravaged Rochester, much like the town-- suspended. People here have been without electricity for days. And road damage has kept anyone from coming or going.
"We're just cut off, you know. There's none of our usual connection with the outside world and it's hard," resident John Graham said.
Graham's house collapsed around him.
"And the staircase collapsed over me, but the bookcase underneath made a bridge and all the rubble just fell around me," Graham said.
"And I was really frightened at that point and I said get out of the house. It's gonna go," said Burma Cassidy of Rochester.
Cassidy lived next door to Graham. She says this whole experience has changed the way she looks at the world.
"All the things that you just assume are always gonna be there for you are not," Burma said.
One of more jarring images in Rochester is the Woodlawn Cemetery. Overseers say the water came in and disturbed several graves. They say as many as 25 may be displaced.
"Very, very disturbing," resident Sue Flewelling said. "We do not want that to happen."
Flewelling says local kids have been sneaking in posting images of the cemetery online. So she's making sure someone watches the cemetery at all times.
"I just want to protect the integrity, and so we've been working very, very hard. We had someone spend the night to protect our loved ones who are lost," Flewelling said.
People lined the streets Wednesday to get gasoline for their generators and cars. CVPS came with a fleet of 40 crews. The first sign of the outside world this community has seen since Sunday. Linemen say it could take days to restore power to most Rochester residents. For those at the end of the line-- it could be weeks.
"That's half the trouble. We haven't been able to look at lines that are down. We don't know what's broken or anything," CVPS lineman Ian McNulty said.
Now people have been coming up to us all day, telling us the need is still very great here in Rochester. For example, over Bridge 73 there's only foot access, no motor vehicles can get to that area at this time. And we also just heard that the Liberty Hill Farm is in need of people to help milk their cows. Without electricity they don't have enough hands. So if you're in the Rochester area it's on Liberty Hill Road and they'd love some help. And there's obviously a lot more work to be done in the Rochester area.
Susie Steimle - WCAX News
