Big Nor’easter Just
Brushes the Valley

The White River Valley escaped the brunt of the monstrous late-season nor’easter that swept into New England Sunday, but there was still plenty of excitement.

In Vermont, the greatest effect came from hurricane-like gusts of 70 miles an hour in Rutland, which created the worst havoc that the Central Vermont Public Service Corp. had ever seen. Up to 2000 trees and 80 electric poles were toppled as some 50,000 CVPS customers lost power.

"We’ve never seen this much widespread damage in Rutland County in all our 77 years," said Vice President of Operations Joe Kraus. "Some of the damage is stunning."

Gov. Jim Douglas issued a State of Emergency order for all counties in Vermont, which helped bring in utility crews and will be the basis of a later application for federal disaster relief.

About 2200 customers were still without power Tuesday noon in what CVPS calls the Royalton District, said spokesperson Christine Rivers. Half of them were in Orange County.

Power was restored in Braintree Tuesday about 5 p.m., after being off for almost 48 hours. Parts of Royalton may not see their power back until Thursday, however, CVPS projected.

The company called in 248 of its own line workers and 152 from outside the area, in addition to 96 tree workers for the repairs, which were estimated to cost $2.5 million.

The Washington Electric Co-op had about 1000 members out of power at the peak of the storm. Four crews were working from Tunbridge to Corinth.

In the White River Valley, the severity of the storm depended almost entirely on altitude. In Randolph Center, which lies atop a ridge, gusts ran between 50-60 miles an hour with sustained winds at 30-40, according to the Herald’s weather-watcher, Kevin Doering. One Randolph Center Farmer, Lee Conant, lost some sheets of metal from his barn roof.

Doering also reported that 12.5 inches of snow fell by 1:30 a.m. early Monday. Similar amounts were reported on Braintree Hill and other high elevations, but at the valley floors, snowfall was limited to three to four inches, and winds, while gusty, did little damage.

The sugarhouse of Justin Poulin on Bear Hill Road in Brookfield was without power still on Tuesday, which will probably make for a dark crop of syrup. Other sugarmakers reported covers and even buckets blowing off in the wind, and an occasional loss of productive maples.

Randolph Public Works Supt. Joe Voci said that this storm was "not a whole lot unusual" though plow operators had to be careful because the roads were soft.

A number of felled trees and limbs had to be dealt with, he said, but nothing troublesome.

Despite the April storms, Voci said, the winter roads budget is not over budget, and the sand and salt supplies are still in good shape.

"The crew’s all ready for a July 4 plowing," he declared.

That’s a joke, everybody hopes.