Part Of Vermont Declared Disaster Area Because Of Winter Storm. Not The Current Ones

Broken, damaged shrubbery buried under heavy,
wet snow in my St. Albans, Vermont yard in
mid-December. My area, and much of the rest of
the state, was just declared a disaster area
because of the storm.  

Vermonters are feeling vaguely smug right now.

Those horrible winter storms that have dropped feet of snow on eastern New England have largely avoided the northwest corner of the region.

The storms have dropped snow on Vermont in the past couple of weeks, but they've been run-of-the-mill snowfalls. Nothing we haven't seen before, and they're probably doing more good than harm, since ski conditions are quite nice.

It's also pretty cold. Winter, you know. It happens.

How soon we forget.

Back in mid-December, when most of New England was rainy and warm, a snowstorm arrived in Vermont.

Most of the Green Mountain State's snowstorms are like the one we got Monday. Maybe six inches, or a foot of powder. The slightest wind knocks the snow from trees and power lines. No damage. Except for the idiots who speed on icy roads and end up in the ditch.

The December storm was very different. This was wet, heavy snow, and a lot of it.

The snow, which piled up to between 12 and 18 inches, collapsed thousands of trees, thousands of power lines. Some people had no electricity for a week or more.

I hadn't seen anything like this since the epic ice storm of January, 1998.

Vermont Emergency Management said today that President Obama declared 10 of Vermont's 14 counties a disaster area because of that December storm

At minimum, there was $4 million in damage.

I believe it.

Seems every yard in the state had fallen branches. At least that's what I noticed after the snow melted around Christmas.

In Hubbarton, for instance, I drove on a five mile stretch of Route 30 two weeks after the storm. The sides of the road were piled high with the debris from fallen trees. It looked like the power lines had broken at intervals of, on average of every 30 feet.

Many of the power poles in that area had also snapped in half.

Since it was winter, the power company was only able to jerry rig power lines to get electricity flowing. They'll have a big task to do when spring comes.

My husband just said he doesn't even remember that storm. (Our power stayed on, though my county is under the disaster declaration.)

How soon we forget.