Flood a setback for Waterbury church

The floods occurred after a quick-moving storm dumped 4 to 6 inches of rain in some areas of Central Vermont in a very short time.

In a response led by village President Howard “Skip” Flanders, firefighters rushed to assist the church at 8:41 p.m. on a busy night that also included responses to Perry Hill Road and Route 2 in Moretown for power lines downed in the storm.

“We set up a pump initially and helped them push water (at the church), but our pumps aren’t designed for that small of an amount of water,” said Sally Dillon of the fire department.

At that point, John Halloran of True Value Hardware brought pumps more suitable for the crisis, she said, among other friends of Wesley United, located at 56 S. Main St.

The flooding occurred in the church basement, which still shows damage from floodwaters brought by Tropical Storm Irene in late August 2011.

“Wesley lost some supplies for the continued restoration of the dining room from Irene, along with the labor of removing the mud and silt left behind and repainting of lower parts of the walls that were flooded,” Flanders said.

“We currently have a crew of volunteers on a mission trip ... that includes adults and youth volunteers who are doing painting, installing suspended ceiling, and cleanup work in the dining room,” Flanders said.

The Perkins-Parker Funeral Home’s garage and the basements of the Steele Block and Bargain Boutique were also flooded in the storm, but Waterbury avoided the severe damage that hit Barre and Plainfield.

On Sunday night, the Vermont Division of Emergency Management & Homeland Security activated the state emergency operations center to assist with the local response in those towns.

Flanders briefed the select board about the storm damage on Monday evening, blaming aging storm drains for the flooding. The drains lack the capacity to handle major runoff.

“I know we’ve upgraded our lines throughout the town, except for Main Street — everyone’s waiting for Main Street,” Flanders said, which is scheduled to be rebuilt in 2018. “The government infrastructure is causing the flooding and ... I would encourage you to look at ways to do that sooner.”

The town government is responsible for replacing and maintaining the storm drain system on Main Street, Flanders said.

However, municipal officials say it’s prudent to wait until 2018, when the state government plans a $15 million reconstruction of Main Street, using federal money.

The Main Street project will replace all water and sewer lines, and will bury unsightly utility lines, while rebuilding the street between Stowe Street to the rebuilt State Office Complex.

Flanders said Sunday’s flooding was tough for the church to take.

“We were close to getting (everything) back together,” he said. “After spending $300,000 for the church, this is another setback. It could happen again.”

However, upgrading the storm drain across Main Street from the church would not have prevented Sunday’s problem, said municipal manager Bill Shepeluk.

“I want to let you know that that work would not have made any difference to what happened last night,” Shepeluk said Monday. “It might have made it worse.”

Select board member Chris Viens said the town government doesn’t have $400,000 — the estimated cost to replace all problematic pipes downtown — for temporary upgrades just three years prior to Main Street reconstruction.

Simply repairing an outdated storm drain on Foundry Street would have cost $30,000 to $38,000, said Alec Tuscany, public works director, based on a quick estimate from Stantec Consulting Services of South Burlington. Replacing the entire outdated drain system would cost $400,000.

The storm drains were last replaced in the 1990s in a $200,000 joint project with the state.

In addition, simply replacing parts of the storm drain system would produce some conflict with water and sewer lines, Tuscany said.

Tuscany said Sunday night’s flooding was likely caused by backup within the catch basin at 46 S. Main St., which precipitated backups on Bidwell Lane and in the catch basin between the Steele Block and Bargain Boutique.

Shepeluk recommended that the select board direct Tuscany and other municipal officials to continue discussion with the Vermont Agency of Transportation about whether it’s possible to replace parts of the storm drain system ahead of Main Street reconstruction.

“They’re not going to want to do things twice,” Shepeluk said. “If we can build the storm drain system that is supposed to be built — maybe.”

Flanders said fixing the drain system downtown might help retain businesses in the village.

“On the (village) trustees’ agenda ... I would certainly put fixing this storm drain at the top of the list,” he said. “We talked about flood plain regulations ... and raising houses ... and yet here’s the infrastructure that the community has known about for years.”

Flanders said he knows any upgrade would not be easy, but would appreciate the further study that Shepeluk recommended.

“And I think we just have to pray it doesn’t rain harder,” he said.