Relief workers continue to make progress following Hurricane Irene
Posted Sep 1, 2011 02:48:22 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Relief crews are now reaching the last of the Vermont towns entirely cut off from help by Hurricane Irene’s floodwaters.
The receding water levels have revealed more damage to homes, farms and businesses across the flood-scarred landscape.
Of 11 towns severed from the outside world, the final one to be reached by rescuers yesterday was Wardsboro, a village of 850 in the Green Mountains.
The community is little more than a post office and some houses standing along Vermont’s Route 100, a highway popular with autumn tourists.
The U.S. National Guard continues to ferry supplies to mountain towns that had no electricity, telephone service and limited transportation.
Helicopters arrived with food, blankets, tarps and drinking water.
Floodwaters also ravaged parts of New Jersey and Connecticut.
Irene’s death toll stands at 53, including 46 people killed in 13 U.S. states and Puerto Rico.
