[EAS] Vermont floods - how is EM holding up? [In retrospect]

[Ira Wilner]

Back in the last century when I was setting up EAS infrastructure at Vermont
Emergency Management in Waterbury, I had to stop saying out loud, "are you
kidding?" Not only in a flood plain but the emergency generator was down on
a flat pad likely to get inundated.  I'm told, some of the shortcomings have
been since ameliorated.

That said, a number of government agencies had to relocate to temporary
facilities as their office buildings in the state capital Montpelier were
flooded by the nearby Winooski River.

Most telecom infrastructure remained in service.  The TV stations and
commercial radio stations provided up to the minute information during the
flood.  There were lots of EAS delivered flash flood warnings mostly
originating from NWS offices.

Green Mountain Power Company and other utilities had their hands full with
downed lines and washed out roads making restoration work difficult at best.
Still, the lights stayed on for most Vermonters.

South central Vermont also had significant flood damage around the towns of
Londonderry and Ludlow.  The Weston Playhouse, for the second time in eleven
years was seriously damaged and lost most of its summer show series.

Damage in that area did affect Vermont Telephone Company's fiber system over
a widespread area for a couple of days.  ISP data rates went from gigabit
down to kilobit range!  SLOW! But not totally down except in the immediate
areas of fiber line failure.  Results, video streaming at sub-standard
definition rates and software downloads took the better part of an hour. For
the most part email kept on working.

--Ira

-----Original Message-----
F
On Tue, Jul 11, 2023 at 1:35 PM Rich Parker rparker1 at gmail.com> wrote:
>We were in Vermont when Irene hit - I remember working with relief crews in
Waterbury. As I recall the fire station was flooded pretty high up the bays.
>Emergency Management Offices were also in a fair amount of jeopardy.

>Does any one know if they are OK and operational?