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| Ice jam inundated Montpelier on March 11, 1992 |
Ice jams are common in Vermont during the early spring thaw. Usually, they flood a few roads, a few basements and don't cause a whole lot of damage in the grand scheme of things.
This one was different, as it formed in exactly the wrong place: In the Winooski River right in Montpelier.
Just before the ice jam happened, there was quite a bit of water in the snow in the hills surrounding Montpelier than could feed into the Winooski River. The river itself had a thick layer of ice. That winter's temperatures had been pretty close to average, with frequent excursions below zero to lock in those rivers with ice.
A thaw set in on March 8, and a storm system going by to the west brought an inch of rain and temperatures as high as 51 degrees to Montpelier by the 11th.
Winooski River ice broke up amid the rain and snow melt, and by 7 a.m. March 11, the emergency unfolded with lightning speed in downtown Montpelier.
Shortly before 7 a.m. an ice jam broke up near Pioneer Street, a little upstream from downtown. Had that broken ice just flowed through Montpelier, it would have made for a mildly dramatic ice run, but that would have been about it.
But that wave of ice quickly jammed up near the Bailey Avenue bridge. That is precisely the wrong place for an ice jam and guaranteed Montpelier's inundation,
By 7:15 a.m., propane tanks were floating behind buildings and water began gushing onto parts of State Street. By 7:50 a.m. two to five feet of water had backed up onto sections of State, Main, Langdon, Elm and other small streets downtown.
Cars stalled in the sudden flood and were soon submerged. Hundreds of people were trapped by floodwaters in buildings throughout much of Montpelier.
Meanwhile, as the National Weather Service in South Burlington explains in its event summary, other people formed human chains to save historic documents from the basement of the Pavilion Building. Similar efforts saved childrens' books from the Kellogg-Hubbard Library and videotapes from the basement of the Savoy Theater.
A surprising number of kayakers and canoeists paddled up and down State and Main streets during the day
A young construction company co-owner named Phil Scott, who came into Montpelier to help was quoted in the Burlington Free Press, marveling, "I saw a guy jump in and swim across (the street) just to do it."
(For readers not familiar with Vermont, Scott is now the state's governor).
By mid-afternoon, backhoes and cranes were trying to dislodge the ice near the Bailey Avenue Bridge, but the effort backfired. The jam loosened, the re-asserted itself, leading to the deepest, most destructive water of the day in Montpelier in the late afternoon.
Crews were finally able to dislodge the second jam shortly after 5 p.m. The resulting rush of ice chunks and water destroyed a railroad trestle, and caused rather significant flooding downstream in Middlesex, Bolton, Jonesville and Richmond.
Temperatures plunged immediately after the ice jam cleared, making recovery a challenge. The temperature fell below 20 degrees in the late evening of March 11, and stayed at or below 20 degrees until the afternoon of March 16. Temperatures didn't get above freezing again in Montpelier until the afternoon of March 17 and then only briefly.
Meanwhile, basements had to be pumped and HVAC systems had to be repaired quickly as subfreezing temperatures would cause further damage.
One of the first downtown Montpelier businesses to reopen after the flood was Charlie O's, the venerable tavern at 70 Main Street. I, and my drinking buddy Todd decided to head down there Satureay afternoon, just three days after the flood.
The floor was a bit soggy. On the wall, a damaged poster of Bruce Springsteen's "Born In The USA" album was still on the wall. The poster is a behind view of Springsteen, dressed in blue jeans and a white t-shirt. The high water line from the flood was at what would have been a particularly painful spot for Springsteen, had he actually been there.
I think the statute of limitations has passed, so I can report the following. We enjoyed plenty of beer at incredibly low fire sale prices. Labels were missing on the beer bottles Charlie O's served, and I thought I detected a whiff of petroleum residue on the outside of the bottles.
But the very friendly bartenders rinsed the bottles, and beer tasted fine. I absolutely did not get sick.
Ultimately, the ice jam caused $4 million in 1992 dollar damages to downtown Montpelier. Remarkably, given how abruptly the disaster struck, there were no deaths or serious injuries.
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