Some Irene Towns Beginning To Record The Storm's History

(Host) The effects of Tropical Storm Irene continue to be felt in many parts of the state.

But in some places, town officials have begun to tell the history of the disaster through oral histories, photographs and videos for their archives.   

Historians say this will only create a richer record for future generations. And, as VPR's Nina Keck reports, it will help local communities make sense of what happened.

(Keck)  The bells of Brandon's Congregational Church ring out as midday traffic rumbles past on Route 7.    

While most of the downtown business district looks normal, you can still see a gaping hole where the local pizza parlor once stood.   Flooding during Irene washed the building off its foundation and ravaged several historic buildings.   

Janet Mondlak is executive director of the Brandon Area Chamber of Commerce.

(Mondlak) "Well in Brandon, one of the things we started doing in the days just after the flood was collecting photos. And in the Brandon museum at the Stephen A Douglas birthplace we have a large digital collection of photos from Brandon starting in the 1860s. And that was the one thing we thought we could put together was a photo exhibit of Tropical Storm Irene and the damage that it did."

(Keck) Mondlak says she's collected hundreds of photos and several videos - one of a huge crane moving the pizza parlor from where it teetered over the river.   

She says the images will be available for viewing at the local visitors' center next summer.   

(Mondlak) "What we saw from people who love this town -  who used to live here - who maybe their grandparents may have lived here - they want to know and now more than ever in the age of information we can make that available. And it's important to do that. It's important for people to see and to know and our history will tell us our future."

(Keck) Community leaders in towns across Vermont are making similar efforts to document and preserve the stories and images created during and just after Irene. Ann Singiser is president of the Mendon historical society.

(Singiser) "I think a lot gets forgotten as time goes by. And our feeling was that Irene was history of this town, and it should be documented, it should be preserved and it should be recorded."

(Keck) Singiser says she's made a preliminary list of about 30 people in town she'd like to interview,  including the local constable, Scott Bradley.

(Bradley) "I was out the day of the storm all day. And I was in my police cruiser most of the day until I watched chunks of Route 4 disintegrate into Mendon brook. The debris field - trees shooting up out of the water and then going back in and they're gone.  It's the most violent thing I've ever seen."

(Keck) For the next two and a half weeks, Bradley, Singiser and scores of volunteers provided all kinds of help to their neighbors who were cut off because roads were impassable.  

(Singiser)  "And there were so many wonderful things that happened - even though it was a disaster - that it's wonderful to remember these things and it is a part of Mendon's history at this point."

(Keck) Singiser hopes to begin recording interviews next month and have a written booklet and perhaps a CD ready by next summer.   

Officials at the Vermont Folklife Center say funding from the Vermont Community Foundation and other sources will allow them to assist with this type of work.   

The Folklife Center plans to hold community workshops, provide digital recording equipment and ongoing mentoring in four of the hardest hit parts of the state -  Stockbridge, Rutland, Brattleboro and Waterbury.  

While local communities will use the material they gather in various ways, the Vermont Folklife Center plans to create a special website called the Hurricane Irene Digital Memory Project, where much of this information will be centrally archived.   

For VPR News, I'm Nina Keck.