Mendon Brook Damage - Wheelerville Road to Rutland
These are additional photos taken from the air on August 31st showing damage from the Mendon Brook beginning along the Wheelerville Road extending to where the brook crosses Route 7 near Williams Farm. For clarification along the segment of Route 4 between the Wheelerville Bridge and Sugar and Spice, there are 4 separate segments of damage numbered according to the map below (and numbered on corresponding images).
Wheelerville Road and Woodward Road
The Mendon Brook appears to have diverted past the beaver pond where the Wheelerville Road turns west and and parallels Route 4, seeming to leave the beaver pond intact while rushing down alongside of it.
Once it joined the normal course of the brook, however, it destroyed most of the bridges and much of the road eastward of that point. Notice that the road itself is just large boulders, and that the bridge at the top of the photo is dislodged.
This is the bridge seen in the lower portion of the photo above. The road is intact in the lower part of the picture, but there's a 4 foot drop to the road on the other side of the bridge.
In some places the Wheelerville Road is simply "missing". I was unable to view many of the heavily wooded areas on this flight, but suspect that there are many other similar segments along the road.
Feeding into the Mendon Brook this small (presumably un-named) creek that went through a large culvert under Woodward Road destroyed the road around it, further completely isolating the neighborhood from Route 4.
Wheelerville Bridge to Meadowlake Drive
This is probably the single worst stretch of damage in Vermont, destroying at least 4 separate segments of a major east-west route through the middle of the state.
Just west of and below the Wheelerville Bridge (the edge of which is visible at the bottom of the photo) is segment #1 of road washout.
A close up view of segment #1 showing equipment establishing an access road to the riverbed. Mangled guardrails, powerlines, and segments of the Alpine Sewer Line can be seen in the debris alongside the damage.
Similar to segment #1, this second segment involves a large area of road, and also demonstrates the magnitude of the swath left by the flood.
Between segments of road damage, as the river swung away from the road, large collections of trees that fell into the river were washed ashore.
Segment #3 is the smallest of the 4 separate damage areas, but the degree of destruction is lost only because of the magnitude of the other sections. (This photo is taken looking eastward.)
In segment #2, one can see a hastily created access ramp across the debris to the riverbed.
One of many views of segment #4, the most heavily damaged area along this stretch of Route 4, the old Hubenet house and adjacent bridge are visible.
Meadowlake Drive to Route 7
Looking upstream to the east, the Mendon Brook shows the huge swath it cut as it flowed towards Route 7.
The Mendon Brook crosses under the Meadowlake Drive bridge, right next to Route 4 and Sugar and Spice Restaurant. Fortunately, this bridge apparently remained undamaged.
The brook widens out in the pasture just before it crosses under East Pittsford Road, just above Williams Farm.
9/3/11
Where the river reaches a lesser incline, equipment appears to be retrieving fill to repair the roads above the area.
Two days after the flooding, the Mendon Brook appears to be "peacefully" passing below Route 7, leaving massive destruction above and massive debris below.
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Close-up from the photo above gives some idea of the depth of missing earth from the road to the riverbed.
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