Officials in Rutland say despite flash flooding Friday evening, the city's infrastructure suffered no major damage, and the roads and city's drinking water are in good shape.
Fire Chief William Lovett says there was 6 to 8 feet of water Friday night along south Main Street near Strongs Avenue.
“A few of them we’ve pumped the basements out of fuel and water, but currently all the roads are open. We didn’t suffer any major damage to any of the infrastructure, either culverts or the roads. There were a few culverts that were compromised, but the DPW is working on those," Lovett says.
Tom Garofano is Rutland City's Water Treatment Manager.
“So as far as our drinking water, our distribution system was unscathed by any of the flooding and our intake in Mendon Brook remained in good shape — water did not reach flood stage and we’ve been lucky this summer with all the rain that we’ve had," Garofano says.
Rachelle Towle co-manages the Tap House. That's a Rutland restaurant along Route 7 that saw some of the highest water levels in the city.
“I’ve never seen it flood that bad that quick. It was just like such heavy droplets of water, and there was hail. It was like every five to ten minutes another inch was added and eventually it was just like our whole parking lot was like a little lake," Towle says.
Towle says their restaurant avoided flood damage. But Lovett says they had to use rescue boats to evacuate 26 people from nearby Clover Street. No one was reported injured.
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