WEBVTT

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hurricane Irene ripped through Vermont

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crumbling roads , toppling houses and

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shattering lives . I had a full on

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raging river through my home .

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I thought that It would only

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be a two ft of water . So that's what I

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was hoping I could have never imagined

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that it would have taken out the entire

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Front 1st Floor of My House . The

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erosion itself , the force of the water

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swept trees off , took them right off

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the roots and had plugged a number of

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our bridges and culverts diverting the

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water into town . The flood damage here

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surpasses what we saw in 1927 . It's

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absolutely devastating , wow . I

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believe we have nine houses that are

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totally destroyed at this point ,

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families displaced today . The sounds

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of tractors , backhoes , heavy

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equipment , transport systems and

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chainsaws bring through the

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mountainside as National Guard members

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from several states led by the Vermont

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National Guards Task Force , Green

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Mountain Spirit , assist local and

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federal authorities in repairing the

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damage and devastation left in the wake

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of the storm . We fill in behind the

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other state agencies like fema or the

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Agency of Transportation . So we take

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all our mission in from them

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communities have come together to take

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care of their own partnering with guard

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members to accomplish the mission of

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repairing damaged roads and ensuring

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critical supplies are delivered to

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those in need . I'm not quite sure when

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the National Guard got here , but when

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it did , um , we were able to get a lot

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of supplies , the best part about it is

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we were able to go onto ATVs , put on

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backpacks and go into even more

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desperate situations and get people

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food and water , medical supplies To

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actually see the National Guard roll

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down through here this morning with

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20-30 truck convoy was

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huge that brought people out on their

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porches . It brought them out saying ,

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Hey , help has arrived . The National

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Guard will continue to work closely

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with local and federal partners to

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bring some semblance of normal life

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back to Vermont Citizens reporting from

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Rutland Vermont . I'm Army Staff

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Sergeant Westlake .