Fifteen years after Tropical Storm Irene flooded The Mad River Valley and most of Vermont on Aug. 28, 2011, turning Waitsfield’s Bridge Street into a flood zone, Friends of the Mad River is bringing the community back to celebrate flood resiliency and consider what still needs to be done.
The first event in a five-part series marking the 15th anniversary of Irene takes place tonight, Thursday, Sept. 10, from 3 to 7:30 p.m. on Bridge Street. Organized by Friends of the Mad River in partnership with the Mad River Valley Planning District, the series will continue through 2026-27, focusing on The Valley’s experience before, during and after the 2011 storm.
The Bridge Street gathering is designed to recall a similar community gathering held after the initial cleanup following Irene. On the morning of Aug. 29, 2011, residents, business owners and volunteers converged on Bridge Street to begin clearing mud, muck and debris from the flood-ravaged village.
LESSONS LEARNED
Tonight’s event will revisit that spirit, but organizers say it’s intended as a way to reflect on lessons learned and tasks that still need to be done to improve flood resiliency.
The afternoon and evening will include food, beverages, live music, children’s activities, presentations and art installations throughout Waitsfield Village. The Mad Mountain Scramblers and Phineas Gage are scheduled to perform. Food vendors will include Gracie’s Tamales, Scrag and Roe, the VG, Twisted Halo and Dougy Fresh, among others.
More than 20 community partners, organizations and businesses are participating, with activities intended to connect information about flood resilience with practical steps residents and organizations can take.
MAJOR FLOODING
Irene damaged roads and culverts, flooded homes and businesses and altered the course of streams throughout the watershed. Moretown, Fayston, Duxbury and Waitsfield all sustained significant damage.
The Valley has also experienced major flooding since Irene, including widespread flooding in July and December 2023 and again in July 2024. Those events impacted and destroyed infrastructure, reinforcing the need for watershed-wide planning.
In the years since Irene, communities have invested in culverts, stormwater projects, floodplain restoration and river-corridor conservation. Friends of the Mad River’s Ridge to River initiative, launched in 2015 with support from a $60,000 High Meadows Fund grant, brought representatives from watershed towns and regional organizations together to consider flooding beyond municipal boundaries.
“Ridge to River brought together representatives from each of the towns in the watershed,” explained Luke Foley, education and outreach manager for Friends of the Mad River who noted that the goal was to get people to “think across political boundaries and think like a watershed and make decisions collectively.”
That philosophy remains central to the organization’s work. Foley said flood resilience depends not only on physical infrastructure but also on relationships among residents, businesses, municipalities, emergency responders and nonprofit organizations.
EDUCATION TO ACTION
The anniversary series will build on that idea, examining The Valley’s vulnerabilities, the projects completed since Irene and the work that remains. Friends of the Mad River describes the series as moving from education to action. Future events will explore different aspects of flood resilience and give residents opportunities to learn about local projects, consider the lessons of past flooding and discuss what can be done to prepare for future storms.
The series also recognizes that resilience extends beyond roads, bridges and culverts. Programs such as Storm Smart help property owners understand how water moves across their land and identify ways to slow runoff through rain gardens, infiltration projects, reforestation and other measures. Streamwise focuses on riparian health, including tree planting and invasive-species management.
Other work has focused on giving the river more room through floodplain restoration and conservation.
“We really want to have an education-to-action pipeline,” Foley said.
The remaining four events in the series will continue through 2026-27, addressing the Valley’s flood history, resilience work and future preparedness.
