| Wednesday, March 11, 1992 |
| 6:57 a.m. |
A large ice jam on the Winooski River breaks loose about the
Pioneer Street Bridge and travels through Montpelier. Ice jams just below the
Bailey Avenue Bridge and dams the river. |
| 7:05 a.m. |
Filled with rain and snowmelt, the Winooski begins to
overflow its banks along State Street and the North branch begins backing up onto Elm Street. |
| 7:15 a.m. |
Water surges dramatically into low-lying areas behind Main and
State Streets, floating propane tanks from moorings, flooding parked cars and innundating store
basements. |
| 7:23 a.m. |
Radio stations are notified of a flood emergency as first warnings are issued. |
| 7:45 a.m. |
Icy flood waters hit the steam heating boiler at MacPherson's Travel on Main Street
and the boiler explodes, shattering the glass storefront and destroying the basement. |
| 7:56 a.m. |
Two to three feet of water is reported in front of Days Inn on State Street where an
estimated 100 people are stranded. Flood waters pout onto Main Street, stalling cars and
making the road impassable. Backed-up water from the swollen North Branch flows upstream
on Elm Street. |
| 8:09 a.m. |
Evacuations begin of hundreds of stranded residents, workers
and state employees on Main, State and Elm Street. Some wade to safety, while others
are taken out by boat or by fire engines and dump trucks. |
| 8:30 a.m. |
Gov. Howard Dean declares a state of emergency in the
capital and closes state offices. The National Guard is called in to assist, and state
police, game wardens and other public safety crews begin arriving to help in the disaster. |
| 8:46 a.m. |
A Red Cross emergency shelter is set up at the gymnasium at Vermont College. |
9:00 a.m.
to noon |
Human chains of volunteers work successfully in frigid waters
to save historic documents stored in the basement of the Pavilion Building. On Main Street,
similar efforts rescue about 18,000 children's books from the basement of Kellogg-Hubbard
Library and thousands of videotapes in the basement of the Savoy Theater. |
| 10:07 a.m. |
Power crews shut off electricity in downtown Montpelier
because of high fire and explosion hazards from leaking fuel oil and propane. Many telephone
lines are out. About 200 buildings in the downtown area are flooded. |
| 3:00 p.m. |
Backhoes and a crane move into place and begin
dislodging the ice jam below Bailey Avenue Bridge. |
| 4:57 p.m. |
After getting the ice flowing, a second jam occurs, sending
a surge of water back up into Montpelier to cause the worst flooding of the day. |
| 5:10 p.m. |
The ice jam is knocked loose again, and begins
moving downstream. |
| 5:17 p.m. |
Huge ice chunks grinding downriver lift and twist half
the trestle railroad bridge near Bailey Avenue off its foundation, leaving it
perpendicular to the rest of the bridge and pointing downstream. |
| 5:31 p.m. |
The last ice clears the Bailey Avenue Bridge, and flood
waters rapidly drain from downtown. |
| 6:13 p.m. |
Frigid weather and blowing snow descend as downtown Montpelier
is cordoned off and a curfew is set. The city remains closed until noon, Saturday, March 14,
as an army of workers, volunteers and municipal crews pump basements, remove more than
650 dump truck loads of debris and repair damage. |
