Vermont Storm Exposes the Strengths, and Limits, of New Flood Defenses
Vermont, a state known for peaceful green mountains, grazing cows and tidy covered bridges, is not often seen as a place where mudslides threaten highways, rivers churn with debris and murky, propane-fouled floodwaters fill downtown streets. But those kinds of images of destruction were seared into memory when Tropical Storm Irene battered Vermont in 2011,…