Category:Flooding Associated with Tropical Storm Irene

2011 Hurricane Irene Flood

By now many of you know the news this Fall from White River Junction. it is not pretty. August 28th, 2011 the Museum building was inundated with over 6 feet of water. The weaving studio, The Upper Valley Zen Center and Museum storage were almost completely destroyed. The water did not enter the main, 2nd, floor of the museum display area however.
We are blessed with a huge enthusiastic crew of volunteers; Rotary, Cartoon School Students, local musicians--even one volunteer from Chile! and there are turkey sandwiches courtesy the Cartoon School, and PBR courtesy the Museum to keep us all happy!
There will be much to do in the future, but we put our existing disaster plan—yes we Had One!—into full effect and sorted, rinsed off and salvaged all that we could and even created new main street museum categories: "Items that have Survived both the 1927 and the 2011 Flood." Many have asked how they can help, and there is much volunteer work to do, stop by anytime, working hours are from 9 to 9 most days; but we are always open Thursday through Sunday Afternoons. Since most of what was lost was materials (velvet, hardware, foam-core, archival supplies, frames, glass, etc.) the irreplaceable stuff was preserved. The things that are valuable in terms of money were lost. (as was our parking lot!) What we need most now are funds. Funds to rebuild, funds to clean up and recreate the museum so that it is bigger and better than ever. After the outpouring of volunteer help that we saw I feel an obligation to make the Museum as big and shiny and expansive as all of you are. The Museum must remain open! It must be as open as all of your hearts have been these past few days. Many, many thanks to you all. --David F. Ford. Director.