FLOOD !
by Nancy Wood,
May 5, 2011, page 1, Updated May 8, 2011.....

Persistent rain combined with melting snow have caused flooding throughout Vermont and the Lake Champlain Basin that continues into May. The lake level rose more than four feet from April 1 to May 1, reaching a record high of 102.83 feet in Burlington on April 30, according to U.S. Geological Survey data. Additional rain brought the level to 103.19 ft on May 6.

Along the shoreline in Charlotte, people scrambled to pull up boats, docks and stairs, and in a few cases used sandbags to hold back the water. Heavy equipment was brought in to halt the erosion and build new seawalls at a summer camp at Thompson's Point, and by Road Commissioner Jr Lewis by the Holmes Creek Covered Bridge.

The Charlotte-Essex ferry shut down until further notice on April 28 when the dock in Essex became submerged; the dock in Charlotte was also under water by the next day. Fishermen continued to launch boats at the Converse Bay fishing access despite the high water and debris floating in the lake. At Thompson’s Point, water lapped at the lawns and porch steps of summer cottages, swamped the Royal Savage Yacht Club at Point Bay Marina and covered Deer Point and the town dock at the end of the Point.

Additional photographs are posted on the facebook page: The Charlotte News - Hometown Paper Since 1958.