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Entire Towns Remain Cut Off In Vermont

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People walk along a washed out section of Route 12 on Monday, in Berlin, Vt. (AP)
People walk along a washed out section of Route 12 on Monday, in Berlin, Vt. (AP)

Despite the blue skies and warm weather along the east coast today, for millions of Americans, Irene isn't over yet.

2.5 million people from North Carolina to Maine are still without power and they could be in the dark until the end of the week.

In southern Vermont, washed out bridges and roads have cut off at least 11 entire towns.

State officials planned to have emergency access to those communities  by the end of Tuesday by building makeshift dirt roads that go around the areas that were washed out.

Candace Page, senior reporter at the Burlington Free Press told Here & Now's Robin Young that the scale of the destruction is "incomprehensible."

"Up and down the spine of the Green Mountains that run the length of Vermont, mostly in Southern Vermont, roads out, bridges out," she said. " I can't comprehend how it's going to be rebuilt because there's no road and there doesn't seem to be any place to put a road. They have to almost rebuild the valley."

Guests:

  • Tom Mashberg, freelance journalist who was hiking in Killington when Irene hit and is now stranded there
  • Candace Page, senior reporter at the Burlington Free Press

This segment aired on August 30, 2011.

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