Living

Vermont Department of Health has announced that they have discovered mosquitoes in areas of Windham County including Brattleboro that have tested positive for West Nile Virus. Please direct anyone with questions about West Nile Virus to information on the Vermont Department of Health Web Site, www.healthvermont.gov.

The Town has been in contact with representatives from the Vermont Department of Health who continue to urge people to take normal precautions when outdoors, and to follow the recommendations listed on the attached Health Department flyer.

August 27th was the last full river sampling day of Southeastern Vermont Watershed Alliance’s (SeVWA’s) 2014 river monitoring program. There will be one more monitoring day for a small number of sites on September 10th. In 2014 SeVWA’s monitoring program included 26 river and stream sites. Those sites were along the West River, North Branch Brook, Rock River, Williams River, Middle Branch Williams River, Saxtons River and Whetstone Brook.

Most children in the southeastern Vermont region headed back to school this week and, with the start of school and Labor Day Weekend upon us, many consider summer over. However, summer is still officially here and the weather will remain quite “summery” through the coming week. Recreational use of our region’s rivers will continue into the fall.

Southeastern Vermont Watershed Alliance’s (SeVWA’s) water quality monitoring program was begun about 10 years ago. At that time, the organization was known as West River Watershed Alliance (WRWA). In 2014 there are 26 river and stream sites that SeVWA is monitoring and those sites are in the West River and Williams River watersheds and along the Saxtons River and Whetstone Brook. There are 26 volunteers that sample at those sites every 2 weeks during the summer, with 8 additional volunteers filling-in for the “regulars” on occasional days during the monitoring season. This summer the river monitoring program began on Wednesday, June 18th. The last 2014 sampling date at all sites will be on August 27th.

“How likely: 2 out 4 How severe: 3 out of 4”

“Rain is expected to overspread the region from west to east this evening. The rain will become heavy at times late tonight continuing into Wednesday. The rain may be accompanied by embedded thunderstorms resulting in torrential rainfall. Rainfall rates of 1 to 2 inches in one hour are possible in a few locations. This will bring the potential for urban and localized flash flooding. Some small stream flooding is also possible.

Recommended actions: Act quickly. Move to higher ground at once. Get away from places subject to rapid flooding, such as dry Creek Beds or places along streams. Avoid already flooded areas.”

http://www.google.org/publicalerts/alert?aid=f7073f37dfbd078&hl=en&gl=us&source=web