Stormy Weather

As most everyone knows, Hurricane Irene thundered up the Eastern Seaboard on Saturday and Sunday, wreaking havoc across some of the most densely-populated areas of the United States. Some of the worst damage from the storm actually struck closer to home, in lightly-populated Vermont. Large swaths of southern and central Vermont are either inaccessible, underwater, or both this morning, as residents begin the long process of cleaning up. Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin said the scope and scale of the flooding exceeds that of the great 1927 flood, considered the greatest natural disaster in the history of the state. I expect it'll be a day or two before we know the full extent of the damage. But it's clear that Hurricane Irene will stand among the most devastating events in Vermont history.

The happenings in the Green Mountain State have a direct impact on MSDN Magazine. I am just outside of Burlington, Vermont, in the northwest corner of the state near the shores of Lake Champlain. Data Points columnist Julie Lerman lives in Huntington, Vermont, about 45 minutes or so south of Burlington. And former MSDN Magazine Senior Editor Terrence Dorsey, now Director of Content Development at The Code Project, lives near some of the hardest hit areas around Manchester and Bennington, Vermont.

Julie and I were fortunate. Neither of us even lost power despite the high winds, and flooding wasn't an issue near either of our homes. But Terrence was tweeting frequently yesterday and into this morning with updates on flooding, downed power lines, closed roads and disrupted utility service. The damage down there is extensive.