Year after Irene, celebration and mourning

For some, there will be block parties and parades. For others, a moment of silence. For still others it will be another day of struggling to clean up the mess.
A year after the remnants of Hurricane Irene unleashed the state’s worst flooding in recent memory, many Vermonters plan to pause on Tuesday and the days surrounding it to reflect on how far the state has come since the storm.
The biggest unifying event may be 30 seconds of bell-ringing Gov. Peter Shumlin has requested at churches and town halls for 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Landlocked Vermont suffered the worst damage along Irene’s trail of destruction, which left more than 65 people dead from the Caribbean to Canada. Among the most indelible images of Irene are cars tumbling in roiling waters and covered bridges crumbling against muddy waves.