(Host) Rutland City is trying to clean up from flood damage in last week’s storms.
The sudden downpours caused city sewer lines to back up and overflow into businesses and homes.
A number of downtown businesses, including the state office building, remain closed.
Rutland Mayor Christopher Louras says no part of the city was spared, but the downtown was hit hard.
(Louras) "A couple of buildings had water coming in from the outside flowing into the store, water coming up through the drains in the basement and water coming down from the second floor where the water pressure from the storm sewers overflowed second floor plumbing as well."
(Host) Louras says the city’s storm sewers and sanitary sewers were combined when the system was laid out decades ago.
The city has had other flooding problems in recent years because the sewers couldn’t handle big storms.
Meanwhile, Louras says some property owners have learned that their insurance won’t cover the damage.
(Louras) "Even if you take part in the national flood insurance program there is an exclusion for basement losses. And that came as a surprise to a lot of people."
(Host) State and local officials need to find an additional $100,000 to qualify for a federal disaster declaration that would help with the cleanup.