[Update, Wednesday 7:25 a.m.]

The Vermont National Guard will try today to reach the town of Wardsboro, the only Vermont town without a road — even a makeshift one — to the outside world.

“We’ve been in contact with them,” said Robert Stirewalt, a spokesman at Vermont Emergency Management, this morning. “We’re going to try to get to them today.”

The Guard will fly into the town, on Vermont 100 in south-central Vermont, to deliver food, Stirewalt said.

On Monday, highway crews established makeshift roads to 12 other towns that had previously been cut off by the storm: Cavendish, Granville, Hancock, Killington, Marlboro, Mendon, Pittsfield, Plymouth, Rochester, Stockbridge, Strafford and Stratton.

The roads in some cases were little more than “goat paths,” which only “something really rugged,” like a National Guard truck or a high-clearance SUV, could navigate, said Chris Cole, the Transportation Agency’s director of policy, Tuesday.

[Earlier] Gov. Peter Shumlin pledged Tuesday that every Vermont town should be freed from flood-driven isolation and be accessible by emergency vehicles by this morning, even if that access involves passage over rough terrain.

Just after 9 p.m. Tuesday, the state Transportation Agency reported that crews had nearly met that challenge, restoring some measure of accessibility to 12 of 13 cut-off communities.

Some communities began to see their first influx of post-Irene supplies Tuesday — two days after the tropical storm slammed into the state Sunday and unleashed a torrent of rain-fueled flooding and destruction in nearly all corners of the state. The Vermont Army National Guard distributed loads of water, food, blankets and medical supplies from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“We’ve come a long way in 24 hours. We’ve got a long way to go,” Shumlin said after touring some of the flooded areas by helicopter with FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy, Rep. Peter Welch and Lt. Gov. Phil Scott.

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Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/g2js7Wfk6UY/Isolation-eases-supplies-roads-begin-reach-communities-cut-off-by-Irene-