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Video footage of the Bartonsville covered bridge being swept down the Williams River in Sunday’s floodwaters has been widely circulated on the Internet. The bridge is gone.

The Quechee covered bridge is hanging by a thread over the Ottauquechee River.

The Taftsville covered bridge was battered by debris in the same swollen river, rendering it unsafe.

In Northfield Falls, one of three covered bridges over Cox Brook took a tree through its roof.

Tropical Storm Irene ripped through the heart of one of Vermont’s most sacred icons Sunday, in one day doing more damage to the state’s wooden bridges than is typically done in a decade. Many of them had stood for more than 100 years.

Joe Nelson of Underhill fielded the unwelcome reports from around the state Sunday and Monday. Nelson is vice president of the Vermont Covered Bridge Society.

“It’s devastating,” Nelson said Monday.

“It’s an important part of our heritage,” said David Wright of Westminster, who is president of the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. The state has about 100 covered bridges, he said.

Finding out just how devastating proved challenging Monday, as some reports were exaggerated and there was no word on some bridges that might have been damaged, Nelson and Wright said.

Chris Cole of the state Agency of Transportation said crews were still gathering information about the conditions of bridges and roads of all kinds. The agency reported later Monday that 30 state-owned bridges of all types were closed because of damage and access to 10 towns was cut off.

In Quechee, where the replica covered bridge is a main thoroughfare and an integral part of town, residents were crying at the sight of the destruction, said Senate President Pro

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