U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate inspected heavily-damaged areas of Vermont on Tuesday. He was joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Peter Welch  and Gov. Peter Shumlin at stops in  Ludlow, Wilmington, and Brattleboro. They also flew over other flood-damaged parts of the state to assess damage from Tropical Storm
Irene. “We have got some very, very serious problems,” Sanders said. Sanders on Tuesday spoke with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood about the need for the federal government to help make sure Vermont can rebuild its transportation infrastructure after the powerful floods ripped up roads and destroyed bridges across the state.

Watch
a Seven Days video of storm-swollen rivers and streams.

Some help already began to arrive in Vermont. Thirty trucks from FEMA arrived at Camp Johnson in Colchester, stocked with emergency supplies, food and blankets.

Also on Tuesday, Sanders and Shumlin  visited the flooded state hospital and state office complex in Waterbury.

In the wake of the storm, three people in Vermont have died, nearly 300 roads and 30 bridges are closed rail traffic has stopped.  Two days after the
storm, nearly 20,000 Vermonters are still without power.  Southern Vermont was hit particularly hard.