(November 17, 2011): Every once in a while, Book1One has an opportunity to work on an extraordinary book project. Such an opportunity presented itself in late September when Central Vermont Public Service (CVPS) contacted us to help them produce a book they had just compiled from the events of Hurricane Irene.

Hurricane Irene, An Historic Response provides a dramatic pictorial perspective of the damage caused in Vermont by the hurricane and the incredible response to recover.
 

On Sunday, August 28th, Hurricane Irene slammed into Vermont after devastating much of the east coast of the United States. A storm many consider one of the most destructive in history, hit the state with renewed power causing an amazing amount of damage.

Within an hour after its arrival, hundreds of roads across the state began to wash away and power lines were destroyed. By the time the rain and wind had ended, close to 24 hours later, entire towns were isolated by washouts, hundreds of roads were impassable and scores of bridges damaged or destroyed. Damage to homes, businesses, power lines, substations and hydroelectric plants presented CVPS with one of the greatest challenges in its history.

Hurricane Irene, An Historic Response, dramatically documents CVPS's response and immense restoration effort that began immediately after the hurricane departed. The 100-page photo essay details its story in three parts showing Irene's arrival, documenting the historic damage, and capturing the monumental response made by hundreds of workers and citizens. Response teams came from as far away as Missouri, Kansas and Texas. The majority of the photos were taken by various CVPS employees. Their Public Affairs team wrote the narrative and designed the pages.

The book was produced for CVPS employees, in recognition of their preparation, extraordinary work and dedication to the storm restoration effort.

"Employees and our Board of Directors have sent us numerous notes of thanks for the book, and many have requested additional copies for themselves, family and friends," said CVPS President Larry Reilly. "We are proud of this publication and our employees, and are thankful to have found Book1One to print it at a high quality and meet our time deadline."

For Book1One, it was an exciting book project and gave us the chance to see, through the eyes of those who experienced it, both the devastation and then the recovery efforts.

"We feel very privileged to have been selected by Central Vermont Public Service to be the book manufacturer for this project," says Book1One President Peter Pape. "We consider it to be a very special book."