New Video Released: Building Resilience, A Rain Garden’s Post-Flood Story

When the July 2023 floodwaters receded from the East Rise Credit Union parking lot in Montpelier, Vermont, it became an opportunity to rebuild stronger. A new video from Lake Champlain Sea Grant and Peregrine Productions highlights the East Rise rain garden’s success in managing stormwater—and its resilience through the flood. 

The rain garden was initially constructed in 2020 with funding from the Lake Champlain Basin Program to treat stormwater from the parking lot. During the July 2023 flood in Montpelier, the rain garden was completely inundated with water from the Winooski River when it jumped the banks. After the flood, sand and debris filled the garden, causing damage to the plants and loss of functionality. 

This challenge served as a learning opportunity for the project. With more funding in 2024, the designers made some key changes to improve the rain garden’s resilience in future storms. The biggest change was to widen the garden about 10 feet to create a larger basin and hold more water coming off the parking lot. The designers replaced the soil media that was clogged from the flood and added an underdrain system to connect the garden to the storm drain. The underdrain prevents the system from backing up by allowing for filtered water to leave the garden more quickly when the underlying soils are saturated. 

The short film highlights the importance of consistent maintenance for successful rain gardens. While the maintenance isn’t major or complicated, it’s often overlooked when planning for green stormwater infrastructure projects. In order for these systems to work properly, sediment and debris must be removed from the forebay about once every few weeks and the plants must be trimmed and replaced as needed. 

The benefits of rain gardens are plentiful. Of course, their primary purpose is to capture and filter stormwater coming off impervious surfaces like rooftops, parking lots, and roads. They are also one of the most beautiful stormwater systems containing native shrubs and perennial flowers that support wildlife habitat, particularly pollinators.  Rain gardens are also one of the more accessible green infrastructure practices and can be constructed on a small footprint. A 250 square foot rain garden with sandy soils can manage an inch of stormwater runoff coming from a rooftop area of over 2000 square feet. 

“We made this video because we think this is a great story to tell,” said Jill Sarazen, who produced the video. “Green infrastructure practices are a great tool to use for managing stormwater close to where it comes from. As extreme precipitation continues to be a threat in the Lake Champlain basin, innovative stormwater management is important now more than ever. I was thrilled to use this video to showcase how this rain garden adapted to changing conditions and can hopefully encourage others to consider installing similar projects.” 

Watch the film below or on our YouTube channel.  

Thanks to our partners involved in the planning and production of this video: EcoLibrium LLC, a landscape design company based in Montpelier, Lake Champlain Basin Program, and East Rise Credit Union. The Montpelier Conservation Commission managed the first installation of the rain garden.