Mar 28, 2012 — During this pledge drive week, we're looking back at the North Country's Year of the Floods. We began with the spring rains and snow melt that sent rivers surging and drove Lake Champlain to historic flood levels.

That disaster unfolded slowly, beginning in April and lingering into early July. On August 29th, a very different kind of flood struck the region.

Tropical storm Irene landed like a hammer blow, triggering flash floods and devastating surges of debris. In this next chapter of our series, Brian Mann looks at those first hours of Irene, when wind and water brought chaos to whole towns.