Vermont towns rebuild after damage from Tropical Storm Irene

Steve James prepares to put up a sign on the Bartonsville Bridge on Friday, Jan. 25, 2013 in Rockingham, Vt. Its predecessor was swept away by the raging Williams River during flooding from Tropical Storm Irene. The new 168-foot- Bartonsville bridge has been under construction for the last several months. The original Bartonsville covered bridge was built in 1870. Its destruction during Irene on Aug. 28, 2011 was caught on video and it came to symbolize the damage Irene did across Vermont. (AP Photo/ Toby Talbot)

WATERBURY, Vt. (AP) -- Temporary offices and abandoned buildings mark the damage done by Tropical Storm Irene nearly a year and a half after it devastated Vermont, but repaired and newly built homes, a new bridge and other signs of recovery dot the state.

In Waterbury, where parts of town were under 4 feet or more of water after the August 2011 storm, the community celebrated the closing of Rebuild Waterbury, its long-term recovery office, with a dinner Saturday.

In Waterbury, some homes were filled with water to the top of the first floor. In the area served by Rebuild Waterbury, which also included sections of Moretown and Duxbury, 446 damage claims were filed.

In southern Vermont, a new covered bridge across the Williams River in Bartonsville had its grand opening Saturday, replacing a historic covered bridge that was destroyed in the storm. In Berlin, construction has begun on a $28.5 million replacement for the state hospital that's part of a $43 million project to restructure the state's mental health system.

"We really have come an amazing distance since the storm and that's evidenced by the fact that Rebuild Waterbury has finished up its work, but there remain hundreds of Vermont families and individuals who have unmet needs," said Vermont's new Irene Recovery Officer, Dave Rapaport, referring to residential damage.

Irene's late summer passage through Vermont, dumping more than 7 inches of rain on some