Blown away: Flagger holds on, rides out pop-up thunderstorm

June 26, 2020  |  By Lisa Scagliotti

Jeffrey Strait with ADA Traffic Control is back on duty Wednesday after a rough afternoon Tuesday on Main Street. Photo by Gordon Miller.

On Tuesday afternoon, Waterbury was in the bullseye of a classic summer pop-up thunderstorm featuring heavy winds from the south and a fierce downpour of rain. Flagger Jeffrey Strait with ADA Traffic Control was on duty directing traffic at the busy intersection of Stowe and Main streets when the storm blew in. 

Across the street, Whitney Aldrich at Axel’s Gallery saw the scene unfold and managed to catch it on video from her window. Despite sheets of horizontal rain, Strait hung onto his slow/stop sign as if in a hurricane.  

The storm was short but managed to down some trees, trash many peonies still in bloom, and knock out power to about 100 Green Mountain Power customers around town. 

The next morning, photographer Gordon Miller caught up with Strait who was back at his post in a light drizzle. Smiling, he shrugged off the previous day’s storm and his decision to remain in place saying he was just following procedures in his training manual.

This is his first season working the big Main Street reconstruction project and Strait said he’s liking Waterbury so much that he’d like to find a place to rent in town to be closer to work.

Waterbury Roundabout shared the clip on Facebook where we were then blown away by the response. Thanks to the more than 900 people who shared it for more than 85,000 people to see. 

WCAX even used it in its Wednesday morning news broadcast. 

Video by Whitney Aldrich.