In late August 2011, hurricane Irene hit the coast of New Jersey, the first hurricane to do so since 1903 (thanks, Wikipedia). It later downgraded to a tropical storm and moved across New York and Vermont, causing a lot of flooding, the likes of which hadn't been seen in decades.

One of the victims of that flooding was the Latchis Theater in Brattleboro, Vermont. Water flooded the basement of the building that is shared by the theater, the Latchis Hotel, a ballroom, and a few other businesses. The theater has been out of commission since then, but the Brattleboro Reformer published an article on September 20, 2011 that reports that the theater intends to reopen in mid-October:

Water only reached the floor of the third row of seats so none of them will need to be replaced immediately, Nunziata said. Most of the damage was to the carpet and all of it was pulled up and removed, [Gail Nunziata, general manager of the Latchis] said.

Without electricity and heat, the hotel and movie theaters have been inoperable and the financial stress can be nerve-racking, Nunziata said. All of the construction, rebuilding and rewiring is being done on emergency power, she said, and the goal is to have the hotel and theater up and running again well before November.

"Losing all of September and now a portion of October is tough because it's leaf season," Nunziata said. "It really hurts to lose that much business."

Click the Read link below to read the full article and see photos of the damage.

According to cinematreasures.org, the four-screen theater opened in September 1938 as a single-screen operation. Two additional auditoriums were added later, with a fourth added in 2008. The theater and its building are owned by the Brattleboro Arts Initiative, a non-profit organization.