Vermont flooding prompts rescues, traps residents as more rain forecast

WESTON, Vt. — Intense flooding across Vermont trapped residents in their homes, washed out roads and set off widespread rescue efforts, a crisis that officials warned would continue at least through the week’s end.

More than 100 people had been rescued statewide by Tuesday morning, while crews on boats and in helicopters searched for others who were stranded in the rural, mountainous state, officials said. Rescuing those who were trapped was expected to take several days, state authorities said, and they feared that more rain starting Thursday could bring further devastation.

Flash floods Monday from heavy rainfall turned to river flooding Tuesday as the rain stopped and rivers across the state rose, including in the state capital, Montpelier, and throughout the Green Mountains. Some surpassed major flood stage at record-breaking levels, and a few dams neared capacity, including in hard-hit Montpelier.

Advertisement

The extent of the storm’s damage to roads, buildings and other infrastructure remained far from clear, but thousands of people had lost homes and businesses, and countless roads had been washed out, Gov. Phil Scott (R) said at a news briefing Tuesday.

“The devastation and flooding we’re experiencing across Vermont is historic and catastrophic,” Scott said. “This is nowhere near over.”

Residents described seeing waterfalls, mudslides, blocked roads and washed-away bridges. People across large swaths of the state were unable to leave their homes, hemmed in by water or damaged roads.

“We were totally blocked in,” said Stacey Alexander, 48, whose house sits on a curve of the West River in Londonderry. It overflowed its banks, covering the road out with several feet of water. Alexander and her husband, Huzon, rushed to move their belongings to high shelves as they watched the raging river carry away tires, trash cans and propane tanks.

A nearby bridge was closed after being damaged, while parts of roads in the area had collapsed, leaving giant scalloped edges where water still flowed beneath.

Advertisement

Though the sun made an appearance Tuesday, officials were bracing for more rain later this week. Vermont’s swollen rivers were set to drop below minor flood stage before Thursday’s showers, but in areas that saw the worst flooding, more flash floods prompted by late-week rain couldn’t be ruled out, said Rebecca Duell, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Burlington.

“At this point, there’s nowhere for the water to go,” she said. “It’s something we are watching closely.”

The storms began Sunday and hit Vermont, New York, Connecticut and other spots in the Northeast, killing one person in the Hudson Valley. No other deaths had been reported in Vermont as of Tuesday morning.

The torrents were a product of a slow-moving storm system trapped between areas of strong high pressure over Greenland and western Canada and fueled by a steady flow of tropical moisture feeding in from the south. The extreme weather underscored how current flood predictions based on historical data no longer keep up with a warming planet’s extreme rainfall.

Advertisement

The Northeast as a whole was looking at drier weather through Wednesday, Duell said, followed by possible showers and thunderstorms Thursday and Friday. In New York, teams were assessing damage as residents began recovering from more than eight inches of rain in parts of the mid-Hudson region and more than five inches in the Finger Lakes region.

In Vermont, the storms dumped six to nine inches of rain — in some places, more than two months’ worth — on parts of the state from late Sunday to early Tuesday. The combination of Vermont’s mountainous topography and tucked-away towns left many people stranded and complicated rescue efforts.

Rescue crews from multiple states were making their way to Vermont, where 13 water rescue teams, five out-of-state teams and five helicopters were already rushing to find people in hard-hit and remote areas.

The Winooski River, which flows through Montpelier, crested above 21 feet, higher than during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 and nearly four feet above major flood stage, Duell said.

Advertisement

The hardest-hit regions were the Montpelier-Barre area and Ludlow, Londonderry, Andover and surrounding towns, Vermont Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison said. Ski resorts closed in Ludlow and Killington. Woodstock lost its water supply and went under a boil-water advisory. Montpelier closed its flooded downtown as officials briefly feared that a nearby dam could spill. They also urged residents to boil their water.

“People are partly in a state of shock, partly in a state of exhaustion,” said William Fraser, the Montpelier city manager. “And people are sad at what’s happened.”

The damage is probably extensive, and Montpelier may take months to recover. “It’s going to be a long, arduous process,” he said. “But we will rebuild.”

Rainfall earlier in the month had already soaked the ground, priming the state for floods by making the soil unable to absorb the latest deluge.

Advertisement

Most rivers crested Tuesday morning or were set to crest by the day’s end, then recede through Wednesday and drop below even minor flood levels by Thursday, forecasts showed. Whether more flooding occurs Thursday and Friday, and whether any dams will be at risk of failure, depends on how much rain falls.

With many areas still covered by water, it was too early to assess the full scope of the damage, state officials said — or what it will take to recover. The deluge came “fast and furious,” the governor said, its speed compounded by Vermont’s steep mountains and valleys.

In some spots, water began receding enough for crews to start assessing damage and clearing roads. A major highway, Interstate 89, reopened after being shut down Monday evening.

“We’re really now just still finding out so many impacts of the last few days,” Duell said. “It’s been really catastrophic.”

Advertisement

Josh Allison, the fire chief in Weston, was sitting behind the wheel of a track loader in the firehouse Tuesday morning, trying to plow away four inches of silt and mud that the flood had left behind.

“There was definitely more water this time than during Irene,” said Allison, 39.

Officials asked residents to stay off the roads and not to start volunteering their help until the state starts recovery efforts, telling them to sign up on the state’s website to be contacted when volunteers are needed.

“We are still in a very dangerous part of this disaster,” said Michael Cannon, program manager for the state’s urban search-and-rescue team. “We are performing active rescues as we speak.”

Further south, in Plymouth, Rebecca Pappas, 43, and her partner were on vacation when the storm hit. They’d gone wading in the calm brook next to their house — and on Monday, watched it turn into a raging river. The water took out the bridge that connected their house with town, and they began to fear that it would reach the home.

Advertisement

“It was scary,” Pappas said.

On a hilly rural road in Weston, a town tucked in the Green Mountains, Regina Downer’s family watched the river destroy their road, cutting off the only way out. The storm had “incredible intensity,” said Downer, 71.

“The power went out, and then we just lost the road. I mean, it just washed away,” she said.

But Tuesday afternoon, a municipal crew rolled in to begin clearing the street. Downer and her neighbors were so happy, they planned to bring food and drinks to the street for a party Tuesday evening.

“When we saw that tractor come up,” she said, “we were out there cheering.”

Slater reported from Weston, Vt., and McDaniel from Washington. Lyric Li, Brady Dennis, Kate Selig, Anumita Kaur, Susan Levine and Robin Shulman Agüeros contributed to this report.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZLCttcyaq55llaPDqr7Op6SepqRkf3F%2BkmhncGdhZny3sdGmpqesXZu5sLvDZqmeq5OqsrR5zp%2BdopuZlrm0ecGrmJydXaeuqrqO