Persistent rainfall battered this New England state overnight, causing catastrophic flooding in the capital city at levels not seen in nearly a century as search-and-rescue teams around the state raced to reach stranded residents.
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott on Tuesday called the prolonged rain and flooding “historic and catastrophic.” He said floodwaters were still rising in some areas, surpassing levels seen during 2011’s Hurricane Irene, which weakened as it moved up the East Coast but pummeled this state. Scott said he had to hike a trail to get to a usable road to get to work on Tuesday.
“Even though the sun may shine later today and tomorrow, we expect more rain later this week, which will have nowhere to go in the oversaturated ground,” he said. “I know thousands of Vermonters have lost homes and businesses and more. The devastation is far-reaching.”
Officials said areas of Montpelier and Barre, as well as Ludlow, Londonderry and Andover had been hardest hit. Dozens of roads were closed because of floodwaters and washouts. In Ludlow, flooding overtook a wastewater treatment plant and staff were rescued, according to FEMA.
The storms that overwhelmed New York’s Hudson Valley a day earlier barreled into Vermont and western New Hampshire on Monday evening. Several rivers burst their banks. States from across the U.S. sent equipment and personnel to assist with rescue efforts.
As of Tuesday afternoon, at least two spots in Vermont had been hit with just over 9 inches of rain, according to the latest rainfall data from the National Weather Service in Burlington. Several locales received more than 6 inches.
The Winooski River at Montpelier was in major flood territory, according to river gauge data. Its water levels stood at over 21 feet Tuesday morning—roughly two feet higher than the level seen during Hurricane Irene. Montpelier officials said the river levels were the second highest on record, only behind a 1927 flood.
The Vermont Historical Society says the state has a long history of floods and the 1927 deluge has been generally considered the worst natural disaster in the state’s history.
Main Street in downtown Montpelier was badly flooded. Water rose several feet in the street, high enough to reach the window of a stranded car. In another area, the water nearly reached the roof of a pickup truck and was washing over an old railroad bridge. Many streets were closed off, but water could be seen touching the windows of several downtown storefronts.
The nearby Wrightsville Dam, which was built in 1935 in response to the 1927 flood, had little storage capacity left but officials thought it wouldn’t rise much further, according to a post on the city’s Facebook page. If it did spill over, it would release water into the North Branch River, officials said.
“This has never happened since the dam was built so there is no precedent for potential damage,” William Fraser, Montpelier’s city manager, wrote earlier in the day, adding that the city had requested swift water rescue teams. He said the city was also moving its dispatch center to a water-treatment plant in Berlin, Vt., and had plans to move its full emergency operations center.
Water from the dam would add to the woes of a city already dealing with significant flooding from the heavy rains and swollen rivers. Mayor Jack McCullough said there have been some fast-water rescues in the city and that he anticipates substantial property damage.
“It’s too soon to even know what the needs are going to be, how great the needs are going to be, but I think they’re clearly going to be significant,” McCullough said.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in New England said Tuesday that two dams in the southern part of the state could release small amounts of water over the dams’ spillways, after previously warning they could release large amounts.
Emergency declarations covering all of the state’s 14 counties were confirmed early Tuesday, President Biden said.
Waters were slowly receding in the nearby city of Barre on Tuesday after several feet of water damaged businesses on its Main Street a day earlier, City Manager Nicolas Storellicastro said. He also expects property owners will find significant damage when they can assess their waterlogged buildings.
“It’s going to be big dollar amounts, widespread,” Storellicastro said.
In Cambridge, in northern Vermont, resident Erik Holcomb ferried his partner, Pearl Dennis, and dog, Mansfield, to safety in a canoe, then returned to his house, which had previously flooded in 2019.
“If something happens, somebody’s got to be here,” Holcomb said Tuesday afternoon as he stood on his porch in a few inches of water. On Tuesday, floodwaters inundated the basement and were about 5 to 8 inches deep on the first floor of his house.
Out back, a fence that he and Dennis put up a few years ago was just about gone, he said.
The rainfall and flooding drew immediate comparisons to Hurricane Irene from Vermonters who remembered that storm.
Not far from Montpelier, people slept in cars overnight at an overfilled parking lot at a Berlin, Vt., roadside service center, tucked next to a fully booked hotel and an exit from Interstate 89 where vehicles were diverted on Monday.
Many overnighters were Vermonters, including Fred Churchill, his wife and two cats. They slept in their Subaru because floodwaters on Monday were threatening the Berlin mobile home park where they live.
Hurricane Irene sent 18 inches of water into the same home, and he also lost a car and a motorcycle in that storm, he said. When Churchill, 60, left on Monday, water was about halfway up to the base of the home.
Helen Sweeney, who lives in the same mobile home park, spent the night in her Suzuki in a supermarket parking lot near the service station.
“Somebody told me to get to the highest place,” she said. “I couldn’t sleep. The rain was just pounding.”
She wanted to get back home to see her cat, who didn’t want to leave the house. “My poor cat. I hope she’s not gone.”
Laura Johnson, an emergency room nurse who works in Rutland and lives in Woodstock, said her colleagues have had trouble getting to work because of the flooding.
It’s pretty Irene-like out there,” she said.
In Londonderry, Vt., the West River was again flowing within its banks Tuesday afternoon, giving business owners in this small, southern Vermont town the chance to start cleaning out the muddy, silty mess.
Volunteers from around town were on hand, carrying out debris such as waterlogged foodstuffs and drywall and piling it in dumpsters. Londonderry, population about 1,900, was among the first badly flooded Vermont communities on Monday.
The floodwaters decimated the interior of Jelley’s Deli, which includes a liquor store, and which Beverly Jelley, 80 years old, has owned for decades. This is the third major flood to hit the business since the 70s, she said, but she has flood insurance and is determined to rebuild again.
“I have a commitment to my town and my neighbors,” Jelley said.
Just down the street, the flood hit a cannabis dispensary that owner Kellie D’Elia-Laskin was getting ready to open.
“This is going to blow my budget,” said D’Elia-Laskin, 53. “I was right there. I was at the finish line.”
But she, too, plans to rebuild. She estimated a dozen people arrived Tuesday, without her asking, to help remove debris. Several were busy tearing out soggy material.
“Everybody just showed up,” said D’Elia-Laskin. “That’s what’s nice about Vermont.”