The remnants of Hurricane Beryl lifted a warm front across New England. This front slowed down due to an approaching cold front from Canada. The big question coming into this storm was where exactly this front would focus a strip of the heaviest rain. This ended up occurring along a line from Vergennes to Barre/Williamstown and into the northern White Mountains. In this strip, upwards of 3-5 inches of rain fell through sunrise Thursday with locally up to 6 inches.
Among the hardest hit areas are Barre and Williamstown, Vermont. Both saw evacuations ordered last night as flood waters rose. Numerous streets have been flooded, washed out and/or damaged in these two communities and across central and northern Vermont and New Hampshire. Main Street in Barre was completely covered by water and Maple Avenue became river-like. A partial building collapse was seen in nearby Plainfield.
Emergency shelters have been opened at the Barre City Auditorium and also in Williamstown at Williamstown High School. Evacuations have also occurred in Moretown, Lyndon and Barnet. Widespread street and business flooding was reported in Barnet.
In Cabot, Vermont, up to nine roads were reported to be washed out. State routes across central and northern Vermont are closed this morning due to flood waters or flood damage. Vermont Route 100 in Moretown will be closed for an extended period of time as a bridge over Downsville Brook was washed out.
Photos: Flooding in Richmond (@metallidan); Flooding in Waterbury (WCAX); Flooding in Barre (WCAX and Phoenix Bulger); Building damage in Plainfield (WPTZ)
Flash flood warnings have been replaced by areal flood warnings for northern Vermont, New Hampshire and into central Maine. Along with the flash flooding last night also came river flooding. Six rivers have reached moderate flood stage with the Mad River at Moretown having reached major flood stage. The Mad River has begun to recede.
Other rivers either at, or expected to reach, moderate flood stage include the Winooski River at Essex Junction (forecast to reach high-end moderate flood stage by this afternoon), Winooski River at Waterbury (appears to have crested at high-end moderate flood stage and is now beginning to recede), Passumpsic River at Passumpsic (forecast to crest at high-end moderate flood stage this morning), Wells River at Wells (has crested at moderate flood stage and is falling) and the Lamoille River at Johnson (has risen to moderate flood stage, but expected to begin falling shortly).
The Vermont Swift Water Rescue has reported that they have completed 118 rescues as of Thursday morning. Earlier this morning, rescues were ongoing in Moretown, Lyndonville and Northfield. Rescues are ongoing as of late Thursday morning.
Similar scenes of flooding also played out in the northern White Mountains of New Hampshire. The town of Littleton was hit particularly hard. The town saw both flash flooding as well as damage from severe thunderstorms. A tornado warned cell caused tree and power line damage while the streets filled with flood waters.About 20 people were reported to be stranded at an area Walmart.
Flooding in Littleton (Littleton Fire Rescue)
Other communities in New Hampshire that saw serious flooding include Monroe, Dalton and Lancaster. Multiple rescues occurred in the area as officials said some were trapped with no way out of the area they were in as the floods rose. In Dalton, a section of Route 135 collapsed.
Flooding and damage also occurred in Maine, though to a generally lesser extent. A strong storm caused damage to the Kennebec County District Attorney’s office. The building suffered a partial ceiling collapse, chimney collapse and some flooding. Flooding and road washouts have been reported across the mountains.
This all comes directly on the one year anniversary of the devastating July 2023 floods that swept through Vermont. This is the second year in a row that we have an article covering severe flooding in New England on July 11th.
Comments