Updated Thursday, July 11, at 1:29 a.m.
Between 3 and 6 inches of rain inundated portions of central Vermont over a three-hour period Wednesday night, according to the National Weather Service, flooding towns and cities throughout the region. Another inch or two was expected in some parts of the state early Thursday.
The deluge led to rescues, evacuation orders and washed-away roads and bridges. Bursting tributaries dumped excess water into mainstem rivers, some of which — including the Winooski River from Montpelier to Essex Junction — were expected to crest near major flood stage early Thursday morning.
The remnants of Tropical Storm Beryl hit Vermont hardest along a swath of the state from Addison and southern Chittenden County in the west to Caledonia County in the east, according to Eric Myskowskim, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service’s Burlington office. Among the hardest-hit areas, according to early reports, were those in the middle, such as Williamstown, Plainfield, Moretown and especially Barre City.
The storm came a year to the day after Barre and many other parts of the state were whalloped by historic flooding.
At around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Barre Mayor Thom Lauzon said he’d declared a state of emergency in his city, after officials rescued roughly a dozen people from flooded houses and cars. With water pouring into the flood-prone city, Barre closed several roads downtown and urged people to stay away, if possible. It was also planning to issue a boil water notice, according to Barre City Manager Nicolas Storellicastro.
“The next three hours are going to be pretty critical for us. I wouldn’t say it’s a repeat of ’23,” Lauzon said, referring to last July’s devastating floods, “but it’s very serious.”
“I hate to say it, but at this point we’re just at the mercy of Mother Nature,” he said.
Mother Nature did, indeed, show some mercy, Lauzon said nearly three hours later, just after midnight, as another round of rain approached the city. “Thankfully this band held off for a few hours and gave the river a chance to drop 3 feet,” he said. “And gave us a chance to catch up and catch our breath.”
In nearby Plainfield, waterways overflowed and wiped out several bridges and roads, disrupting the town’s water supply in the process, according to local officials. “There is a line break — at least one — somewhere,” said Tristan Macgregor-Stewart, chief systems operator for Plainfield’s Water and Wastewater Commission. “We won’t be able to assess the damage until tomorrow, when the floodwaters go back and we’re able to go in and take a look.”
Macgregor-Stewart said that the town would be on a boil water notice and that there was no timeline on when services would be restored.
Further east, in Caledonia County, the towns of St. Johnsbury, Barnet and Groton experienced significant flooding, according to local and state officials. In Barnet, the Stevens River jumped its banks near the Barnet Village Store, likely destroying a bridge, according to New England 511. At least a dozen roads in the town washed out, according to Barnet Fire and Rescue.
Robert Haynes, another meteorologist with the weather service’s Burlington office, said that some of the central Vermont areas that were pummeled with rain can handle only 1.5 inches an hour — and at times Wednesday evening were receiving twice that.
In addition to Barre, at least three other towns — Williamstown, Groton and St. Johnsbury — ordered evacuations Wednesday evening, according to Vermont Emergency Management spokesperson Mark Bosma, and Moretown Village was considering doing the same.
At least two shelters opened for those displaced by the flooding, at the Barre Auditorium and Williamstown Middle/High School.
The weather service issued flood warnings Wednesday night for the Winooski River in Montpelier and Waterbury.
The river was expected to crest in the capital soon after midnight at about 17 feet, just shy of major flood stage. At 17.5 feet, according to the weather service, water would cover the streets of downtown Montpelier. The river reached about 21.3 feet in last summer’s historic flooding.
In Waterbury, the Winooski was expected to crest at 421.4 feet at around 8 a.m. Thursday, according to the weather service. That’s enough to reach properties on Randall Street, Foundry Street and some parking lots at the Waterbury State Office Complex. “Considerable field flooding” would also occur from Waterbury through Richmond, according to the weather service. The Winooski reached 426 feet during last summer’s flooding and 430 feet during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011.
The Mad River in Moretown, the Lamoille River in Johnson and Passumpsic River in St. Johnsbury were also expected to rise significantly.
K. Fiegenbaum, Habib Sabet and Sarah Mearhoff contributed reporting.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misquoted Thom Lauzon describing how much water levels had fallen late Wednesday.
