Multiple rounds of intense rainstorms have turned streets into gushing rivers, trapped drivers and forced water rescues and evacuations across the Northeast – and it’s bringing back memories of Hurricane Irene in deluged Vermont as the flood threat continues Tuesday.
Over 4 million people are under flood alerts across the Northeast on Tuesday, including parts of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
Slow moving showers with intense rainfall rates are expected to further inundate streets with rain in parts of northern Vermont and far northeast New York – two states that suffered severe flooding Monday. The flooding left at least one person dead in New York’s Orange County.
A high risk of excessive rainfall covers much of Vermont, “highlighting the potential for catastrophic flooding that has not been seen in this part of the country since 2011,” the National Weather Service said.
“We have not seen rainfall like this since Irene, and in some places, it will surpass even that,” Vermont Gov. Phil Scott said Monday. Vermont is under a state of emergency due to the dangerous flooding that forced dozens of rescues and evacuations Monday.
Two areas in the state, Weston and South Londonderry, were left inaccessible due to flooding, and search and rescue teams were working to regain access and perform welfare checks Monday, Vermont’s Urban Search and Rescue team coordinator Mike Cannon told reporters.
Vermont State Rep. Kelly Pajala said she woke up Monday morning to flood water already at the front step of her Londonderry apartment. She and her son packed up their two cats and evacuated to higher ground.
“For people that were here during Irene, it feels like a very similar experience,” she said. HurricaneFor people that were here during Irene, it feels like a very similar experience,” she said. Hurricane Irene brought destructive flooding to the state in 2011, leaving whole communities under water and damaging major infrastructure. Irene brought destructive floodingFor people that were here during Irene, it feels like a very similar experience,” she said. Hurricane Irene brought destructive flooding to the state in 2011, leaving whole communities under water and damaging major infrastructure. to the state in 2011, leaving whole communities under water and damaging major infrastructure.
Numerous rivers across Vermont have been rising amid the downpours, with some swelling higher than levels reached during Hurricane Irene. The Winooski River at Montpelier had risen nearly 14 feet Monday and passed major flood stage as the water continued to climb, threatening further flooding.
With water in downtown Montpelier running from knee to waist deep, residents stranded in their homes and businesses and roads closed, Montpelier City Manager William Fraser told CNN the situation is looking much worse than it did in the 2011 flooding.
Nearly a dozen different areas across Vermont, from the Connecticut River in the south to the Missisquoi River in the north, were expected to see moderate or major flooding before rivers begin dropping later Tuesday.
Two dams in Vermont, the Ball Mountain Dam and the Townshend Dam, are expected to overflow their spillways early Tuesday morning and “release unprecedented quantities of water,” the US Army Corps of Engineers warned Monday night.
Warning of “severe flooding,” the agency urged residents in threatened low-lying areas of nearby Vermont and New Hampshire communities to evacuate.
In New York, where six counties are similarly under a state of emergency, a 35-year-old woman died after being swept away by floodwater as she tried to evacuate her Orange County home Sunday. The flooding has caused “easily tens of millions of dollars in damage,” county Executive Steve Neuhaus said Monday.
Some areas in New York were hammered with more than 8 inches of rain within a 24-hour period.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state will very likely meet the threshold of $37 million in statewide damages and become eligible to receive funding from FEMA.
“You can see highways, roads and bridges that are still unpassable, homes that have been destroyed. We still have people without power and as we talked about earlier, one woman actually lost her life, so it is still treacherous in many of these regions,” Hochul said.
