General
‘We Just Need a Break’: Another Flood in Vermont Wears Out Residents
Dozens of homes were destroyed and damaged in the latest wave of extreme rainfall in the state, officials said.
A storm that brought more than eight inches of rain to parts of northeastern Vermont early Tuesday destroyed and damaged dozens of homes, officials said, the latest blow to a state that has suffered a string of severe floods since last summer.
Preliminary information indicated that 50 or more homes were ruined or suffered major damage, Jennifer Morrison, the commissioner of the state’s Department of Public Safety, said in a news conference on Wednesday.
Ms. Morrison said swiftwater rescue teams made 12 rescues and 15 evacuations. Considering that the storm occurred in the middle of the night and that the initial rescue operations took place in darkness, “we had pretty remarkable outcomes,” she said.
The state has not yet received any reports of deaths caused by the flooding, according to Vermont Emergency Management.
The highest amount of rain recorded was 8.4 inches in St. Johnsbury, a town of about 7,000 people located an hour northeast of Montpelier, according to the National Weather Service office in Burlington. Other parts of the region drew six to eight inches of rain.