Vermont flooding leads to state of emergency declaration for entire state

Parts of Quebec expected to be hit with rain as weather system drenches Vermont, some of New York.

Swift water rescue teams and local officials across Vermont braced for more precipitation and flooding Tuesday after persistent heavy rains drenched the state and other parts of the U.S. northeast, unleashing fast-moving waters that washed out roads, trapped residents in their homes and disrupted travel.

One person was killed in New York as she tried to leave her inundated house.

There have been no reports of injuries or deaths related to the flooding in Vermont, according to emergency officials. But dozens of roads were closed, including many along the spine of the Green Mountains.

As well, some 50 isolated people were rescued by swift boat, said Mark Bosma, spokesperson for Vermont Emergency Management, on WCAX television.

Officials expected rivers to flood overnight, posing risks to cities such as Montpelier, the state capital.

“We really want people to be hypervigilant and monitoring the weather and don’t wait too long to get higher ground,” Bosma said.

While in Lithuania for the NATO summit, U.S. President Joe Biden signed off on an emergency declaration for all 14 of Vermont’s counties, freeing up federal assistance money for rescue and recovery efforts.

The U.S. National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings and advisories for much of the state from the Massachusetts line north to the Canadian border. Quebec City and other parts of the province face a soggy forecast for the rest of the week.

The U.S Army Corps of Engineers said late Monday they expected two dams to release water overnight, causing “severe flooding” downstream likely to affect multiple towns.

‘It’s going on for days’: governor

Rescue crews from North Carolina, Michigan and Connecticut were among those helping to get to Vermont towns on Monday that had been unreachable since torrents of rain began belting the state, according to Mike Cannon of Vermont Urban Search and Rescue.

Swift water rescue teams in Vermont have done more than 50 rescues, mainly in the southern and central areas of the state, Vermont Emergency Management said Monday night.

“We have not seen rainfall like this since Irene,” Vermont Gov. Phil said, referring to Tropical Storm Irene in August 2011. That storm killed six in the state, washed homes off their foundations and damaged or destroyed more than 200 bridges and 805 kilometres of highway.

What’s different is that Irene lasted just about 24 hours, Scott said.

“This is going on. We’re getting just as much rain, if not more. It’s going on for days. That’s my concern. It’s not just the initial damage. It’s the wave, the second wave, and the third wave,” he said.

Rainfall in certain parts of Vermont exceeded 20 centimetres by late Monday, and the National Weather Service in Burlington said more rain was forecast for Tuesday.

Travel cancellations

Troy Caruso, who owns a golf course, five restaurants and a motel in Ludlow, Vt., said he’s been checking the damage to his properties and in the town of about 800 people. A supermarket and shopping centre were “wiped out,” he said, as was a steakhouse and possibly a burger joint he owned.

“It’s flooded beyond belief,” Caruso said of the town, noting that the 10th hole of his golf course was underwater. “We just got done cleaning up these properties, flowers planted, the whole nine yards,” he said. “We are going to have to start all over again.”

One of the worst-hit places was New York’s Hudson Valley, where a woman identified by police as Pamela Nugent, 43, died as she tried to escape her flooded home in the hamlet of Fort Montgomery.

The flash flooding dislodged boulders that rammed into the woman’s house and damaged part of its wall, Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus told The Associated Press. Two other people escaped.

“She was trying to get through [the flooding] with her dog,” Neuhaus said, “and she was overwhelmed by tidal wave-type waves.”

The storm also interrupted travel. There were hundreds of flight cancellations at Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports and more than 200 cancelled at Boston’s Logan Airport, according to the Flightaware website. Amtrak temporarily suspended service between Albany and New York.