Flood Cleanup Continues S. Vermont; More Rain Due Sunday/Sunday Night

Heavy flood damage to a road in Putney, Vermont Friday.

 It will take weeks in some towns across the southern third of Vermont to fully repair roads, streets and other infrastructure after Thursday night's floods.  

Same is true in adjacent areas of New York and New Hampshire. 

In Vermont the worst damage seemed to be in Manchester, Sandgate and Arlington west of the Green Mountains, and in the Putney area east of the Greens. 

In Manchester, at least three badly damaged roads were still closed late Friday, according to the Bennington Banner.  Several homes and businesses also had flood damage.

An assessment is not complete yet but reports are still coming in. The Manchester Country Club reported flooding on the first floor of its clubhouse.  A burger restaurant in Manchester was closed due to flooding. 

A juror in a Bennington County criminal case had to be excused from duty because her road was washed out, making her unable to make it to court. Plus, the juror's basement was flooded.

The Battenkill River far exceeded flood stage, inundating fields and crops.

In New Hampshire, some residents were evacuated in Marlow when a dam threatened to collapse.  Extensive road damage was reported in Alstead, Goshen and Newport, New Hampshire. 

The southernmost two counties of Vermont have endured one of their wettest months on record. Parts of southern Vermont began the month as being "abnormally dry" according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. That's certainly not true anymore.

Areas of Vermont north of Route 2 keep missing out on most of the rain, so moderate drought continues up there.  Rainfall up there for July will come out to be close to average.

Here in St. Albans, I had a decent storm total of 0.8 inches Thursday night and Friday. However, it appears I got a lucky bullseye from some heavier showers. Rainfall was lighter than that across most of Vermont north of Route 2.

It really is remarkable that southern Vermont has already had two damaging floods this month, while the northern part of the state stays in drought.  

Vermont's hilly landscape makes the state prone to flash floods, but climate change makes the risk higher.  We've always had floods, some of them epic, like those in 1869, 1927 and 1936.  But especially heavy downpours have become more common and more prolific, so we get more destructive days like Thursday and Friday in southern Vermont.

We now almost never get through a year without a flood. In the past quarter century, the only years I can recall without a damaging flood were 2001 and 2020.

The current southern Vermont flood threat might not be quite as we get into the first day of August tomorrow. The next weather system could bring some locally heavier downpours Sunday night. 

Under normal conditions, I wouldn't think the anticipated rains would be heavy enough to cause much of a  flooding risk. But southern Vermont is so wet, and now damaged by repeated rains that have made roadways and such unstable, that downpours Sunday night could cause some additional damage.  It's worth watching. 

At this point, most of next week looks pretty dry, with a fairly low risk of scattered, generally light showers.