Tuesday Evening Vermont Flood Update: Rivers Receding, Cleanup Begins, Disaster Declaration, Maybe?

The Lamoille River at Fairfax Falls near Cambridge,
Vermont rages amid snow flurries on Tuesday. 

Assessments of Monday's flooding are coming in, and the bottom line seems to look like this:

This flood was quite damaging, and caused a huge boatload of headaches. But the rain stopped just in time to prevent things from going completely off the rails as they did in July.

 The best news is that there have been no reports of deaths or serious injuries. 

Honestly, I think had it rained like it did for another two, three maybe four hours on Monday, we would have had another July. 

LATEST UPDATES

As evening drew close today, roads were reopening, though a few remain closed. The flood crests on the larger rivers had emptied into Lake Champlain or the Connecticut River, or were getting close to that point. 

For those who suffered flood damage again this time, or came close to it, this event was mostly an emotional, and sometimes physical trauma. 

"Seeing homes and businesses surrounded by water again is heartbreaking," Vermont Gov. Phil Scott said during a Tuesday afternoon press briefing. "I can't imagine the toll the has on anyone."

 Lots of Vermont municipalities, businesses and homeowners had close calls with Monday's flood, and they still brought headaches. There's plenty of examples. 

From Vermont Public:  

"In Londonderry, the West River got close to Mike and Tammy's Main Street Deli but didn't cause widespread damage like this summer. 

The Winooski River, at major flood stage, rages past
buildings in Winooski, Vermont on Tuesday. 

Store owner Tammy Clough says the staff still had to move everything up off the floor Monday, and then move it back down in time to open up Tuesday morning. 'I'm exhaused, but what are you going to do,' Clough said. 'I was exhausted before yesterday. What are you going to do? We all just pull together and get it done.'"

Vermont Public also reported the Johnson Post Office just reopened last week having recently completed repairs from the July flood. It got flooded again, but not as badly as in July.  They hope to reopen fairly quickly.  

Most of the flooding in Johnson was confined to basements, despite the Lamolle River reaching its fourth highest crest on record, Some houses in Johnson and elsewhere affected by this week's flooding had not yet been re-occupied since the July inundations.

Judging from the comments from state officials at this afternoon's presser about the flood, it looks like Vermont will be angling for another federal disaster declaration with this latest storm. 

State officials urged people who suffered fresh flood damage to take pictures, note everything that was damaged and save receipts. They should then report these damages online to vermont211.org.

That information will help state officials aggregate damage estimates to report to FEMA and other federal agencies.  

Meanwhile, state and local officials are cleaning up streets, unclogging culverts and catch basins to prepare for the next big rainstorm, whenever that might hit. (Spoiler: Nothing coming through Christmas Day at least).

Flood warnings remained in effect along several Vermont rivers, but they were all receding. The flood warnings should be all gone by tomorrow. 

RAINFALL TOTALS AND FORECAST

Map of rainfall from the storm in Vermont and northern
New York from the National Weather Service office
in South Burlington. Heaviest rainfall as across
southeastern and central Vermont. Click on the 
map to make it bigger and easier to se. 

The National Weather Service office in South Burlington compiled a comprehensive list and map of rainfall totals across Vermont and surrounding areas from this storm. 

The heaviest rain fell in and around Brattleboro, with more than four inches there. Other reports include 4.27 inches in Quechee, 4.17 in West Bridgewater and 3.96 inches in Worcester. 

Overall, the heaviest rain fell precisely where the National Weather Service office in South Burlington predicted it would. Same with the lighter totals in far northern Vermont and in a pocket around central Rutland County. 

 It's just that the rainfall totals were somewhat higher than predicted. That, and a lot of snow melt, made the flooding worse than anticipated.  

The weather forecast remains quiet through Christmas and quite possibly beyond. The snow showers today didn't amount to much, if you got them at all. Some spots in northern Vermont saw a dusting to an inch. 

Tomorrow will be seasonable and dry. Wednesday and Thursday look kind of on the chilly side and dry, followed by a warming trend for the Christmas weekend. There might be a bit of very light snow Saturday, but that's about it. 

Our next shot at any kind of storminess is at least a week away.