Thursday Evening Vermont Flood Update: One, Possibly Two Deaths, Massive Rain, Massive Destruction, Oppressive Weather Outlook

Dishearteningly digging out.

A washed out driveway this morning in Richmond, Vermont.

That's what Vermonters started up again as flooding began to recede in most - but not all - parts of the state. 

The lower sections of the Winooski River, the Lamoille River from Johnson on west to Lake Champlain and the Passumpsic River in the Northeast Kingdom were continuing to cause new and/or worsening problems as of late this afternoon. 

The Latest Stats

The death toll is at least one, and possibly two. State Public safety officials said a man was swept away last night in Peacham. 

The stats are sadly impressive. At least 54 state roads and 6 bridges were closed this morning. That doesn't include the likely hundreds of town roads closed or partly shut down by flooding and washouts. 

Rainfall totals were incredible to say the least, especially since all of it came down in fewer than 24 hours, with the vast majority coming in 12 hours or less

Walden reported 7.25 inches. The Mechanicsville section of Hinesburg saw 6.91 inches. St. Johnsbury and Monkton reported 6.4 inches. 

Numerous towns had between four and six inches of rainfall. 

It's clear the damage doesn't cover as much of the state as the flooding on July 10, 2023. Some towns in Windsor County had a quarter inch of rain or less.  But in many areas, the flooding and damage are even more intense than what we saw last year. 

That's because in some of the hardest hit areas, rainfall was heavier and happened over a shorter period of time than during the flooding last year. 

Jay Shafer posting on X, formerly Twitter, had examples. Duxbury saw 5.85 inches of rain this time and 4.40 inches in last year's event. In this storm, one weather station in Hinesburg reported 5.82 inches, while the same rain gauge last year piled up just 2.82 inches. 

Other places in the flood zone had less rain this time than a year ago. Middlesex got an impressive 4.5 inches this time, but 7.21 inches last year.  

A small tractor along a collapsed section of road
near Hinesburg, Vermont Thursday. 

I guess that's why the damage pattern was so variable. 

Some towns were notably hard hit and will unfortunately become the iconic symbols of Vermont's latest weather/climate disaster.

 Plainfield

There were also close misses: Rescuers broke a window in one inundated building, and pulled a woman out of the window. Moments later, the part of the building the woman had been in was swept away, Vermont Public reported. 

Vermont Public also had more information on that apartment building in Plainfield. It was known locally as the Heartbreak Hotel, and now that more than half the building is gone, that name seems more apt than ever.

VTDigger reports that seven bridges in Plainfield were swept away, along with some crucial culverts. Structures are gone, too, in addition to the Heartbreak Hotel. Two dozen people were evacuated, and the town's water service is gone, at least for now. 

Lyndon

The parts of Routes 122 and 5 in Lyndon regularly flood when the Passumpsic River gets high. But residents said they've never seen anything like this. 

This is where the possible second flood death might have happened. As WPTZ reports, a man in a pickup truck drove around a barrier on a closed and flooded road, apparently believing he could make it through.

A house in Bolton, Vermont surrounded by mud and
debris after the floodwater receded Thursday. 

The town's police chief said bystanders tried to wave the man down to stop him, but the belief is the driver thought the people waving at him might have been just trying to be friendly.

The man's truck has since been found downstream, but the man was still missing as of late Thursday afternoon. 

Meanwhile, about 50 people were rescued from flooded homes in and around Lyndon and Lyndonville Thursday. 

Drone footage showed several homes and businesses along Route 5, including the iconic Miss Lyndonville Diner, inundated. 

Weather Outlook:

As expected, some showers have been lingering around Vermont today. I noticed late this afternoon, the remains of Beryl were still keeping northern New York cloudy. Meanwhile partial sunshine broke out in most of Vermont.

That created a kind of weather front across northwestern Vermont, caused by the difference between the relatively cooler temperatures under the clouds and the hotter readings in the sunshine.

As of 5 p.m. that "front" if you will created a broken line of showers, a couple with brief downpours in northwestern and north central Vermont. 

So far, there hasn't been nearly enough rain with these to renew problems, but I'm watching. At the very least, these showers will probably briefly hinder recovery efforts.

What will really get in the way of the cleanup is the warmth and humidity the next few days. The  dew point, a rough measure of how humid it feels out there, should stay stubbornly between the mid 60s and low 70s daily through at least Monday. That's considered pretty oppressive. '

For the third time in a year, mud and flood restoration
service trucks on Elm Street in Waterbury Thursday. 

Friday will be the "coolest" day if you can call it that, with highs ranging from 77 to 84. Then, Saturday through 

Daytime highs will Saturday through at least Tuesday will get well into the 80s to possibly near 90 in the warm spots. 

There's yet another bullet in the weather chamber in the next couple of days, but we here in Vermont look like we'll dodge it. 

The Bermuda High off the East Coast is really strong and getting stronger. In fact, we should be glad it's not closer, as it's so strong it would cause record high temperatures in our neck of the woods. 

Instead, it's well offshore, and expanding. That has stalled a weather front along the Mid-Atlantic Coast and is gradually pushing it northwestward. That will cause potentially torrential downpours and flooding from the Carolinas to southeastern New England. 

It doesn't look like that rain will push northwestward enough over the next few days to cause real problems in Vermont. Far southern parts of the state might see a few downpours from this system. But they escaped this week's flooding and can handle it. 

We'll have to watch for thunderstorms early next week. It's hard to say whether they'll be enough to cause new problems. Early guesses are they won't be too dangerous, but we'll keep an eye on 'em. 

If you want some glimmers of hope, here's this: We could have at least a brief break in the heat toward next Thursday. 

I know long range forecasts are not always reliable, but those long range forecasts have backed off quite a bit on what had been quite a lot of expected hot weather around the third week of the month.  More importantly, the forecast for that time period between roughly July 15 and 25 has trended toward somewhat below normal rainfall.

We can only hope.