Intense Connecticut Flood Captured In Store Surveillance Camera

An intense flash flood struck western Connecticut back on August 18.

Screen grab from security video showing a flash
flood destroying the interior of a 
Seymour, Connecticut shop in August.

Up to ten inches of rain fell in just a few hours that day, causing two deaths and extreme damage from intense flash flooding. 

That type of disaster was unfortunately all to common this past summer in the Northeast and southeastern Canada, as we in Vermont know all too well.

A video, which you will see below, is just one graphic example of how flash floods are so sudden and extremely dangerous.  No wonder they're so deadly. 

The video is clips of security footage taken inside The Yankee Quilter, a popular craft, quilt and sewing machine shop in Seymour, Connecticut. 

The footage shows water already in the store. But then the intense flood overwhelms the doors and walls of the store, sending a surge into the retail space, destroying everything in seconds. At one point, the surge of water into the store creates a debris-filled whirlpool on the sales floor. 

Luckily, nobody was in the shop at the time. If people were there, they could have easily been severely injured or killed. 

The destruction in Connecticut store was similar - and just as scary - as video of floodwater invading a Ludlow, Vermont restaurant during the extreme floods of July, 2023.

The two people who died in this Connecticut flood were two women caught when their cars were suddenly overwhelmed. 

Video: To see the CCTV footage of the flooding at The Yankee Quilter in Connecticut, click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Intense Flash Flooding In Northeast, And Ontario, Some Vermont Flood Risk Today

Extreme flooding again, this time in Connecticut on
Sunday. Photo from WINY Radio via Facebook. 

 While we in Vermont were harassed by scattered, mostly light showers and overcast skies on Sunday, new outbreaks of intense flash flooding hit other areas not too far from the Green Mountain State. 

Parts of Connecticut were under a flash flood emergency when up to ten inches of rain deluged the southwest parts of the state in a matter of hours. That led to a disaster on par with what happened around St. Johnsbury and Lyndonville on July 30 when eight inches of rain fell in a few hours there. 

The flooding in western Connecticut Sunday was described as a one in a thousand year flood event, which means the chances of what happened yesterday in any given year is 0.1 percent. Of course, in the age of climate change, I think this percentage chance need to be altered.

Up to ten inches of rain fell in just a few hours. In some western Connecticut towns, up to six inches of rain fell in just three hours. 

Unfortunately, reports are two people were swept away in the Connecticut flooding but deaths had not been confirmed as of this morning.

As you'd expect damage is severe, with many roads washed out. Homes and businesses are trashed. The same story we've heard way too often this year.

Meanwhile, in Ontario, five inches of rain drenched Toronto Saturday, setting off new rounds of flooding in a summer that has already seen intense flooding in Ontario.  Once again, people had to be pulled from cars suddenly stranded in rapidly rising water. 

This will be Toronto's wettest summer on record, according to Environment Canada.   The wettest summer on record in Toronto was previously 15.6 inches of rain, but already this summer, they've had 18.73 inches and counting. 

Here we go again. Vermont under a slight
risk for flash flooding today. 

I'm struck by how frequently the floods have been in the Northeast and southeastern Canada this summer. Central and northern Vermont on July 11. Vermont's Northeast Kingdom on July 30.  Toronto, Canada on July 15 and August 17. Montreal on August 2. Now Connecticut.

MORE FLOODS?

Today brings one last day for awhile for some flood threats in New England, including here in Vermont. 

The cold front that promises to bring in that chilly air we've been advertising is set to come through today.  NOAA's Weather Prediction Center has upgraded us from a marginal to a slight risk of excessive rain and flash flooding across Vermont today.

That is level two out of four-point scale. 

These risks are always tricky to assess in advance.  Sometimes, the heavy rain moves right along and doesn't linger over one area, minimizing the flood threat. Other times, heavy downpours hit the same area over and over again, and you have a local flash flood.

Today is kind of a tossup, so we'll have to wait until this afternoon to see how everything behaves. 

We know the line of storms ahead of today's cold front will have some torrential downpours. It's just a question of whether they linger over a particular spot for a couple or few hours.  Especially if it lingers over the Green Mountains, that could cause trouble, as the rainwater would gush down the steep slopes and cause some flash flooding.  

If we get any flash flooding in Vermont today, it'll happen between 1 and 8 p.m., says the National Weather Service in South Burlington.  Any flash flooding would take the form of washed out culverts, gravel roads and ditches, flooding of the type of small streams that rise quickly in heavy rains, and street flooding in urban areas. 

I don't think flash flooding today will be super widespread. Most of us should only get 0.75 to 1.5 inches of rain, which is manageable. But a few unlucky spots could get much more. 

The National Weather Service said this morning the ground is still so soggy that we can only handle 1.5 to 2 inches of rain in an hour before flash flooding would probably begin. Some towns that get hit by the heaviest downpours today could see that much rain in such a short time period. 

Seek higher ground very quickly if your area goes under flash flood warning.

We won't have to worry about flooding along main rivers like the Winooski, Lamoille, Missisquoi, Mad rivers and Otter Creek.  Those rivers will see sharp rises overnight, but won't go over their banks or cause anything scary or really damaging. 

I always hate to talk about flash flood risks because we Vermonters are so jumpy now when it comes to floods.  It's happened so much and so frequently, any forecast that mentions flooding probably triggers PTSD in more than a few people.

But, it will be over by this evening, so at least we don't have to sit and worry for very long.

COLD SNAP

As the chilly air pours in this evening, any Vermont flood risk will evaporate for the foreseeable future. The cold air in the atmosphere will probably trigger a fair number of rain showers Tuesday, Wednesday and possibly part of Thursday.  But all those showers will be light and pose absolutely no flood danger. 

After that, it should stay dry until at least next Sunday, or possibly even longer. 

 

Could Lingering Flood Echoes From Monday's Storm Spell Trouble Down The Road?

Severe, record breaking flooding along Lake Champlain
in May, 2011,  The lake is high now, but not quite flooding.
However, if heavy precipitation continues through the 
winter and spring, some shoreline flooding is possible
come next April and May 

 None of Vermont's rivers as far as I can tell are above flood stage anymore late this Thursday afternoon.

Yay! 

But the floods from early in the week are still causing lingering issues. Elsewhere in New England, and right here in Vermont. 

Down in Connecticut, the Connecticut River crested at moderate flood stage south of Hartford this morning. (It crested at Hartford yesterday afternoon at the highest level since Hurricane Irene in 2011).

The flooding had closed several roads and parks along the Connecticut River, but most homes and businesses are high enough to avoid damage.

In Maine, the Androscoggin River crested at major flood state Tuesday and Wednesday and was considered a 100 year flood. That means there's a one in 100 chance in a given year the flooding would get that bad. 

The flooding in Maine is likely the second worst in the state's history. 

Back here in Vermont, the only trouble spot remaining is Lake Champlain.  The lake level today had risen to 99.05 feet above sea level. It rose sharply as flooded rivers flowed in the lake Tuesday and Wednesday but seemed to be leveling off today. 

The lake level today is just under six inches below minor flood stage. It's also just a little under the record highs for this time of year, set in 1983.

With stiff north winds today, the lake was high enough to splash over onto roads near the shore, including the Route 2 Causeway connecting Colchester and South Hero.  That splash over froze onto the roadway, making conditions treacherous. There were probably other near-shore roads that suffered the same problem in today's chill.

Runoff from the flooding earlier this week made Lake
Champlain rise to just under six inches below minor
flood stage.  It appears to be leveling off now, 

There was also a minor version of something called a seiche on Lake Champlain today.  Steady north winds pretty much tilted the lake, making it a wee bit shallower on the north end and a little higher on the south end. On the far southern end of the lake, the minor flood stage of 99.5 feet might have been briefly reached today. 

The lake probably sloshed back northward as the sun set and the winds down down late this afternoon, and the lake level was very likely leveling off to something near horizontal.  

The current  high lake levels do raise questions as to what will happen when Lake Champlain reaches its typical yearly peak crest in the spring. 

The lake will surely begin to recede in the coming days, and typically slowly goes down or during January and February. Which means there's no immediate threat of any serious flooding.

Where trouble can arise is if the lake stays higher than normal through the winter. If deep snow eventually piles up in the mountains, and then we have a wet spring, the combination of snow melt and rain runoff could make Lake Champlain flood. Especially if it rises from a higher starting point in March or April than it usually does.

There's no real way to predict whether or not Lake Champlain will cause trouble in the spring. Ground water is certainly above normal as we head into the heart of winter, which could help encourage eventual flooding. However, mountain snow pack is far below normal at the moment. 

That said, nobody has any idea how much precipitation we'll get in the winter and spring. 

The National Weather Service in South Burlington usually starts a bi-weekly spring flood outlook in January and continues it into the early spring to give people an idea of whether there is much of a risk of another inundation. 

Tornadic Week In New England, New York

The tornado warnings have been flying for the past few days in parts of New England and New York as a couple dynamic systems have gone through. 

Large thunderstorm erupting over the northwestern
tip of Vermont Saturday evening.

Here in Vermont, no tornadoes are known to have touched down. However, a supercell that did produce a probable tornado in eastern New York prompted a tornado warning in Bennington yesterday. 

The first outbreak came Thursday, as a system roared down from central New York and into Connecticut. A strong EF-1 tornado roared along an 11-mile path around North Haven and Hamden, Connecticut, causing extensive damage to several homes and trees.

Microburst and something called a rear-flank downdraft caused added destruction. A rear flank downdraft is an area of very strong winds that follow behind a tornado and help feed it.

Yesterday, an area in the Albany/Saratoga area in New York and southwestern Vermont appeared primed for rotating stormsl

Sure enough, a rotating supercell developed well southwest of Albany and then produced an apparent tornado near Ballston Spa, Stillwater and Schaghticoke, New York.  A house reported had its roof torn off and a high school was damaged.  

 Both Thursday and Saturday, meteorologists sensed trouble days in advance as forecast conditions called for a lot of instability and winds changing speed and direction with height. That's a good recipe for rotating thunderstorms.  That's especially true just south of warm fronts, which happened both Thursday and Saturday. 

Thunderstorms departing to the east of Sheldon,
Vermont glow in Saturday evening's sunset.

There's no sign of anything major coming up in the next few days, so I guess we're safe from twisters.

It was interesting seeing what the changing wind speeds and direction with height could do with a storm that wasn't as intense as those in Connecticut and eastern New York in the past few days 

A thunderstorm right along the Canadian border in northwestern Vermont prompted a severe thunderstorm warning Saturday evening. 

Driving around in the thunderstorm, I did not see any signs of damage from it. 

At one point, I was on the southwestern flank of the storm in Swanton, Vermont.  That's often the part of the storm where you'd find a tornado.

To be clear, this was NOT a tornadic thunderstorm, and I saw no real funnels or fast rotation. But over Swanton, you can see some weak rotation and fairly rapidly rising, marked by filaments of scud clouds rising fast and twisting gently. You can see in this video that I've speeded up (double speed) to see.