Rain totals, damage and road closures: what havoc the storm wrought on Vermont

After two days of rain that dumped as much as nine inches on small Vermont mountain communities, sun and blue skies returned. Emergency crews were out en force assessing the damage, making swift water rescues, and small business owners and homeowners were taking in the amount of damaged property.

Residents and officials, alike, continue to draw connections to tropical storm Irene that devastated the area 12 years ago. While it is unclear yet if the widespread damage will be on the scale of Irene, fortunately there were no reports of lives lost so far. In comparison, seven Vermonters perished due to flooding from Irene.

What is known about storm damage

On Monday, reports came in about significant damage and flooding in towns along the spine of the Green Mountains. Communities like Londonderry, Weston and Ludlow had waters rise several feet up the sides of buildings.

The rain stopped pouring, but the waters continued to rise on Tuesday following a major storm and catastrophic flooding impacting much of Vermont.

Overnight, Montpelier drew focus as the Winooski River overflowed its bank and caused considerable damage to the capital city. Waters rose, flooded homes and businesses and caused damage to retail shops along the strip. Montpelier issued a boil water notice, which included the town of Berlin.

Kelly Tackett, who owns the Minikin children’s store on a State Street, said business has been slow for months and this could be the final days for her shop. She couldn’t pass the floodwaters to see her shop, but asked a journalist to take some and send them back to her. “Seeing the photos is just awful, really,” she said later. “I’m still in tears looking at them. This was my lifelong dream shop, I finally decided to go for it and opened during Covid (I believe I signed my lease a few weeks before Covid began but decided to move forward despite it) - business has been especially slow this last spring and the shop has been barely hanging on - those photos make me realize this is likely the end of Minikin. I worked so hard to bring it to life. “

By mid-morning Vermont Emergency Management said swift water rescue teams from Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts and North Carolina had performed more than 100 rescues across the state. Helicopters from the National Guard were also conducting evacuations in remote areas that water rescue teams weren't able to access.

All the rail trails across the state, including the newly completed 93-mile Lamoille Valley Rail Trail, were closed due to flood damage. Some state parks had significant damage and were the sites of some of the rescues. Farmers lost acres of crops, and vehicles at a park and ride in Richmond were all flooded.

Rain Totals

The National Weather Service took rain total reports from residents across the state. Towns in six counties had reports of receiving six inches or more of rain over the two days. Most of these areas make up the center counties, north to south, following the spine of the Green Mountains.

The high water mark, so to speak, was in Plymouth with a report of 9.05 inches. Andover, West Tyson and portions of Mt. Holly were in the 8 inch range. Among those with 7 inches or more included Ludlow, Weston, Coolidge State Park, Bridgewater Center, Barre, Montpelier and Morrisville.

In Chittenden County, Jericho and Bolton received 4.15 and 4.08 inches, respectively, the highest in the county. Richmond was next highest receiving 3.03 inches, according to independent reporters. Burlington International Airport reported 2.07 inches by 4:54 a.m. on Tuesday.

Road Closures

More than 100 road closures were still in effect by 3 p.m. Tuesday, according to newengland511.org. The largest cluster of closures, at least a couple dozen, were centered around the Montpelier-Barre area.

South central Vermont all around the Coolidge State Forest had the next most cluster of closed roads. These included some of the towns receiving the greatest amount of rain, such as Londonderry, Weston, Ludlow, Mt. Holly, Cavendish, and up to Killington and Woodstock.

There was another cluster along Vermont 15 that included Cambridge, Johnson, Morristown, Wolcott and Hardwick.

Most of the road closures in Chittenden County, of which there were four, were in Richmond.

The closures made it difficult for motorists to find safe routes to their destination, and often included driving miles out of the way to get where they were going. In Richmond, Interstate 89 South was closed at midday on Tuesday, which caused a steady stream of drivers to turn around and attempt to find an alternate way to get on the interstate, which included traveling the opposite direction until they reached another exit.

The Vermont Department of Public Safety said water levels could continue to rise and may crest during the night. So residents should still be vigilant and watch for more flooding. River and lake levels can be tracked at water.weather.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=btv .

USA Today reporter Trevor Hughes contributed to this report. Contact reporter April Barton at abarton@freepressmedia.com or 802-660-1854. Follow her on Twitter @aprildbarton.