It Felt Inevitable: Flash Flooding Again Caused Damage In Vermont

Mad River in Moretown, Vermont running high and fast after
Thursday's heavy rain. 

With so much storminess and flooding in the nation this year, it seemed inevitable that Vermont would be hit again.

Flash flooding hit parts of the state Thursday.  We had been dodging bullet after bullet since mid-April, when heavy rain and snow melt caused destructive floods in parts of Vermont.

That was only two months ago, I realize, but the way things have been going, a two-month reprieve from flooding seems like a gift.

Especially since both the flooding in April and what happened Thursday were certainly damaging, but not worst-case scenarios.

In fact, most of the state was just fine Thuesday.

As is always the case with this type of event, the flooding was hit and miss, mostly a miss. It rained hard pretty much everywhere in the state, but problems were scattered in a few corners of the state. For example, there was several hours of heavy rain around my house in St. Albans, Vermont, but I can't see any harm around my place whatsoever.

We always have to look on the bright side, don't we?

Still, there were plenty of damage reports across Vermont. Some examples:

--The flooding closed several roads, including parts of Routes 14, 15 and 16 near Hardwick,  Route 125 between Ripton and Middlebury, and several roads and streets around Rutland.

-- There were reports of some water rescues around Ripton, Middlebury and Bristol.

-- Orwell reported 3.25 inches of rain. Though the rain wasn't finished by late Thursday afternoon, several locations in Vermont reported more than two inches of rain. Burlington had 1.40 inches of rain, a record for the date.

-- Additionally, severe thunderstorms managed to get going across central Vermont Thursday afternoon.  Several trees fell on power lines around Hartford. Downed trees were also reported in Rutland, Clarendon and Mendon.

ELSEWHERE, OUTSIDE VERMONT

Via CNN, flooding in New Jersey Thursday. 

As is thankfully the case so often, Vermont's flash flood problems weren't as bad as some other areas.

There was a remarkably large area that had at least scattered reports of damaging floods, extending from Toronto, Canada to the north, Indiana and Ohio to the west, and New Jersey to the south and east.

The Philadelphia area and a good chunk of New Jersey is cleaning up from flash floods yesterday that trapped people in their cars and forced rescuers to go out in boats to take people from flooded homes.

Many places in southern New Jersey had a month's worth of rain in seven hours Wednesday night.

Flooding risks over the next couple of days will shift back into the Midwest.

OUTLOOK

There will be no new problems with Vermont flooding, for the next few days at least.  Steady rain in southern Vermont will move out later this morning. Lingering light showers will pester us here and there for the rest of the day.  A few insignificant showers might sprinkle down on the Northeast Kingdom Saturday afternoon, but that's about it.

There is, however, some potential danger signs for the middle of next week, but that is by no means guaranteed. Showers and thunderstorms are pretty likely on Tuesday, and might linger in hit and miss fashion for the remainder of next week.

It's too soon to tell if any of the storms will be strong, or carry enough rain to renew the flood threat. But the soil is pretty soggy now, so that could elevate the chances of new flooding a little bit. On the other hand, sunny weather Sunday and Monday will help to dry things out.

And, again, looking on the bright side, we won't have to water our gardens for the next couple of days, will we?