Updated at 10:14 p.m.
Heavy rain and melting snow inundated much of Vermont on Monday, leading to swift-water rescues, evacuations, road closures and early school dismissals. As some rivers crested and others continued to rise Monday evening, state officials urged Vermonters to exercise caution and remain vigilant.
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At a press conference late Monday afternoon in Berlin, Gov. Phil Scott noted that the storm had come just months after floods devastated the state in July.
“As we continue the recovery from this summer’s flooding, I know this is the last thing Vermonters want to see right now — and especially during the holiday season,” he said, speaking from the Agency of Transportation’s Dill Building.
The governor said he did not expect damage from the latest storm to rival this summer’s. “That being said, some of the places that were impacted in July are currently experiencing flooding once again,” he said. “So for them, this is July — and it’s a real gut punch.”
As of 5 p.m., the storm had led to at least three rescue operations throughout the state, according to Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison. Three people were pulled from a house in Jamaica around 1 p.m. One person was rescued from a vehicle swept away by floodwaters in Waterbury. And one other rescue operation was taking place at that hour in an unspecified location, Morrison said during remarks at the governor’s press conference.
No injuries or deaths were immediately reported Monday.
Throughout the day, local officials scrambled to respond to a storm that, while widely anticipated, quickly grew more severe than expected. As the Mad River raged Monday morning, the nearby Moretown Elementary School flooded, prompting district officials to send students home early. Later that day, residents of Moretown village were told to evacuate.
The cities of Barre and Montpelier, both hit hard during July’s flooding, prepared for more — closing streets and parking lots and distributing sandbags to residents and business owners. Around the state, dozens of schools closed early. The American Red Cross opened an emergency shelter at the Barre Auditorium.
A December storm
By Monday night, as heavy rain moved out of the state, much of Vermont had received 2 to 2.5 inches, according to Jessica Neiles, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Burlington office.
Among the towns that saw the greatest rainfall totals, according to preliminary local observation reports provided to the weather service, were Johnson (3.3 inches), Quechee (2.9 inches), Waitsfield (2.8 inches), Middlebury (2.6 inches) and Milton (2.5 inches).
The heavy rainfall was exacerbated by a number of factors, Neiles said: high temperatures, an abundance of fresh snow and frozen ground that could not absorb runoff. “Rainfall on top of snowpack is usually not a good thing,” she said.
The National Weather Service charted a record high temperature in Montpelier of 58 degrees fahrenheit, Neiles said, besting the previous record of 46 degrees set in 1949.
Rivers throughout the state flooded Monday, but none ran as high as the Mad River. It crested in Moretown just above major flood stage at 13.02 feet around 7:45 p.m., according to the weather service. That was up from about 3.4 feet the day prior.
At least two other rivers reached moderate flood stage: the Winooski and the Lamoille.
The Winooski crested in Montpelier at 16.15 feet around 6:30 p.m., according to the weather service. By comparison, the river reached 21.35 feet in July when much of the capital’s downtown was flooded. The Winooski crested in Waterbury at 7:30 p.m. but was still rising downstream in Essex as of 8:30 p.m.
The Lamoille River was also continuing to rise as of 8:30 p.m. and, in Johnson, was nearing major flood stage at 15.82 inches.
Neiles said that even as the rain subsided, the state could face more challenges Tuesday: some snowfall and, as temperatures drop, icy roads.
State response
Asked at his press conference Monday afternoon whether the state had been caught off guard by the extent of the storm, Gov. Scott said emergency response officials were always prepared.
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“But it hit me by surprise,” he said. “I knew there was going to be an increased, elevated amount of rain today — and the snow melt we knew was going to be a problem — but we didn’t expect this elevation to the amount of water that we’re seeing right now.”
The State Emergency Operations Center was activated Monday morning. Mike Cannon, the state’s urban search and rescue program coordinator, said at the governor’s press conference that five swift-water rescue teams were in the field, with another five on standby. The state’s 90-member urban search and rescue team, which includes two additional swift-water rescue teams, had also been deployed, Cannon said.
The Vermont National Guard had provided the state with high-water vehicles to assist with rescues, according to Morrison, the public safety commissioner.
Secretary of Transportation Joe Flynn said at the press conference that, as of 5 p.m., 15 state roads were fully closed and 34 were partially closed. He said the Agency of Transportation had heard from 10 municipalities experiencing problems with local roads but had not received formal requests for assistance.
According to Flynn, Amtrak had suspended operations in Vermont, though he said he was not aware of any damage to rail lines. Cape Air also suspended flights to Rutland Southern Vermont Regional Airport, he said.
Secretary of Natural Resources Julie Moore said at the press conference that state water-control facilities along the Winooski River and its tributaries — including the Waterbury Dam, Wrightsville Dam and East Barre Dam — were experiencing high levels of water but had room for more.
Morrison urged Vermonters to act cautiously.
“Tonight our top priority will be keeping people safe and evacuating or rescuing those who are in danger,” she said. “Stay. Out. Of. Flood. Waters. The water is too cold, it’s filled with pollutants that are unhealthy, and the currents are unpredictable.”
Morrison also acknowledged that, “for many people this weather event is likely to cause anxiety, fear and some flashbacks to July’s devastating floods. I will admit to feeling a bit of these emotions myself.”
But, she said, “We are hopeful and there are indications that this weather event will not be as severe as July’s floods.”
Central Vermont
Flooding was particularly severe Monday in the Mad River Valley, where parts of Route 100 were covered in Waitsfield, Warren and Moretown.
Just before 1 p.m., Moretown emergency management officials wrote on Facebook that village residents should evacuate. The Valley Reporter newspaper reported on X that officials were asking residents to stage at the top of Moretown Mountain Road near its intersection with Moretown Common Road.
Waitsfield town officials, meanwhile, called on residents to stay home, limit travel and avoid roadways as the Mad River continued to rise.
Authorities were also eyeing the Winooski River. In a press release issued at 3:30 p.m., Montpelier City Manager William Fraser said municipal officials had been canvassing the capital’s downtown, alerting residents and businesses of potential danger in flood-prone locations. Water had begun to flow into some downtown basements, he said. The Department of Public Works filled sandbags and made them available in front of Montpelier City Hall.
At around 4 p.m., volunteers were loading the sandbags into hand carts and wheeling them around the city to place outside storefronts and doors.
Volunteer coordinator Leila Faulstich said the efforts were easier to coordinate than in July, thanks to spreadsheets and a website that the city and Montpelier Alive had put together this summer. “July caught us off guard,” she said. “We have things set up a little bit better now.”
By 8 p.m., as the Winooski began to recede, Montpelier officials said that damage to the city had been “minimal.” While the basements of some downtown businesses were flooded, they said, many of those basements were empty as a result of the July flooding.
Barre City officials wrote on Facebook Monday afternoon that Main Street between City Hall Park and Depot Square had been closed “due to flood waters breaching storefronts as cars pass by.” Officials encouraged residents to move their vehicles to higher ground, including the Barre Auditorium, and said that sandbags would be available behind City Hall, at Depot Square and at the Department of Public Works garage.
Earlier Monday, Barre officials encouraged residents of the following streets to considering relocating to the auditorium:
- Scampini Square
- Vine Street from Berlin Street to the Vine Street Playground
- River Street from Granite Street to Nativi Playground
- Granite Street from the Old Labor Hall to River Street
- North End (North Main Street and 1-6th streets)
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In an update at 8 p.m., Barre officials said that Depot Square remained closed for cleanup, and they encouraged residents to exercise caution overnight.
In Waterbury at about 2:30 p.m., the Dascomb Rowe Field just off North Main Street was under several feet of water. Not far away, vehicles continued to pass through water pooling across both lanes of traffic. Water was approaching houses on Randall Street, which sustained heavy flooding during the July storms.
The Winooski River had spilled onto low-lying lands behind the Waterbury State Office Complex, threatening the facility’s nearly empty parking lots. According to Bosma, the Vermont Emergency Management spokesperson, state offices in Waterbury and Montpelier had been authorized to close earlier that afternoon.
The storm led to power outages throughout the state. At around 9 a.m., close to 10,000 customers had lost power, according to VTOutages. By noon, that number had dropped to 3,900, and by 10 p.m. only 132 customers were without power.
Schools closed
Agency of Education spokesperson Ted Fisher said that, as of 1 p.m. Monday, the agency had received reports of at least 50 schools in about a dozen supervisory unions that had closed early or were about to close due to the weather.
He said most of the affected schools were located in Washington, Orange and Windsor counties, which had also been heavily impacted by flash-flooding around the state in July.
The schools decided to issue early dismissals Monday, Fisher said, to allow their students to get home because the rain had already washed out some local roads. Others wanted to get ahead of any road closures due to flooding.
“The primary reason for most of these is transportation concerns and considerations,” he said, attributing the decisions to an “abundance of caution related to transportation issues.”
Among the districts that announced early dismissals were:
- Harwood Unified Union School District
- Two Rivers Supervisory Union
- Montpelier Roxbury Public Schools
- Windham Southeast Supervisory Union
- Windham Central Supervisory Union
- Twin Valley School District
- Barre Unified Union School District
- Caledonia Central Supervisory Union
- Lamoille North Supervisory Union
- Orange Southwest Supervisory Union
- White River Valley Supervisory Union
A flooded school
One school in particular was directly affected by the flooding: Moretown Elementary School.
In a message to district employees Monday around 8:25 a.m., Harwood Unified Union School District superintendent Mike Leichliter wrote that rising water was entering Moretown Elementary School, prompting the district to dismiss students immediately.
Ben Falk of Moretown was among the parents who showed up to the school Monday morning to pick up his child after receiving a text that the school would be closing.
“The floors are wet everywhere,” Falk said as he stood with his child near an entrance. “It’s going to take a while to dry out.”
The Moretown Volunteer Fire Department and a flood restoration company were at the school to help pump water out of the building and get started on cleanup. Long hoses leading out of several doors carried water outside as the pumps worked inside.
“This building floods regularly, and it’s flooded again and it will keep flooding,” Falk said. “I don’t know when we’re going to just address the issue that the building’s too low in the landscape.”
Ray Daigle, the director of facilities and operations for Harwood Unified Union School District, was inside the Moretown school Monday morning assessing the damage and managing the cleanup.
“The storm drains couldn’t handle the water and it backed up into the school,” he said. “Most of the classrooms and the boiler room, the furnace are underwater.”
He said there was up to an inch of water on the school’s ground level floor and up to 20 inches of water in the boiler room in the basement.
Fisher, the Agency of Education spokesperson, said Moretown was the only school the agency was aware had flooded.
Erin Petenko, Kevin O’Connor and Sarah Mearhoff contributed reporting.
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