PLAINFIELD, Vermont (AP) — The remnants of Hurricane Beryl brought massive rains to Vermont, washing away a home, destroying bridges and cutting off towns from the outside world, re-traumatizing a state still recovering from catastrophic flooding exactly one year ago. At least one person died, authorities said Thursday.
More than 100 people were rescued by rescue teams during the heaviest of the rains, which began Wednesday and continued into Thursday, officials said. In Plainfield, residents of a six-unit apartment building had just 15 minutes to evacuate before the entire building was washed away, the city’s emergency management chief said.
The death occurred in the community of Peacham, where a man in a vehicle was swept away by the flood, officials said.
Stunned residents gathered Thursday to survey the damage in several compact towns along a hilly corridor of the Winooski River, most of which is connected by U.S. Highway 2. Parts of that thoroughfare, along with dozens of other roads, were closed. Emergency shelters were set up in several communities.
“There’s just mud everywhere,” said Art Edelstein, who surveyed the destruction at a Plainfield home he has owned for 50 years. “I think it’s catastrophic. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The storm brought more than 6 inches of rain to parts of Vermont, and the heaviest rainfall was in the same areas devastated a year ago, said Marlon Verasamy of the National Weather Service in Burlington. Some rivers were not expected to peak until Thursday afternoon.
“We are well aware of the irony that the flooding occurred on the very first anniversary of the flood last year, when many cities were affected by flooding,” Governor Phil Scott told reporters on Thursday.
The towns hardest hit by Beryl’s rains are east of the capital, Montpelier, which was hit by flooding last year but was spared severe damage this week.
In Plainfield, Hilary Conant said she had to leave her apartment, just like a year earlier.
“The water was rising, so I knew it was time to leave with my dog. It’s very traumatic,” she said. A neighbor offered her a trailer as momentary accommodation.
In the compact community of Moretown, the damage appeared worse than a year ago, and the school was again among the damaged buildings, said Tom Martin, chairman of the town council. Workers hoped to build a momentary bridge on Thursday to restore the main road connection to the town.
“They say we are as strong as Vermont. We will do it,” Martin said.
Beryl hit Texas on Monday as a Category 1 hurricane, leaving millions of people in the Houston area without power. It then moved through the interior of the United States as a post-tropical cyclone, bringing flooding and sometimes tornadoes from the Great Lakes to Canada and northern New England. It is believed to have killed at least eight people in the United States and 11 in the Caribbean.
Three tornadoes struck western New York state on Wednesday, damaging homes and barns and uprooting trees, the weather service said. Some areas of New York state received 4 inches (10 centimeters) or more of rain, sending water pouring into the streets of the village of Lowville.
Flash flooding also forced road closures in several communities in northern New Hampshire, including Monroe, Dalton, Lancaster and Littleton. Authorities said 20 people were temporarily trapped in a Walmart store and emergency responders conducted water rescues.
Resilience efforts appear to be paying off in Vermont. Aside from one dam failure with minimal impact to buildings or roads, the flood control levees have performed “phenomenally,” said Jason Batchelder, the state’s environmental officer.
But the damage – which comes as some residents are still waiting for federal disaster relief checks from flooding a year ago – was still a bitter pill to swallow.
“It’s hard to watch people in your own community suffer and have to go through it all again,” said Thom Lauzon, mayor of hard-hit Barre. “Although I stand here a little disheartened, I’m also very proud.”
Emily Hawes, the state’s mental health commissioner, urged neighbors to look out for each other and said the floods on the anniversary of last year’s disaster “can be deeply traumatizing.”
Although Vermont is not a coastal state, it still has experience with tropical weather. Tropical Storm Irene dumped 11 inches of rain on parts of Vermont in 24 hours in 2011. The storm killed six people in the state, ripped homes off their foundations, and damaged or destroyed more than 200 bridges and 500 miles of highway.
In May, Vermont became the first state to pass a law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a portion of the damage caused by extreme weather events resulting from climate change. Scott, a Republican, allowed the law to become law without his signature, worried about the cost of a grueling legal battle. But he acknowledged the need to address the impacts of climate change.
“Climate change is real,” Scott said Thursday. “I think we all need to address it, regardless of our political persuasion, because we need to build back stronger, safer and smarter.”
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Associated Press writers David Sharp in Maine, Holly Ramer in New Hampshire and Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.
