click to enlarge - Courtesy ©️ Seven Days
- Flooding in Barton on Monday
Flooding in Vermont was widespread but in many places not as severe as the last big flooding event in July, state officials said on Tuesday.
Emergency responders used lessons from this summer's flooding to prepare for the drenching rains that closed some roads and schools. The July event illustrated the need to keep stormwater collection systems such as culverts and streams free of debris, Gov. Phil Scott said on Tuesday at a briefing.
State officials called municipalities to ask if they needed any help with keeping drainage systems clear, and some took them up on the offer. Scott thinks that’s why the flooding in towns such as Barre, Montpelier, Waterbury and Richmond drained relatively quickly.
click to enlarge - Kevin McCallum ©️ Seven Days
- Rte 100 north of Moretown Monday afternoon
“I believe had we not taken that action, the damage would have been much more severe, because the stormwater would have had no place to go,” Scott said.
Up to two inches of rain fell on Monday, much of it in areas that were still cleaning up after the July flooding. It prompted some store owners in Montpelier to move goods to higher ground and sent ripples of dread through property owners who had suffered losses in the first round.
"I feel for those who are just getting back on their feet after this summer's flooding," Scott said. "Seeing homes and businesses surrounded by water once again has been heartbreaking."
In the Capital City, though, no flooding was reported in the first floors of shops.
The flooding on Monday did close 40 state highways. Seven of those roads were still closed early on Tuesday afternoon, said Transportation Secretary Joe Flynn.
Partly because of transportation problems, superintendents closed 120 schools on Monday. Fifty-four remained closed on Tuesday, interim Education Secretary Heather Bouchey said at the press briefing. Other schools had delayed openings.
The pattern of school and road closures shows that the rainfall was widespread, noted state officials. Flooded fields and roads were reported from Brattleboro to the Northeast Kingdom. The roads that remained closed on Tuesday were in Milton, South Burlington, Berlin, Orange, Cambridge and Hardwick.
“It maybe touched more people but wasn’t as intense” as the July rainfall, where nine inches of rain was reported in central Vermont, Scott said.
Another lesson learned from the flooding in July: It’s critical to know how to reach the owners of private dams. Natural Resources Secretary Julie Moore said that as the floodwaters receded in July, officials got to work on compiling that information. Hundreds of Vermont dams are privately owned, Moore said.
“We’re now able to go back to that network that we’ve built, push out information and also make offers of technical assistance if folks are observing damages or defects that they believe warrant some sort of inspection,” she said.
Lawmakers plan to address issues related to flood resiliency and the climate crisis when they return to Montpelier next month. Dam safety inspections, too, will get their attention.
Scott said on Tuesday that the administration is looking into the possibility of buying out flood-damaged properties.
But “this is going to be a very lean year,” Scott said, noting that the tap of COVID-19-era federal funding has run dry. “Any new initiatives have to be offset with something that we’re going to do without.”