Nearly half of the residences destroyed and more than one-third of those damaged in this month’s flooding in Vermont were located in Washington County, according to preliminary, self-reported data collected by the state.
But the greatest destruction on a per capita basis appears to have occurred in the much smaller Lamoille County, the data shows.
State officials have encouraged Vermonters to report damage online or by dialing 2-1-1 to seek immediate resources and claim aid. By the end of the day Tuesday, that system had received more than 4,000 reports of damaged residential units and more than 800 reports of damaged businesses, Vermont Emergency Management told VTDigger at the time.
The state has since provided additional data, last updated Wednesday night, painting a more detailed geographic breakdown of the residential devastation.
By far the greatest number of residential units damaged and destroyed by the flooding were in Washington County, which includes hard-hit cities with greater density, such as Barre and Montpelier, as well as smaller towns like Calais, which received more rain than anywhere else in the state.
Of the 4,290 reports of damaged residences the state received by late Wednesday, 1,596 came from Washington County, 498 from Windsor County and 393 from Lamoille County. More than 300 residents of Orange and Orleans counties also reported damage. Nearly 40 reports did not include a county.
Washington County also had the greatest number of uninhabitable residential units (359) and households reporting that they needed shelter (155), according to the preliminary data. But measured on a per capita basis, Lamoille County — where the Lamoille River swept through Jeffersonville and Johnson, among other population centers — fared worse.
For every 10,000 residents, Lamoille County had 69 uninhabitable residences and 29 unsheltered households, compared to 60 uninhabitable residences and 26 unsheltered households for Washington County.
Scott Waterman, a spokesperson for the state’s Joint Information Center, noted that individual situations were evolving and some people may have found shelter since reporting to 211.
