A day after heavy rain and snowmelt soaked the state, Vermonters sought to clean up, dry off and assess the damage.
Here are reports from around the state. (See separate reports from southern Vermont here and from Barre and Montpelier here.)
Mad River Valley
On Tuesday morning, Mike Leichliter, superintendent of Harwood Unified Union School District, assessed the damage to Moretown Elementary School, which was damaged by flooding on Monday.
Leichliter said the school has been prone to stormwater problems in the past, so the state assisted with a new drainage system behind the building. It was completed in September.
As rain and snowmelt ran down a hill toward the school on Monday, a plastic sled blocked a key drain, prompting stormwater runoff to enter the school, flood a basement boiler room and spread about an inch of water throughout the main floor.
On Tuesday, fans hummed as cleaning contractors worked to dry floors. They tore off baseboard trim around classroom walls. The building was running on temporary heat while the damaged boilers were repaired.
Leichliter said the school would remain closed for the rest of the week. With the holiday break on the horizon, he said he was hopeful that the work would be done in time to reopen when the school’s 170 students return in the new year. The district was also working on plans to relocate students if needed.
Elsewhere in the Mad River Valley, the river stayed largely within its banks. Town officials in Waitsfield and Warren said there was little damage.
Near the Waitsfield Covered Bridge, an area of the village that was hit hard by flooding during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, the Mad River climbed to just within reach of the bridge on Monday. Nearby at the Sweet Spot cafe, owners Sarina Gulisano and John Vitko had watched the water rise, covering a parking lot and eventually hitting the front steps of their building.
By late afternoon Monday, the river had receded. The Sweet Spot and other businesses in the area escaped major damage, though a low-lying portion of the parking lot near the Mad River was being cleaned of mud and debris.
Plainfield
Michael Billingsley, emergency management director for the town of Plainfield, said the town “came close, but mostly dodged the worst of it.”
Officials worried most about a stretch of houses that lines both sides of the river in the center of town, which were badly damaged in July, he said.
“We were all scared to death, but the river stopped rising at about nine o’clock last night,” he said. “And we were able to determine that just basic stuff like propane tanks were not going to be damaged. The fire chief and I basically let the flood subside, and that was the end of it.”
The July storm caused several near-landslides, and he noticed that several slopes seemed to become even less stable during Monday’s storm.
“We’re not sure how to protect ourselves from that,” he said. If one of the bigger slopes gives way, the town would lose one of its major roads.
Town officials have also come to the realization that the Twinfield Union School — which is elementary through high school — is almost impossible to evacuate in a major flood if the school doesn’t close before the flood reaches the school.
The flooding events have made Billingsley, and the residents of Plainfield, more aware of their vulnerability, and more nervous, he said. The town’s major roads are susceptible to flooding, and this further endangers the town’s connections with other communities.
“We get cut off from the remaining world, which affects our ability to move people who need to get to the hospital,” he said. “It affects our ability to move people who need to get shelter, and it affects our ability to fight fires and evacuate people. And that is not solved.”
Lamoille County
In Johnson, which sits on the Lamoille River and sustained major damage in July, flooding on Monday was mostly confined to basements, according to Selectboard Chair Beth Foy. Many residential buildings remain vacant as property owners work to rebuild following July’s floods, she said.
But the town’s post office building, which reopened last week after being put out of commission by the July flooding, was once again closed after taking on water.
“They’re planning to clean up and reopen as soon as possible,” Foy said. The building was flooded with 4 or 5 inches of water, which Foy said the post office considered manageable.
Multiple Lamoille County towns were also dealing with road closures. While some local roads reopened as floodwaters receded, others still needed significant repairs.
Goeltz Road in Morristown was among those washed out, according to interim Town Manager Carrie Johnson.
“We lost a 9-foot culvert on that road. The road is definitely gone,” Johnson said. “That will have to be closed through the spring.”
The town is estimating repairs could cost upward of $250,000.
In Stowe, a privately owned culvert on Highway 108 near Spruce Peak road was washed out, limiting the highway to a single lane, said Stowe Town Manager Charles Safford. It’s unclear how long it will take to resolve the issue, Safford said Tuesday afternoon. The town was also addressing a washout on Upper Pinnacle Road that cut off access to one house. Safford said access was expected to be restored by Tuesday evening.
Late Tuesday afternoon, an overflowing Lamoille River continued to cut off Route 15 in Cambridge.
Pearl Dennis and Erik Holcomb pumped out water from their basement just a few yards away from a road closure barricade. The couple had spent the previous five months rebuilding after July’s flooding brought nearly a foot of water into the first floor of their house.
The flooding this week was confined to the basement. The couple recently replaced their heating and cooling system there after July’s flooding. More flooding now likely means a financial setback — and it’s an emotional blow.
“Here we are, again,” Dennis said. “We have so much money invested in the HVAC stuff in the basement. We just put that insulation in. You know, it’s like — it’s mindboggling that five months later, we’re in the same situation.”
Because of the flood damage this week, Dennis said she fears the home won’t have hot water for two to three weeks, again.
This is the third time the home has flooded since the couple moved in in 2015. Dennis chalked up the frequent flooding to climate change.
“Climate crisis is a real thing,” she said. “We like to pretend that it’s not and it’s just happening to everybody else on TV, you know. But, like, here we are.”
Addison & Rutland counties
The town of Middlebury reported one water main break, and three of its wastewater stations were overwhelmed at several points by the flooding, according to Emmalee Cherington, director of public works and planning. The town closed several roads Monday, but most had reopened by Tuesday afternoon except for some sections along the river.
“We are in good shape comparatively,” she said. “We are not aware of any major flood damages.”
Still, having two major floods in a year has been eye-opening for town officials. They were in the process of filing flood damage estimates to the Federal Emergency Management Agency from when the town was swamped in August, about a month after the state’s first deluge of the summer. Monday’s event “added frustration on top of that,” Cherington said.
Rutland City “did not have any issues due to the rain event,” Bob Protivansky, commissioner of public works, said in an email. “We monitored the conditions all day but thankfully we fared very well and have nothing to report.”
Caledonia County
As of Tuesday afternoon, the flood waters had subsided in St. Johnsbury, according to Fire Chief Bradley Reed, but state crews were continuing to work on Route 2 east of town, where there had been a landslide.
“Other than mud and minor debris on the road the flooding has not caused damage that we have been made aware of,” Reed said.
Chittenden County
In Richmond, the Winooski River rose and flooded Bridge Street and a nearby park in Richmond, as it did in July, and several roads in town were closed Monday afternoon. Town Manager Josh Arneson, who was out on the green surveying the damage Tuesday afternoon as the water receded, said there was a lot of silt and debris left behind. Bridge Street remained closed as crews tried to dislodge a tree that had caught in the wastewater line in the river. Local officials were still trying to assess the damage, Arneson said.
“It’s unbelievable we had two major floods within six months,” he said, adding that it was frustrating for homeowners whose basements were flooded again.
Like other nearby towns, Bolton was hit hard in July. When the rains started this week, Road Commissioner Jacob Johnson said he just “hunkered down, got prepared and hoped for the best.”
Bolton has racked up damages of about $80,000 as a result of Monday’s flooding, Johnson estimated. Duxbury Road flooded, water jumped the culvert on State Road and some basements took in water again, he said. But Johnson has not yet heard of any major property damage, he said.
Williston experienced temporary road closures and a culvert was undermined. “I think we did fairly well given the amount of water that came through,” said Bruce Hoar, the public works director.
Essex Junction fared pretty well, according to City Manager Regina Mahoney. There was no major road damage, but the new city lost a beaver baffle, which helped keep beavers from building dams in culverts, she said.
“We had a lot of water moving through the wastewater facility but no lasting damage that we are aware of thus far,” Mahoney said.
In Colchester, the mile-long Pine Island Road, which flooded in July, was inundated again this week, marooning a goat farm and three houses.
The July flood left inhabitants stranded on the other side of the dead-end road for days with neighbors canoeing in food and water.
This time, the extent of the flooding wasn’t as bad, according to Chuda Dhaurali, who owns the 230-acre Dhaurali goat farm and has about 400 goats and 600 chickens.
Last time, the waters ruined his 35-acre hay and corn field. Dhaurali said he is worried he won’t have enough hay for the animals — and that the inundated field won’t produce a good crop next year after all the flooding.
His wife, who works at a hospital, and his two children are missing work and school, he said.
There is no damage to buildings because they are on higher ground, and the family has enough food and water, he said, but until the road reopens the family has no option but to stay put.
“Every time we get a flood, we just get stuck,” he said.