Vermont State Police on Thursday said a Peacham man died the night before after getting caught in rushing floodwaters.
Dylan Kempton, 33, was found dead early Thursday morning near South Peacham Brook, according to a state police press release. Gov. Phil Scott and Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison had disclosed the death that morning at a press conference in Berlin but had not identified the victim or described the circumstances.
Kempton had been driving his UTV home from Peacham Corners near Governor Mattocks and County roads Wednesday evening when a culvert breached, sending floodwaters from South Peacham Brook over the road and sweeping the UTV away, police said in the press release.
Torrential rain swelled the brook to high levels Wednesday evening as the remnants of Tropical Storm Beryl moved through the state, dumping more than 4 inches of rain on Peacham, according to the National Weather Service.
State troopers first responded at 10:35 p.m. to a vehicle that had reportedly fallen into the South Peacham Brook, police said. Troopers at the scene learned the driver of that vehicle had been rescued by emergency responders, but while examining the scene found a UTV on its side in the water.
Just before midnight, rescue crews located Kempton in the water a little downstream. They recovered the body early Thursday morning.
The Chief Medical Examiner's Office in Burlington plans to conduct an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death.
Kempton’s was the only known death in Vermont associated with the storm as of Thursday afternoon.
