Vermonters can expect a dry weekend following this week’s flooding disaster, according to the National Weather Service.
Though some showers continued into Friday morning in portions of the state, no new flooding or significant rain was expected over the following four days — and all of the state’s rivers were receding — according to Pete Banacos, science and operations officer at the weather service’s Burlington office.
While the weekend should be clear, Banacos said, his team is tracking a cold front that could affect Vermont next Wednesday.
“It’s too early to say how much rainfall is going to occur in association with that front, so it’s something we’re keeping an eye on,” he said. “But at this point, we don’t anticipate more flooding.”
Banacos’ greater concern, he said, is the heat and humidity that should sweep through the state from Sunday through Tuesday. With highs in the high 80s and low 90s, conditions would not be ideal for Vermonters working outside to clean up damage from the floods.
Locals should take frequent breaks, drink water and schedule cleanup work at the coolest hours of the day in order to stay safe during recovery efforts, said Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison at a press conference Friday morning in Berlin.
Banacos said Vermont’s rivers are “flashy” — meaning “they spike up very quickly, and they trend down very quickly” — due to the state’s hilly terrain. That means that most floods will recede just as quickly as they appeared throughout the day on Thursday, he said — if they haven’t already.
The Winooski River at Essex, the Lamoille River at Jeffersonville and the Barton River at Coventry were the only locations still in flood stage as of 10 a.m. Friday, Banacos said. The Winooski and Lamoille rivers were expected to recede below flood levels by Friday afternoon, he said, but the Barton River would likely remain at minor flooding levels for the next few days.
Even if rivers are below flood levels, Banacos said, they are not safe because their flows would remain “abnormally high” for several days. No matter how hot it gets this weekend, it’s not a good idea to cool off in them, he added.
Bodies of water in central Vermont are the most dangerous because they got hit with the most rain, Banacos said. Those include the Mad River Basin, the Winooski, Lamoille and Passumpsic rivers, and the tributaries that feed into them.
At Friday’s press conference in Berlin, Health Commissioner Mark Levine advised Vermonters to avoid swimming or boating not only because of how fast water is flowing, but also because fuel, wastewater, microorganisms and other debris have been spread across the state’s waterways through runoff.
Many rivers saw similar or slightly lower crests than they did in last July’s floods, Banacos said. The Lamoille River at Jeffersonville crested 3 feet below last summer’s record and the Barton River at Coventry peaked just inches short of levels seen both last July and during 2011’s Tropical Storm Irene, according to the National Weather Service.
But this year’s rain “footprint” was different from last summer’s, Banacos said, which means some areas flooded more. The Passumpsic River at Passumpsic peaked more than 7 feet higher than last July, for example, according to the National Weather Service.
Unlike last summer — when severe weather and rain continued until August — Vermont’s rivers should have time to recover during this weekend’s “quiet” weather, Banacos said.
“Fortunately, it doesn’t look like we’re going to have the same situation setting up here, at least in the next week,” he said.
