08/28/2011 Flood disaster unfolding in Vermont
burlingtonfreepress.com
Full Story: http://blogs.burlingtonfreepress.com/weather/
Reports of damage, washouts and road closures continue to come in fast and furiously as the heavy rain from Irene continues. I’ve given up Tweeting each report, it’s too much.
It’s scary in some parts of the state. My sister in West Rutland said she’s heard reports on a police scanner of a couple people, and some houses being swept away.
This will go down, I think, as the worst Vermont flood since at least 1973, perhaps 1927.
There have been worse local floods in Vermont since then, but nothing this bad statewide in decades. Let’s hope nobody else gets hurt.
Remember, flooding is even more dangerous at night, because you can’t see it as you’re driving down the road until you
The rain is slowly beginning to wind down, but the damage is done. Many rivers are over their banks and many are still rising. Attention overnight will turn to the larger rivers in Vermont, like the Winooski, Lamoille and Missisquoi. The water will get quite high on those rivers, causing more damage and more road closures.
You may not be able to get to work on your normal route tomorrow, so pay attention to that. That is, if your workplace is open. Irene will be over by tomorrow morning, and actually, tomorrow is going to be a nice day. But there’s a lot of cleanup and a lot of flooding still to get through.
The national media is saying that Hurricane Irene was not as bad as people thought it would be. In Vermont, maybe the wind wasn’t as fierce as feared, but the flooding was worse.
The National Weather Service in South Burlington is still scrambling with flood updates and warnings and forecasts, so they haven’t yet compiled updated rainfall totals. Can’t blame them for that.
The wind kicked up in the Champlain Valley again this evening, causing renewed power failures and fallen trees. Things should slowly taper off later tonight.
