MARSHFIELD, Vermont — The remnants of Hurricane Beryl caused devastating flooding in Vermont on Thursday, one year after catastrophic flood flooded parts of the state.
Roads were flooded, washed out or covered in debris around Vermont after heavy rains swept across the state beginning Wednesday. Rescues were reported Wednesday evening and some communities were under evacuation orders.
Areas in central Vermont, which were hit hard by last July’s flooding, have suffered the worst damage, with roads and homes in the town of Barre reportedly flooded.
Beryl, which made landfall in Texas on Monday as a Category 1 hurricane, was a post-tropical cyclone that tornadoes and floods from the Great Lakes to northern New England, after millions of people were left in the Houston area without force.
Parts of northern New York and New England, including Vermont, remained under flood watches or warnings Thursday morning. Thunderstorms associated with Beryl were forecast for much of the East Coast through Friday, the National Weather Service said.
In Vermont, the weather service said Wednesday that the storm “will not compare to the catastrophic flooding of last July, but will still pose a real threat in areas prone to flash flooding.”
In an update Wednesday evening, Vermont Emergency Management reported that there had been an unknown number of evacuations and road closures due to flooding, primarily in the central part of the state.
“Vermont residents and visitors are encouraged to seek higher ground as floodwaters approach,” the statement said.
The agency said rescue teams and the National Guard were on standby.
At least one tornado touched down in upstate New York Wednesday afternoon, the weather service reported. The tornado damaged trees and property in communities south of Buffalo, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said. There were no reports of injuries.
A tornado Tuesday night in Posey County in southwestern Indiana collapsed a large section of a warehouse, tore off roofs, derailed train cars and damaged mobile homes. No injuries were reported.
Beryl has been blamed for at least seven deaths in the U.S. — one in Louisiana and six in Texas — and at least 11 in the Caribbean. More than 1.3 million homes and businesses in Texas remained without power Thursday morning, down from a peak of more than 2.7 million on Monday, according to PowerOutage.us.