Vermonters pummeled by floods exactly 1 year apart begin another cleanup

PLAINFIELD, Vermont — Owen Bradley has listened to the roar of the Great Brook outside his historic brick home in Vermont for nearly 40 years. But the sound changed this week as the raging waters closed in, building into a torrent that tore through the back of the building and ripped off its decks.

“At first it was little noises, creaking wood. Eventually it was just monstrous, like a dragon growling. It was just very otherworldly,” he said, describing the crescendo as the cleanup began on Thursday.

Remnants of Hurricane Beryl dumped heavy rains on Vermont, destroying and damaging homes, blowing out bridges, cutting off towns and retraumatizing a state where some people are still waiting for federal relief checks from the last catastrophic floods that took place exactly one year ago.

More than 100 people were rescued by swift-water crews during the height of the deluge. At least two people died, officials said.

Dylan Kempton, 33, was driving an SUV late Wednesday night when he was swept away by floodwaters in Peacham, Vermont State Police said in a statement. His body was recovered Thursday morning.

John Rice, 73, died when he drove his vehicle through a flooded street in Lyndonville early Thursday morning, police Chief Jack Harris said. The floodwaters swept the vehicle off the road and into a hayfield that was under 10 feet (3 meters) of water.

Rice had ignored warnings from bystanders to turn back, said Lt. Charles Winn of the Vermont State Police. Rice’s body was found several hours later after the floodwaters receded.

Stunned residents came out on Thursday to begin the clean-up, while some rivers reached their highest point and the intermittent rains continued. The worst damage was in a string of small towns along a hilly corridor along the Winooski River, much of which was connected by U.S. Highway 2. Parts of that artery were closed, along with dozens of other roads. Shelters were opened in several communities.

The storm dumped more than six inches of rain on parts of Vermont, with the heaviest rainfall in the same areas that were devastated a year ago. Receding floodwaters left behind damage and lots of mud.

“It’s not lost on any of us that this flood happened exactly one year ago, when many cities were impacted last year,” Gov. Phil Scott said Thursday. “But we are ready, our response and tools are only stronger because of last year, and we will get through this.”

In Plainfield, a concrete bridge collapsed and fell downstream, likely causing the destruction of a five-unit apartment building, said Michael Billingsley, the city’s emergency management director.

The occupant of another home was pulled through a window to safety just before the house was swept downstream. Also drifted away was a mobile home containing four pets belonging to a family that had barely escaped, he said.

Hilary Conant said she had to quickly flee her apartment, just like she did a year earlier.

“The water was coming up, so I knew it was time to leave with my dog. It’s very traumatizing,” she said. A neighbor offered to temporarily house her in an RV before she and her dog Casper moved into a dormitory offered by a local university.

Beryl, which is blamed for at least nine deaths in the US and 11 in the Caribbean, made landfall nearly 2,000 miles (3,220 km) away in Texas on Monday as a Category 1 hurricane that killed millions in the Houston area. without powerIt then moved across the interior of the US as a post-tropical cyclone that flooding and some tornadoes from the Great Lakes to northern New England and Canada.

The storm spawned six tornadoes that struck western New York on Wednesday, damaging homes and barns and uprooting trees, the National Weather Service said. Flash flooding also closed roads in several northern New Hampshire communities, including Monroe, Dalton, Lancaster and Littleton, where officials said 20 people were temporarily stranded at a Walmart and emergency workers were conducting water rescues.

Several officials said they are confident the storms in consecutive years are the result of climate change.

A study conducted immediately after Hurricane Ian made landfall in 2022 climate change caused at least 10% more rainfall in the powerful storm, compared to a storm without human-caused climate change.

“Climate change is real,” Scott said Thursday. “I think we all have to accept that, regardless of your political persuasion, and deal with it, because we have to build back stronger, safer, smarter.”

Although Vermont is not a coastal state, it has experienced tropical weather conditions before. Tropical Storm Irene In 2011, 11 inches of rain fell on parts of Vermont in 24 hours. The storm killed six people in the state, washed homes off their foundations, and damaged or destroyed more than 200 bridges and 500 miles of highway.

In May, Vermont became the first state to introduce a law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay for some of the damage caused by extreme weather events due to climate change.

Scott let the bill become law without his signature, saying he was concerned about the costs and the outcome of the small state taking on “Big Oil.” But he said he understands something needs to be done to address the toll of climate change.

In Plainfield, Bradley’s relatives cleared debris and mud from the yard and cleaned wet furniture and sludge from the porch, while neighbors pumped out the basement.

Bradley is convinced that climate change played a role.

“This is what climate change looks like up until the day we had a flood a year ago. The same day, a year apart. And I don’t know if you can make that up,” he said.

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Associated Press reporters David Sharp in Maine, Holly Ramer in New Hampshire, Seth Borenstein in Washington and Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles contributed to this report.