“It’s Irene all over again.” NOAA reports that Northern Vermont has gotten just under 7 inches of rain over just a few days. Bridges, roads, vehicles, and houses have been washed out as rivers have been overflowing. The state is practically fractured in two as most east-west links through the spine of the Green Mountains are closed.
In Londonderry, near the Magic Mountain Ski area, there are several feet of water on the ground. Roads in and out are closed. Route 11 is closed to eastbound traffic just uphill from Manchester, which has cut off other communities as well.
The situation in Ludlow is not good. The road is covered in mud and debris at the turnoff to Okemo. All of the roads in and out are closed, and much of the town is covered in water.
https://twitter.com/HenrySwenson/status/1678796787258195974
Further north at Killington, the damage is extensive. Route 4, one of the region’s most important East-West roadways, is closed in several locations. The nearby East Mountain Road (which accesses condos, homes, and the Killington’s Bear Mountain Base Area and lifts) has been almost completely washed away. It’s unclear if any ski area infrastructure has been damaged.
The state capital also began to see flooding late on Monday night into Tuesday morning. The flooding there is extensive, and it appears much of the city is still flooded as of Tuesday night.
DRONE: Water still flowing down State Street in Montpelier. #VTflood23 #VTwx. #VT pic.twitter.com/v0ni3Cf8Bm
— VTAgencyofAg (@VTAgencyofAg) July 11, 2023
These are just a handful of the areas which have seen damage. Basically, all of Vermont has been hit hard by this storm. At this point, all there is left to do is hope for the best as river levels are still expected to rise.
The effects of this storm have mostly been limited to Vermont. There are isolated reports of flooding in New Hampshire and Maine and near Bear Mountain State Park, New York. Several roads in that area have been closed since Sunday, including a section of the Palisades Parkway, which is an important commuter road connecting the Hudson Valley to New York City.
At the time of writing on Tuesday evening, the situation is improving in Southern Vermont, but most east-west links across Vermont are still closed. I-89 has reopened, but US Route 4 is closed, US Route 2 is closed, and most local roads are treacherous. North-South travel is still possible in the eastern and western parts of the state, as I-91 and US Route 7 seem unaffected. The major population centers of Burlington, Rutland, Bennington and Brattleboro have received minimal damage so far. The recovery from this event will ultimately take years since there are so many bridges, roads, and homes which are just gone.
