Police and fire department crews check out a bridge on the Stevens Branch in Berlin to make sure no debris was getting stuck as rainfall pummeled the central part of the state on Wednesday, July 10. Photo by Natalie Williams/VTDigger
Between 3 and 4 inches of rain inundated portions of central Vermont in a three-hour timespan late Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service, flooding multiple municipalities in the region, including Barre City, Williamstown, Plainfield and Moretown.
Barre Mayor Thom Lauzon declared a state of emergency in his city around 9:30 p.m., after officials rescued roughly a dozen people from flooded houses and cars, he said. With water pouring into the flood-prone city, Barre closed several roads downtown and urged people to stay away, if possible. It was also preparing to issue a boil water notice, according to Barre City Manager Nicolas Storellicastro.
“The next three hours are going to be pretty critical for us. I wouldn’t say it’s a repeat of ’23,” Lauzon said, referring to last July’s devastating floods, “but it’s very serious.”
“I hate to say it, but at this point we’re just at the mercy of mother nature,” he said.
Robert Haynes, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Burlington office, said that some of the central Vermont areas being pummeled with rain can handle only 1.5 inches an hour — and at times Wednesday evening were receiving twice that. After a brief respite, he said, those areas could expect another inch or two of rain around 10 or 10:30 p.m.
In addition to Barre, Williamstown had also conducted evacuations Wednesday evening, according to Vermont Emergency Management spokesperson Mark Bosma. And Haynes said that residents of Moretown Village were being asked to evacuate.
At least two shelters have opened for those displaced by the flooding, according to Bosma: at the Barre Auditorium and Williamstown Middle/High School.
This story will be updated.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Central Vermont hammered with rain, prompting evacuations, rescues and road closures.