MONTPELIER, Vermont, July 11 (Reuters) – A dam upriver in the Vermont state capital maintained its maximum capacity on Tuesday after “catastrophic” flooding blocked roads leading out of Montpelier and trapped people in their homes.
The Wrightsville Dam, which forms a reservoir four miles (6.4 km) north of Montpelier, was nearing the point where a spillway was expected to release water into the north branch of the Winooski River, city officials said.
This would exacerbate what the National Weather Service called “catastrophic” flooding in the picturesque central district of Montpelier, where people paddled through submerged streets in canoes and floodwaters reached the windows of businesses and the tops of vehicles.
The north branch converges with a second, larger branch of the Winooski near the Vermont statehouse.
The increasing frequency and intensity of severe weather in the United States is symptomatic of human-driven global climate change, say climate scientists.
While a northeastern state capital is under water, ocean temperatures have soared to 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) in Florida, Texas is sizzling under a heat dome, and California is bracing for temperatures as high as to 120 degrees F (49 degrees Celsius) in desert areas this weekend.
Much of the northeastern US, including parts of New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, has already had up to 8 inches of rain in recent days.
“Make no mistake, the devastation and flooding we are experiencing across Vermont is historic and catastrophic,” Vermont Gov. Phil Scott said at a briefing Tuesday.
Montpelier City Manager William Fraser in a Facebook post urged the city’s 8,000 people to be prepared to move to the upper floors of their homes as highway closures have made evacuations difficult or impossible.
[1/6]People paddle in kayaks along a street flooded by recent rain storms in Montpelier, Vermont, U.S. July 11, 2023. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Statewide, search parties rescued 117 people from their homes and cars by speed boat, as officials responded to calls that even more people were trapped in their homes in remote areas, Mike Cannon said , leader of the state’s urban search and rescue operation. a briefing.
Vermont officials called the flooding the worst since Hurricane Irene hit the state of New England as a tropical storm in 2011 and caused about $750 million in damage and seven deaths in the state.
The city’s topography — bordered by hills with the center in a valley — increases the risk of flooding, said Conor Casey, a member of the Montpelier city council.
“My wife and I live right on the river and it’s about two feet from the living room,” Casey said. “We’ve gotten a bit used to it from Irene, so it’s not completely unrelated, but I think the scary thing is that she’s feeling a little worse so far.”
The flooding negatively impacted the regional economy, with private meteorologist AccuWeather estimating damage and economic losses at $3 billion to $5 billion.
Most of the crops from the Boyd Family Farm in Wilmington, Vermont, were lost in the storm, said Janet Boyd, who owns the 80-year-old farm with her husband and son at the southern edge of the Green Mountains.
“We lost all the greens and we’re just left with our blueberries,” Boyd said, “all the greens, the tomatoes, the peppers, the garlic.”
Joe Miles, 59, owner of Montpelier-based RK Miles Building Materials, said three of his eight locations in the state were badly damaged, with two of them cut off by the floods.
Much of her lumber and plywood inventory was lost to water damage.
“It’s terrible and tragic, but luckily no one was hurt,” said Miles. “We’ll make it.”
Reporting by Brian Snider in Montpelier, Brendan O’Brien in Chicago and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Additional reporting by Rachel Norant and Daniel Trotta; Written by Daniele Trotta; Editing by Devika Syamnath, Bill Berkrot and Sandra Maler
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