'My house has been an island': Northeastern communities face a long road to recovery after devastating floods put neighborhoods underwater
CNN —
Crews across the Northeast are surveying the destruction and beginning clean-up efforts as sunshine briefly returns after devastating floods left towns under water, damaging homes and washing out roads.
As the water begins to recede, revealing mud-covered streets and buckled homes, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott says the impact has been catastrophic – and the threat isn’t over yet.
“Even though the sun may shine later today and tomorrow, we expect more rain later this week which will have nowhere to go in the over-saturated ground,” Scott said. “We’re not out of the woods – this is nowhere near over.”
Climate experts say it’s all part of a “perfect storm” unfolding this summer to create deadly flooding in areas like the Northeast, while regions around the world, like the Southwest US, are scorched by record-breaking heat. Steady warming and atmospheric changes are “supercharging” regular weather events, making them longer and more intense, Michael E. Mann, a climate scientist and distinguished professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told CNN.
While Vermont shifts into the recovery phase, and braces for even more potential flooding, it’s already clear that the months ahead will be difficult, the governor said.
“I know thousands of Vermonters have lost homes, businesses and more,” Scott said. “The devastation is far reaching.”
In Vermont’s capital, Montpelier, streets turned into rivers and water spilled into businesses in the downtown area, where a travel ban was issued, and a citywide boil water notice is in place. On Tuesday, a canoeist could be seen paddling through eerily deserted streets as alarms from surrounding stores blared in the background.
Residents endured record-breaking flooding over the past two days, Montpelier city officials said.
In Barre, Vermont, storms left a deluge of mud and water in neighborhoods.
“It just came all pouring through here,” Barre resident Laura Camus told CNN affiliate WPTZ. “My house has been an island in a river this whole time.”
Adding to worries, Camus said she doesn’t live in a floodplain, so she and her neighbors don’t have flood insurance.
Heavy machinery moved through the mud-covered streets of Barre Tuesday as business owners worked indoors to clean water and sludge out of their spaces. “Our studio is going to be closed for a while. We need to replace a lot in there and I’m just clearing everything out right now,” Christina Morris of Rooted Yoga told CNN affiliate WCAX.
Andrew Molen, a restaurateur who owns several businesses in Ludlow, Vermont, told CNN that at least one of his restaurants was completely damaged by Monday’s flash flooding and another will need two months of repairs to reopen.
“The water almost reached the ceiling. We took a big hit this time,” Molen said. “The good thing is no one was injured.”
Residents look over the damage after flooding in Montpelier, Vermont, on Tuesday. Brian Snyder/Reuters
Montpelier, Barre, Ludlow, Londonderry, and Andover are among the hardest hit areas in Vermont.
President Joe Biden has approved an emergency declaration for the state of Vermont, authorizing FEMA to move in needed equipment and resources, the White House said Tuesday.
New Hampshire is also sending swift boat rescue crews and Black Hawk helicopters to assist with the response in Vermont, Gov. Chris Sununu said. Teams from Connecticut, Massachusetts and North Carolina are already in the state providing assistance and others are en route, authorities have said.
No injuries or deaths have been reported because of severe flooding in Vermont, though the response is still in its “earliest stages,” Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison said.
“Our focus is on saving lives. There are areas still being evacuated and there are life-threatening isolations that we are trying to identify and rescue,” Morrison said Tuesday.
In New York, where emergencies were declared in several counties as water inundated streets, a 35-year-old woman died after being swept away by floodwater as she tried to evacuate her Orange County home Sunday. The flooding has caused “easily tens of millions of dollars in damage,” county Executive Steve Neuhaus said Monday.
Similar scenes were seen in Oklahoma over the weekend, as heavy rain came down on the region. Strong currents swept away two children who were fishing in Oklahoma City’s Lake Overholser Monday evening. Authorities have recovered the bodies of the 10 and 11-year-olds.
Weather conditions have improved and only scattered showers are expected across the Northeast on Wednesday afternoon, particularly across northern Pennsylvania and southern New York.
But heavier rain will then return to New England late Thursday and Friday, with widespread totals of 1 to 2 inches of rain expected and some isolated spots picking up as much as 3 inches. The heavy rainfall could bring back flooding concerns in areas where the ground is already too saturated to take any more water.
“Water has to go someplace,” Scott said. “The reservoirs are filling up, and we have to determine the next phase, the next wave.”
Floods bring back Hurricane Irene memories
People paddle past partially submerged cars in Montpelier, Vermont, on Tuesday. Brian Snyder/Reuters
Scenes of neighborhoods inundated with muddy water, residents paddling through streets and sunken roadways have evoked memories of 2011’s Hurricane Irene.
Irene hit the United States as a hurricane in August 2011 and left entire communities submerged, killing more than 40 people in several Eastern states.
This week’s intense storms left floodwaters in some areas that “surpassed levels seen during Tropical Storm Irene,” Vermont’s governor said.
Montpelier was hammered by 5.28 inches of rainfall Monday, the National Weather Service in Burlington said. That’s more than any other day on record – including when Irene dropped 5.27 inches of rain on the state capital on August 28, 2011.
“Irene had about a 12-hour duration of rain, and then it was over,” the governor said. “This is different. We’ve had like 48 hours of steady rain,” he said, adding more rain is expected in the coming days.
Numerous rivers across Vermont rose amid the downpours, with some swelling higher than levels reached during Hurricane Irene. The Winooski River and the Lamoille River at Jeffersonville both passed major flood stage and several others were experiencing moderate flooding.
Chester, Vermont, resident Betsy Hart was reminded of the hurricane when water suddenly began rising fast at the basement of her property.
“With Hurricane Irene, the water was raging like this, but it never really got to the house,” she said as she evacuated her home while water rushed nearby.
Vermont State Rep. Kelly Pajala said she woke up Monday morning to floodwater already at the front step of her Londonderry apartment. She and her son packed up their two cats and evacuated to higher ground.
“For people that were here during Irene, it feels like a very similar experience,” she said.
Source: CNN
