Updated at 3:24 p.m.
Communities in the Northeast Kingdom and Addison County are working to recover from storm damage Thursday evening. Several rounds of slow-moving showers and thunderstorms dropped 3 to 5 inches of rain that washed out roads, culverts and bridges, forced evacuations and stranded multiple people in their homes.
The Northeast Kingdom towns of Sutton, West Burke and East Haven bore the brunt of the flooding damage, according to the National Weather Service. The Addison County towns of Weybridge, New Haven and Middlebury also received significant rain.
The storm, though much more limited in scope, came on the same day as two consecutive years of catastrophic flooding throughout the state.
Reporting from Sutton: Flooded again, Sutton residents return to damaged homes
In Sutton, a swiftwater rescue team helped a couple and their dog escape from their roof. Other rescues also took place in the Caledonia County town, according to Vermont Emergency Management Director Eric Forand.
Roughly 20 homes in Sutton remained cut off from road access as of Friday morning, according to Kyle Seymour, the town fire chief. Town officials said they’ve made contact with most of those homeowners, but expect it will take several days to make those roads passable.
The storm overwhelmed many of Sutton’s roads, culverts and ditches and damaged several homes along Calendar Brook Road.
According to initial estimates, repairs to town infrastructure could cost upwards of a million dollars — after Sutton has already spent millions on recovery from previous floods.
“We’re unfortunately getting good at this, being in the third year in a row with comparable damage,” said Seymour.
“Some of the repairs from previous storms held really well,” he said. “And some of them, I'm not sure how you upgrade infrastructure far enough to handle these types of rain events.”
It’s unclear whether survivors of Thursday’s event — or the towns that have seen extensive damage to their transportation infrastructure — will be eligible for the federal assistance that was available to individuals and municipalities after the summer floods of 2023 and 2024.
States have to clear certain monetary damage thresholds in order to qualify for a major disaster declaration that opens the door to help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Chief Flood Recovery Officer Douglas Farnham said Friday that Vermont Emergency Management and the Agency of Transportation have begun to compile damage reports.
“Because this appears to be a highly localized event, it will likely take some time to compile data and decide on whether to file a disaster declaration request or not,” Farnham said.
Rainfall varied greatly across northern Vermont. In West Burke, more than 3 inches fell within an hour.
“I think they topped out just a little over 5 inches,” said Robert Haynes, a meteorologist at the Burlington office. “But surrounding sites nearby were mainly in the 1 to 2 inch range. So just really localized stuff in that region.”
There was extensive damage to gravel roads and bridges across West Burke, including Brook Road, Carter Road, Newark Street, Old Farm Road, but no one was stranded in their home.
“There's ways to get everybody out, we made sure of that last night,” said Joe Allard, a select board member in Burke who was surveying road damage Friday morning.
“Did some quick little repairs here and there to get people out.”
Several people did flee their cars in Burke to get to higher ground, according to Forand with Vermont Emergency Management. “The water didn't rise that long so they were able to go back and get them,” he said.
Lyndon’s deputy fire chief, Greg Hopkins, said the department dispatched two swiftwater rescue crews to respond to calls in Sutton, Burke and East Burke.
Meanwhile two crews from Stowe Swift Water Rescue were stationed at the Lyndon fire station as back-up.
“It was just crazy. You know, it's the third year in a row, on July 10, where we've had issues up this way,” Hopkins said.
Lyndon itself experienced minimal flooding, according to the deputy chief, and the swift arrival of flooding in nearby communities came as a surprise.
“We hardly got any rain here,” he said. “We were just sort of sitting here [thinking] maybe we got through today with nothing going on, and then all of a sudden, Sutton and Burke were starting to get called out for flooding, and it's like, holy cow, where'd that come from? Because I didn't even know it was raining up that way.”
Addison County
In Addison County, a thunderstorm with high winds, heavy rain and hail rolled through on Thursday afternoon, bringing down trees, damaging power lines and structures, and causing some road closures.
Weybridge Select Board Chair Megan Sutton said at least four trees had blown down in town and a power line was damaged, taking out power for some residents until the early morning hours.
While much of the area avoided significant damage, the storm ripped off a portion of the metal roof at Middlebury Union High School, causing water damage in a locker room, main kitchen and a portion of the auditorium, said Bruce Macintire, director of facilities at Addison Central School District.
“At some point, the wind was strong enough to get under the edge of the roof, and it's a standing seam metal roof, and it picked up the metal and peeled it back, kind of like you'd open a can,” he said.
As of Friday afternoon, much of the debris across the county had been cleaned up and roadways were open, according to Addison County Sheriff Michael Elmore.
July is the most active month for severe weather and flash flooding in the region.
The National Weather Service is not expecting any river flooding, and the ground has been fairly dry until this point.
Road closures
Roads were closed in at least six counties as of Thursday afternoon, though some had reopened by Friday:
- In Caledonia County, multiple roads including Sheffield Road and Calendar Brook Road are closed in Sutton. In Lyndon, Route 5 at the bridge near Calendar Brook Road is washed out and closed, and in Burke a portion of Brook Road is closed.
- In Essex County, sections of VT-114 in East Haven were washed out, but the road was open to at least one lane for its entire length as of late Thursday night.
- In Orleans County, Baird Road in Barton was closed as of Thursday night.
State officials are urging people to stay away from flooded areas and never drive across flooded roadways. People in need of assistance should call 9-1-1.
Key resources
- For state road closure information, visit newengland511.org or follow @511VT on X. (For local road closures, check Waze or monitor town communications, such as a website or Facebook page.)
- You can sign up for alerts from the state at vtalert.gov.
- The latest forecasts and water levels for specific rivers are provided by the National Water Prediction Service.
- Find power outage information at vtoutages.org
- For a list of state resources and guidance about flooding, visit disasterrecovery.vermont.gov/. The guidance includes returning home after a flood, cleaning up, and dealing with mold.
- Find flood recovery information in multiple languages at vem.vermont.gov/flood/translation.
- To find more resources and services, call Vermont 2-1-1 or visit vermont211.org.
- For mental health support, call 9-8-8 or call or text the SAMHSA Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990.
- If flood waters reached your private well or spring, order a drinking water test kit through the Vermont Department of Health.
- Find flood-prone areas near you with the Vermont Flood Ready Atlas.
