If you are a praying person, you may want to say a few for the people of Vermont. They will bear the brunt of what promises to be a significant flood event in the NE tonight and tomorrow.
Within the last couple of hours, there have been water rescues just north of NYC.
New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and NE NY State are all at risk. Soils are saturated due to heavy rain last week in many areas. Creeks and rivers are full in the mountains of New England.
Montreal is also in the high-risk flood zone. Ottawa is at moderate risk.
Officials warned that Vermont could face catastrophic, life-threatening flooding as a deluge of rain meets saturated soils and swelling waterways. The forecast prompted Gov. Phil Scott to declare a state of emergency that afternoon.
“It’s flooding that we haven’t seen in over a decade,” said Matthew Clay, a Burlington-based meteorologist for the National Weather Service. “This could be similar to the flooding that we saw with (Tropical Storm) Irene in some places.”
The weather service issued a statewide flood watch from Sunday afternoon through Monday evening. Forecasters said to expect two to four inches of rain throughout much of Vermont by Tuesday morning — and more than five inches in some areas. Southern Vermont and the spine of the Green Mountains are expected to be hit hardest, according to Clay.
Flash floods are likely overnight, Clay said, particularly in low-lying areas and those near streams and rivers. Larger rivers could continue to rise through Tuesday morning.
In an executive order declaring the state of emergency, the governor wrote that the rainfall was likely to cause “widespread damage” and pose “a threat to property and public safety in Vermont.” Scott called for the activation of the State Emergency Operations Center and authorized the Vermont National Guard to respond to emergencies.
This will be an inland event; the coasts will feel minimal impacts.
A mudslide in Killington, Vermont, from two days ago.