Parts of Vermont that flooded this summer were inundated again, and power companies warned some people to brace for days without electricity.
Rivers flooded homes and forced evacuations in parts of Vermont still reeling from catastrophic floods this summer, and hundreds of thousands of people across New England remained without power on Tuesday after a powerful costal storm.
More than three inches of rain fell on some Vermont communities, combining with snowmelt to send rivers and streams over their banks and into streets and basements. Gov. Phil Scott said the flooding appeared to be less severe than the state experienced in July, but could be more widespread.
“It’s a real gut punch,” Mr. Scott said at a news conference late Monday, noting that some of the communities that flooded in July had been inundated again.
The deluge resulted from a storm that swept up the East Coast on Sunday and Monday, flooding streets, snarling transit and closing schools from South Carolina to northern Maine before sweeping into eastern Canada.
Heavy winds caused trees to topple onto homes and power lines, killing at least one person in Massachusetts and two in Maine, according to the authorities and local news reports. Three people died in flooded vehicles in New York, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.
More than 500,000 customers across New England remained without power by midday Tuesday, mainly in Maine and Massachusetts, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks the utility industry. Officials warned that restoration could take several days in some communities.
Share of customers without power
National Grid, a power provider in Massachusetts, said on social media that it had about 2,000 workers clearing trees and repairing electrical infrastructure. Central Maine Power said on Facebook that it expected a multiday effort to restore power.
The storm also caused damage in Canada, where nearly 125,000 homes in four provinces were without power early Tuesday afternoon.
The heavy rain and flooding could be a preview of more to come. Government forecasters expect more precipitation than usual for the eastern United States from December through February, with warmer temperatures meaning that more of it falls as rain than snow. Rising global temperatures from climate change are resulting in more short, intense storms, which can increase flooding.
In Vermont, several dozen residents of Moretown, a village just west of the capital of Montpelier, were told to evacuate their homes Monday afternoon as the Mad River flooded, according to the local authorities.
A few people had to be rescued from the rising waters, Jennifer Morrison, the state’s public safety commissioner, said at a news conference with the governor, including three from a home in Jamaica and one from a vehicle in Waterbury that was swept away by flooding.
Governor Scott said that although the authorities expected some damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure from the flooding, they “do not expect this to be the same scale as July.”
Dozens of schools across the state were closed on Tuesday, as were several ski resorts. In Barre, aid workers set up an emergency shelter for people displaced by the flooding. It was in the same building that sheltered evacuees in the summer.
Reporting was contributed by Maia Coleman, Delger Erdenesanaa, Judson Jones and Jenna Russell.
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