Category: VERMONT_CN

Nearly two months after rain and floods pummeled Vermont, the immediate cleanup is over. Now the hundreds of people whose homes flooded face a difficult choice. Should they rebuild, especially as climate change is expected to bring more frequent severe weather? Home buyouts can be complicated, but they do eliminate future flood risks. And as Vermont Public’s Liam Elder-Connors reports, it’s often a deeply personal decision.

As heavy rain drenched Barre, Vermont last month, Kim Beinin was watching “Thor” with her two young children. About halfway through the movie, she peeked out the window and was startled to see water flowing over the road and into her neighbor’s driveway. Knowing her home was surely next, she gathered her children and fled.

As record rain pounded Montpelier for the second day and rivers raged far beyond their banks early last week, city leaders and first responders were awake deep into the night, huddled around a police station conference table, tensely monitoring a threat: rapidly rising water at the 90-year-old Wrightsville Dam just above town.

Torrential rain drowned parts of New York State and Vermont this week, bringing “historic and catastrophic” flooding, in the words of Vermont governor Phil Scott. Now, as the immediate horror of the event recedes and evacuees journey home, many are sure to face another disaster: unrecoverable property loss and damage.

You’re probably watching — and maybe living — two of the biggest political stories this week: The punishing heat wave across the West and South, and torrential rain drowning Vermont and upstate New York. But maybe you’re not seeing them as political stories. Let’s fix that.

As pummeling rains fell Monday afternoon for the second straight day, Kim Crowell stood in the garage of her home, watching the Winooski River rise inch by inch. The river had already overflowed its banks and advanced across some 300 yards of grassy field. Now it lapped at the road where her house stood and looked about to come across. Two friends stood with her, waiting to whisk her to higher ground. But Crowell didn’t want to go.

Torrential rainfall and widespread flooding wreaked havoc in the river valleys and mountain towns of Vermont and New York State on Monday, ravaging communities and drawing comparisons to the devastation of Tropical Storm Irene more than a decade ago.

Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark is taking Monsanto to court for alleged school and environmental contamination. The suit is designed to protect Vermont’s natural resources and schools that have been affected by contamination from the chemicals.

The state legislature in Vermont overruled the governor’s veto to pass a law that will curb greenhouse gas emissions from heating homes and other buildings.

Hundreds of students and members of the Vermont Youth Lobby urged lawmakers to pass bills to reduce carbon emissions including the Affordable Heat Act.