Gov. Phil Scott of Vermont waives regulations to expedite recovery efforts following severe flooding caused by remnants of Tropical Storm Beryl. Executive order includes waivers for various professional licensing, construction materials, debris removal and dam safety protocols.
Just days after a deluge flooded a broad swath of central and northern Vermont during the second week of July, Gov. Phil Scott waived a series of state regulations to assist the recovery effort.
At least two people died as the remnants of Tropical Storm Beryl deluged central and northern Vermont late Wednesday, July 10, and early Thursday, July 11. More than 100 others were rescued from rising floodwaters, VTDigger reported.
Scott signed an updated executive order early July 13 temporarily lifting certain regulations pertaining to professional licensing, gravel and rock extraction, asphalt and concrete production, debris removal, motor vehicle registration and work in streams and wetlands.
"With so much infrastructure damage, this is critical for towns and Vermonters to access the tools needed to move forward with repairs to roads, bridges, homes, and businesses," Scott said in a written statement.
The latest updates were added to an executive order the governor first issued in July 2023.
At that time, he declared a state of emergency as another storm was expected to wreak havoc on Vermont. He amended that order many times over the last year and, on July 10, used it as a vehicle to address the latest emergency.
That day's order implemented the state's emergency operations plan, activated the Vermont National Guard, and suspended "relevant rules and permitting requirements" to respond to the storm.
Scott's updates on July 13 more specifically waived regulations in a number of areas on a temporary basis. They include:
- Vermont's secretary of state is directed to issue temporary professional licenses to out-of-state engineers, foresters, surveyors, contractors, security personnel and others. Certain license renewal deadlines for in-state professionals have also been extended.
- As far as construction materials, certain restrictions on gravel and rock extraction as well as asphalt and concrete production — including those related to operating hours, noise, volume of extraction and trucking — have been lifted. Additionally, the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) can make use of unpermitted gravel pits and rock quarries, and the Coventry landfill can extend its hours and accept more waste.
- The state's Agency of Natural Resources may waive notice requirements for infrastructure repair in waterways and changes to dam safety, and the agency may allow certain emergency work in Class I and Class II wetlands.
- Motor vehicles transporting key goods and services related to the flooding emergency are exempt from maximum drive times.
- State agencies are allowed to clear or remove debris and wreckage related to the storm.
Some of Scott's regulatory changes expire at a specific date, while others are more open-ended as the existing executive order remains in place.
Floods Damaged Many Roads, Bridges, Dams
The National Weather Service (NWS) noted that towns and cities from Addison to Caledonia counties were hit with 3-5 in. of rain late on July 10, with some totals exceeding 6-7 in.
"It's kind of localized, but we had a wide swath of heavy rain and flood impacts," reported Jessica Storm, a meteorologist in the Burlington NWS office.
On the same day, Vermont Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison said at a press conference that swiftwater teams conducted "dozens of rescues" overnight and facilitated numerous evacuations. Mike Cannon, the state's urban search and rescue coordinator, clarified Morrison's earlier statement by saying that the swiftwater professionals rescued at least 118 people by boat.
In addition, Vermont National Guard members joined the state search and rescue teams to evacuate people from Barre, Northfield and Moretown, the Guard noted in a press release, and out-of-state teams also were headed to Vermont, according to Cannon.
At least 54 state roads were closed as of mid-morning on July 11, noted Joe Flynn, the state's transportation secretary, and six bridges — in Barnet, Norton, Charleston, Moretown, Hinesburg and Starksboro — were "impinged." He said he believed at least three of those had been destroyed.
VTDigger reported that the state also suffered significant rail damage, including along Amtrak's Vermonter route, and countless local roads also were damaged and closed.
The state also has been keeping a close eye on its dams in the wake of the flooding.
Jason Batchelder, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, said that officials had been monitoring dams around the state and that the flood control barriers along the Winooski River were "performing phenomenally." He also noted that one low-hazard dam, located on Harvey's Lake in Barnet, was breached by the floodwaters but caused no significant damage.
Among Vermont's hardest-hit municipalities were Moretown, Plainfield, Lyndonville, Barre, Richmond, Bolton and Williamstown, Morrison said. NWS reported that Groton, Barnet and Marshfield also had suffered significant flooding. Unofficial rainfall totals showed Walden collecting more than 7 in. of rain and St. Johnsbury, Hinesburg, Monkton and Moretown taking on more than 6 in.
As many as 7,000 customers lost power as a result of the dying tropical storm in the early hours of July 11, according to VTOutages. By 5 p.m. that day, only about 500 homes and businesses remained without electricity.
Vermont Towns Deluged for Second Straight July 10th
As the rain had mostly dissipated by late in the morning of July 11, state and local officials turned their attention from flash flooding to overfull rivers, including the Winooski, Mad, Missisquoi, Passumpsic, Lamoille and Wells rivers. While many of those waterways had crested by 10 a.m., Morrison said, portions of the Winooski, Passumpsic and Lamoille were still rising.
In Barre, a thin layer of mud covered some streets and sidewalks downtown, while others saw signs of hydraulic damage. Only a handful of people were out and about the morning after the July 10 rains to assess the scene in a city that has now been battered by heavy rains and flooding two years in a row on the very same day.
Officials told VTDigger that Hardwick experienced damage as bad as — or worse than — last summer's flooding. The town fire station and wastewater plant flooded badly, and the commercial stretch of Vermont Highway 15 west of downtown also was hit hard, affecting many of the same businesses that struggled to recover from the 2023 storm.
Southeast of Burlington, in the community of Huntington, floodwaters entered homes, damaged bridges and rendered some roads impassable, according to Adam Argo, the town administrator. At least three families were staying in the town's emergency shelter early on July 11.
More flooding inundated parts of the Mad River Valley to the south of Huntington. In Waitsfield, for example, one household was evacuated after the river "went through the first floor," according to Selectboard member Fred Messer. Nearby, in Fayston, Town Clerk Patti Lewis said a resident there reported silt "up to her windowsill."
And in the state capital city of Montpelier, which also endured significant flooding last summer, the North Branch and main stem of the Winooski River was running fast and high, but the downtown appeared to have avoided serious flooding.
Vermont's four southern counties also were largely spared from the floodwaters, with Rutland and Windsor counties receiving no more than 1.5 in. of rain, Bennington and Windham counties recording no more than quarter-inch., and the towns of Bennington and Brattleboro reporting none at all, according NWS.
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