‘A much more intense version’: St. Johnsbury residents respond to 2nd flood in a month

ST. JOHNSBURY — Andrea and Issac Poe woke up early Tuesday morning to heavy rainfall outside and then, for the second time in less than a month, water rushing into their home.

An intense storm drenched St. Johnsbury with roughly 8 inches of rainfall, and the neighborhood where the Poes reside was among the locations hardest hit by flash flooding.

Mud covered the walkway leading to the steps of their porch, and water flooded the basement and destroyed the backyard. The formerly green space with a garden had been replaced by the brown muck left behind from the floodwaters.

And, the couple said, they had to deal with many of the same problems earlier this month when another storm flooded St. Johnsbury as well as other parts of the state.

“This will be our second insurance claim in three-weeks time,” Isaac Poe said as he sat on his home’s porch. “They’re not happy with us, I can guarantee that.”

As he spoke, construction crews were busy working only a few feet away to make repairs to Concord Avenue, which had washed away hours earlier.

“This is a much more intense version from the last time this happened,” Isaac Poe added.

A small stream that runs not far from the side of the house backed up early Tuesday morning during the storm, according to the Poes, as crews had been working in the area to make repairs from the previous storm.

The water had nowhere to go, Andrea Poe said, and as a result it “punched a hole” in their home’s foundation and flowed into their basement.

“I have no idea where to start,” she added, referring to the cleanup and repair effort ahead. “We’re pumping water out of the basement now.”

While a large construction crew using excavators in front of the house tried to make repairs to the washed-away Concord Avenue, just a short distance away other workers were attempting to repair Gilman Avenue, also heavily damaged in the flooding.

Both roadways adjacent to the Poes’ home were impassable and closed to traffic.

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Not too far away, Teresa Strong’s lawn on Maple Street was damaged by the early-morning flash flooding, and she declared her driveway a “swamp.”

Richard Pratt, who lives on the Sand Hill portion of Main Street, said the rainfall left two large sinkholes adjacent to his driveway, which he was busy working to fill in on Tuesday afternoon.

“The rain came within a much shorter period of time this time around,” Pratt said. “It was only about three to four hours this time.”

He said the storm Tuesday night was punctuated by thunder and flashes of lightning.

“It got pretty loud,” he said of the booms of thunder.

St. Johnsbury Fire Chief Bradley Reed, who is also the town’s emergency management director, said that by mid-Tuesday afternoon there were still more than a handful of roads in the community that were closed to traffic or impassable due to the flash flooding hours earlier.

Among them were sections of Routes 2 and 5, main arteries through the town.

There were also some sections of the outskirts of town that remained cut-off due to washouts, Reed said.

Town rescue crews had to perform a couple of rescues earlier Tuesday morning when people in vehicles trying to escape the flooded ended up stuck amid rising waters, according to Reed.

He said he wasn’t aware of any injuries resulting from the flash flooding.

Reed said when he arrived at the downtown fire station early Tuesday morning in response to the storm, he looked across the road to water pouring down Eastern Avenue.

“It was just like a river,” he said of the water rushing along the downward-sloping road.

Looking forward, he said the goal was to work to make the impassable roads at least “partially passable” so first-responders could access them in case of emergencies and to provide services to people who have been cut-off.

Reed also advised residents to conserve water “as possible,” as crews are working to make repairs to the water treatment plant, which was damaged by lightning, reducing its ability to process water.

Reed described Tuesday’s flooding as worse than the flooding from earlier this month.

“A lot of the same areas that were hit last time were hit again this time,” Reed said. “I would say the extent of the destruction is without a doubt worse this time than it was the first time.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: ‘A much more intense version’: St. Johnsbury residents respond to 2nd flood in a month .