Parts of New Hampshire, Vermont damaged by remnants of Hurricane Beryl
WAITSFIELD, VT -- Heavy flooding hit Vermont and New Hampshire nearly a year after similar rains left parts of Montpelier underwater and businesses damaged. WBZ Meteorologists believe the rain to be the remnants of Hurricane Beryl.
In Littleton, New Hampshire parts of a bridge collapsed and nearly sent a car into the river below. In Dalton, New Hampshire more roads collapsed. The devastation spanned two states.
"Specifically, the town of Barre, they got nailed last year, and they are under water right now," said Brady Griffin, owner of the Griff Inn in Waitsfield, VT. "We have had two tornado watches and one tornado warning in the last month."
Early warning sign from bear?
Griffin knew of the impending storm, and his wife believes they may have had an early warning sign. Just before the rains came, the Griffins had a bear crawl into their garage. Brady's wife Else thinks the animal was trying to seek shelter, however Brady thinks he was looking for food.
"I think he was filling up for the storm because you know these animals can sense things we can't," said Griffin.
At 6 a.m. Thursday morning, Griffin was woken up by his infant daughter Nell. When he looked outside, he saw a moat of water nearly surrounding their home. There also appeared to be a landslide in their driveway. They had to warn their guests who were on their way.
"On our road, and Route 100, there are so many road closures because of the flooding, and roads washing out, that we are kind of stranded a little bit," explains Griffin.
A nearby neighbor owns a construction company. They were able to halt the flooding at the inn by creating a dam using heavy machinery.
"The Clark family saved our hides. They came over and redirected the stream. The water stopped and now we dry up and clean up," said Griffin. "The floods last year weren't normal. The floods this year aren't normal. It speaks to something larger."
Meteorologist expects flooding to be more common
WBZ meteorologist Eric Fisher says a warmer atmosphere has the potential to hold more water, but that doesn't always mean it will produce heavy rains. He does believe the floods in Vermont and New Hampshire will be more common moving forward.
"It's definitely something Vermont has seen more of in recent years. Now, it doesn't take as much rain to flood in parts of Vermont which is the problem. It's mountainous, three, four, five inches of rain, which is nothing in some parts of the country, is a huge deal in Vermont," explains Fisher.
"It's what we saw all last night with all of that rushing water where it starts moving really quickly and it's really damaging. Last night's flood, on the same night as we saw last year, is something that we expect to see more of in a warming world."