Second person has died in Vermont flooding from Hurricane Beryl’s remnants, officials say

PLAINFIELD, Vt. (AP) — A second person has died in Vermont in the flooding from Hurricane Beryl's remnants, officials said Thursday.

John Rice, 73, died when he drove his vehicle through a flooded street Thursday morning in Lyndonville, police Chief Jack Harris said. The floodwaters' current swept the vehicle off the road and into a hayfield that was submerged under 10 feet (3.05 meters) of water.

Rice had ignored bystanders' warnings to turn around, said Lt. Charles Winn of the Vermont State Police. Rice's body was recovered several hours later after floodwaters receded.

Another man, identified as Dylan Kempton, 33, was riding an all-terrain vehicle late Wednesday when it was swept away by floodwaters in Peacham, Vermont State Police said in a statement. His body was recovered Thursday morning.

The remnants of Hurricane Beryl dumped heavy rain on Vermont, washing away much of an apartment building, knocking out bridges and cutting off towns, and retraumatising a state still recovering from catastrophic floods that hit a year ago to the day.

More than 100 people were rescued by swift-water teams during the worst of the rainfall, which started Wednesday and continued into Thursday, officials said. In Plainfield, residents of a six-unit apartment building had mere minutes to evacuate before water destroyed it, the town's emergency management director said.

Stunned residents emerged Thursday to assess damage in a series of small towns along a hilly corridor on the Winooski River, connected mostly by U.S. Highway 2. Parts of the artery were closed, along with dozens of other roads. Shelters opened in several communities.

“It's just mud everywhere,” said Art Edelstein, who assessed the destruction at a home he has owned for 50 years in Plainfield. “This is, in my impression, catastrophic. I've just never seen anything like this.”

The deluge dropped more than 6 inches (15 centimetres) of rain on parts of Vermont, and the heaviest rainfall was in the same areas devastated on July 10, 2023, said Marlon Verasamy, of the National Weather Service in Burlington. Rivers had crested at virtually all locations by late Thursday afternoon.

“It's not lost on any of us the irony of the flood falling on the one-year anniversary to the day when many towns were hit last year,” Governor Phil Scott told reporters.

The towns hit hardest by Beryl's rains lie east of the capital, Montpelier, which flooded last year but escaped serious damage this week.

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