Vermont flood cleanup after Hurricane Beryl

PLAINFIELD, Vt. (AP) — Volunteers, some carrying heavy equipment, shoveled rivers from roads, homes, yards and driveways Friday in one of Vermont's communities hardest hit by flooding silt and mud, and removing flood-ravaged items from homes. The remnants of Hurricane Beryl.

A former student of the now-retired principal came to help and his home and yard were among the damage.

“I think as a community we all have to come together and lend a helping hand,” said Dillon Mears, 33, of Owen Bradley, “in addition to repaying what he did to the community and the school. Get Nothing But Love Some wore T-shirts that said “LOVE,” a message Bradley and his wife, Jane, spread.

The couple's son flew in on a red-eye flight from Oakland, Calif., on Friday morning and quickly left for work with others.

“That's how we are. You know, there's people over there helping, and once we're done here, we'll help other people,” said 35-year-old Adrian Bradley. “That's Vermont. It's a small state, 600,000 people, we know everybody, and you can help your neighbor.

Gov. Phil Scott said Friday it will take days to fully assess flood damage from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl, but he said after going through heartbreak, federal red tape and a massive cleanup effort, Vermont is better positioned to recover quickly.

“We can all use what we have learned over the last year to quickly strengthen our response, starting with keeping homes, businesses and communities clean and dry as quickly as possible,” Scott told reporters at a news conference in Berlin.

He praised the resilience of Vermonters who are used to surviving without government help in rural areas, but urged them to take the time to report damage and not be afraid to ask for assistance.

In just a few hours on Wednesday and Thursday, the remnants of Beryl dumped more than 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain on parts of Vermont, destroying and damaging homes, destroying bridges and cutting off towns. contacts and devastated the state, with some still waiting for aid. catastrophic flood One year ago to present.

Two people — a motorist in Lyndonville and a man riding an all-terrain vehicle in Peachum — were killed by floodwaters, authorities said.

The Vermont Department of Transportation will release nearly $30 million in town highway payments by early August, half of which will be released next week, to help communities repair washed-out highways, Secretary Joe Flynn said. of roads, bridges and culverts. He said the state has reopened all but 18 of 54 state highways that were closed due to flooding or storm debris.

Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison on Thursday urged people to take advantage of the sunny weather over the next few days to clean up as much as possible and move soaked carpets and furniture outside to dry to reduce the chance of mold.

When speaking with Vermont residents not directly affected, she urged them to volunteer through state programs or “roll up your sleeves, pick up a shovel, and help your neighbors.”

Elsewhere in Plainfield, a concrete bridge that collapsed and tumbled downstream likely ripped apart part of a five-unit apartment building, said Michael Billingsley, the town's emergency management director. .

He said the occupants of another house were pulled to safety from a window before being swept downstream, while a mobile home floated away, with one family's four pets narrowly escaping.

A similar story unfolded in Vermont, where the state's rapids rescue teams alone rescued about 120 residents. Local emergency crews rescued more people, officials said.

Beryl, which made landfall in Texas nearly 2,000 miles (3,220 kilometers) on Monday as a Category 1 hurricane, killed millions in the Houston area and is thought to have killed at least nine people in the United States and caused more damage in the Caribbean. 11 people died no power. But it wasn't finished. The storm moved across the U.S. interior as a posttropical cyclone, bringing floods and some tornadoes From the Great Lakes to northern New England and Canada.

The storm spawned seven tornadoes that struck western New York on Wednesday, the National Weather Service said. Flash flooding also caused road closures in several communities in upstate New Hampshire and upstate New York.

Although Vermont is not a coastal state, it has been hit by tropical weather systems before. Tropical Storm Irene In 2011, parts of Vermont received 11 inches (28 centimeters) of rain in 24 hours. ) long highway.

Vermont officials said Friday that the state updated requirements for culverts and bridges in the wake of Hurricane Irene to account for the possibility of more dangerous storms due to climate change, and that none of the bridges washed away in recent flooding were in compliance. Rebuilt to a higher standard.

In May, Vermont became first state Enact a law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a share of losses caused by extreme weather through climate change. But officials acknowledged Friday that raising funds will depend on litigation against the more resource-rich oil industry.

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Associated Press writers David Sharp in Maine, Holly Larmer in New Hampshire, Seth Borenstein in Washington and Stephanie Dazio in Los Angeles contributed to this report.