Vermont's Flood Anniversary: A Bitter Irony as State Remembers Past Disasters While Enduring a New One
As the state of Vermont on Wednesday released an interactive story map to commemorate the devastating floods of the past two Julys, more flooding arrived.
The state’s digital project, titled "Two Years of Flooding: A Story of Vermont's Recovery, Rebuilding and Resilience," was intended to be a testament to the state's collaborative spirit in the face of disaster. Instead, its launch served as a somber, real-time illustration that Vermont's struggle with extreme weather is far from over.
On Wednesday, July 10, the anniversary of the 2023 deluge, intense thunderstorms dumped up to five inches of rain in a matter of hours on already saturated ground. The small town of Sutton in Caledonia County was hit particularly hard, with reports from the local fire chief indicating that nearly 20 homes were cut off by impassable roads and washed-out culverts.
Vermont Emergency Management confirmed the activation of the State Emergency Operations Center and the deployment of swift-water rescue teams to assist residents in Sutton, as well as in Woodbury, Lyndonville, and Stowe, which also experienced significant flash flooding. In Addison County, Middlebury and surrounding towns saw roads submerged and basements flooded, reprising scenes that have become tragically familiar.
The timing was not lost on state officials. Just a day before the new floods, on Tuesday, July 9, Governor Phil Scott held a press conference to reflect on the anniversaries of the 2023 and 2024 floods.
"We have been through a lot together over the last few years," Scott said, according to a transcript from his office. "And while the road to full recovery is long, Vermonters have shown incredible strength and resilience."
That strength is being tested yet again. The interactive map was designed to "highlight the collaborative and ongoing work" of recovery, but it will now need a new chapter for July 2025.
The floods of the previous two years left deep scars on the state. The Great July 2023 Flood was a statewide catastrophe, with damage that rivaled or even surpassed that of Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. According to reports from VTDigger, that event alone caused over $600 million in damages covered by federal funds, with total costs soaring much higher.
In July 2024, another wave of intense, albeit more localized, storms caused significant damage, with some areas reporting conditions worse than the previous year. Over the two years, more than 150 of Vermont's 251 towns and cities reported damage, with the combined cost of recovery exceeding a billion dollars.
While the 2025 flood does not appear to be as widespread as the 2023 event, its concentrated fury in the Northeast Kingdom and other pockets of the state underscores a frightening trend. Climatologists have been warning that this is Vermont's "new normal."
Dr. Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux, the Vermont State Climatologist, has spoken about how climate change is leading to more moisture in the atmosphere, resulting in more frequent and intense rainfall events. An op-ed from the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources earlier this year echoed that sentiment, stating that historic storm events in back-to-back years are what the state must now prepare for.
As emergency crews and road crews once again assess the damage from washed-out roads and flooded homes, the state’s story of resilience continues to be written. The interactive map, meant as a look back, has inadvertently become a live document, a testament to a challenge that is ongoing. For Vermonters, the anniversary of the floods is not just a memory to commemorate, but a reality to be endured.