Photo: Kylie Cooper/Getty Images
After Vermont experienced historic catastrophic flooding from heavy rains since Sunday, Authorities reported that landslides and fallen trees caused a section of the train tracks to be completely suspended in the air.
The only connection to the ground that the train tracks located in a deep gorge have is a fallen tree that runs through their center, according to aerial images shared on social networks and verified by CBS.
The affected railroad tracks are in Ludlow, Vermont, which has received more than 6 1/2 inches of rain since July 5.according to the totals of the National Meteorological Service.
The city suffered “catastrophic damage” when the storm hit earlier this week, leaving the roughly 15,000 people who live there with the burden of picking up the pieces, City Manager Brendan McNamara said.
A spokesman for the Vermont Railroad System told CBS News that the video shows “a washout” (landslide) in the tracks of the Green Mountain Railroad, a freight line connecting Rutland and Bellows Falls.
“Operations on this line and much of Vermont are temporarily suspended while we conduct track inspections and focus on repairs needed to restore essential rail freight service to our customers and communities here in Vermont,” the spokesperson said, and He added that the rail system is continuing to assess the damage.
Ludlow is currently under a boil water advisory because it could be contaminated by flooding.
Videos of the storm show floodwaters pummeling the area, washing away vehicles and inundating homes.
And the rain may not be over yet. The Burlington National Weather Service says that while the floodwaters are receding, “several rounds of showers and thunderstorms” are expected Thursday and Friday.
Those storms could bring more than another inch of rain, the service said, which would “renew the threat of additional flooding.”
The floods, recorded after the state experienced the equivalent of two months of rain in 24 hours, led the president Joe Biden to declare a state of emergency in Vermont.
Gov. Phil Scott said some areas got 9 inches of rain. The situation caused small streams to become raging rivers generating the worst flooding to hit Vermont since Tropical Storm Irene in 2011.
In Vermont’s capital, Montpelier, the Winooski River reached a height of 21.02 feet, the highest level since 1927. However, authorities said water levels in an upstream dam appeared stable.
“It looks like it won’t break. Alright. That is one less thing we have to have at our forefront,” said Montpelier City Manager Bill Fraser.
Fraser said that the dam remains a persistent concernbut with the receding water, the city was shifting into recovery mode.
Public works employees were expected to be out on Wednesday to begin removing mud and debris from the center and building inspections will begin as businesses begin cleaning up their properties.
The flooding has already caused tens of millions of dollars in damage across the state.
The emergency in Vermont occurred when Heavy rains lashed the Northeast from upstate New York to western Maine.
Extreme weather began Sunday and affected much of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions, prompting flash flood watches for parts of New York.
A woman, identified as Pamela Nugent, 43, of Fort Montgomery, died in upstate New York. when she tried to leave her house totally surrounded by the waters and was carried away by the current.
The worst part was taken by Orange County, on the banks of the Hudson River and north of New York City, where rainfall reached 8 inches (20 centimeters) in some places and left 13,000 people without electricitywhich led to Governor Kathy Hochul to declare a state of emergency.
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