{"id":268902,"date":"2023-07-23T12:32:39","date_gmt":"2023-07-23T10:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=268902"},"modified":"2023-07-23T12:32:41","modified_gmt":"2023-07-23T10:32:41","slug":"the-atlantic-vermont-was-supposed-to-be-a-climate-haven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=268902","title":{"rendered":"The Atlantic: \u201cVermont Was Supposed to Be a Climate Haven\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Flood of 1927<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essay by Eric Worrall<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Flood of 1927<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The once in a century floods which happen every 10-20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vermont Was Supposed to Be a Climate Haven<\/strong><\/p>\nI thought my home was safe from extreme weather. Then the rain came.<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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By\u00a0<\/em>Megan Mayhew Bergman<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lamoille County, Vermont, is home to 26,000 people living in small towns nestled among the woods and mountains. It\u2019s known for two ski resorts\u2014Stowe and Smugglers\u2019 Notch\u2014and a winding river where locals and tourists fly-fish and canoe. In 2020, a\u00a0<\/em>ProPublica<\/a>\u00a0analysis identified Lamoille as the one county, across the entire United States, that could be most protected from the combined effects of climate change, including sea-level rise, wildfires, crop damage, and economic impact. But that was before the floods.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month,\u00a0<\/em>five to 10 inches of rain<\/a>\u00a0fell in Morrisville, near the center of the county. Roads were destroyed in nearby Wolcott. Thirty people were evacuated as floodwaters from the Lamoille River swirled around Cambridge. Entire harvests were wiped out, and major roads became impassable. Jennifer Morrison, Vermont\u2019s public-safety commissioner, called Lamoille County \u201cthe hardest-hit area\u201d in the state.<\/em><\/p>\nJuly\u2019s flood is just the latest in a string of extreme weather events in Vermont this year. After a\u00a0<\/em>historically warm<\/a>\u00a0January, a late-May frost may have destroyed more than half of the state\u2019s commercial apple crop. By summer, smoke from Canadian wildfires choked the once-clean air. Then, during the week of July 10, heavy rains flooded the state capital, Montpelier, and washed out homes and businesses across the state. It was the worst flooding since Hurricane Irene, a \u201c100-year\u201d storm that struck only 12 years ago.<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Around the country, in climate havens and known risk zones, families are terrified of losing that tie to home. Farmers in Georgia are grieving the\u00a0<\/em>lost peach crop<\/a>. Homeowners in Florida are eyeing the 90-degree sea, waiting for the day it laps their front lawn. Folks in Louisiana are watching the ocean rush underneath the stilts of a family cottage, coming ever closer to carrying it away.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more:\u00a0https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/science\/archive\/2023\/07\/climate-change-safe-states-vermont-floods\/674780\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Megan spins a great narrative, but ignores the reality that Vermont, like other land locked mountainous regions of the world, is prone to severe flooding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following is from Worst Flood Events in Vermont\u2019s History<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n