“💧🌊 Vermont Drama: Unprecedented Flooding Leaves Residents Hanging, While A Dam Teeters on the Brink! 🚧⚠️”
TL;DR: Dam near Montpelier, Vermont dangerously close to the edge, after an apocalyptic rainstorm dumped two months’ worth of rain in just 48 hours. 💦🕰️ With 117 rescues already under the belt, the situation is still pretty dire with very few evacuation options left. What was life like in Vermont before the whole “1-in-1,000-year weather event” kicked in? 😲🌩️
We all know the drill with the weather – it’s unpredictable, right? But when Mother Nature decides to turn the dial to 11 and serve up a 1-in-1,000-year weather event, even the hardy residents of Vermont had to say, “Well, didn’t see that one coming.” 🧐💭
On Tuesday, in an event that you’d be more likely to see in a Hollywood blockbuster, a slow-moving, moisture-gorged storm dumped two months’ worth of rain on Vermont in just 48 hours. 😱⏳ The effect? Extreme flooding like something out of Noah’s Ark 🚢💦, with a dam near the state capital, Montpelier, doing its best impression of a bathtub teetering on the edge of overflow.
According to city officials, “The Wrightsville Dam only has 6 feet of storage capacity left” – that’s less than your average NBA player, folks! 🏀😅 So what happens if the water exceeds capacity? Good question. The first spillway will release water into the North Branch River, a situation that is as unprecedented as it is worrying. 💦🏞️
With an evacuation plan that reads more like a tightrope walk, people in at-risk areas may have to resort to hiding out in the upper floors of their homes. 🏘️🧗 Is it just us, or does this sound eerily like a scene from the Titanic? ⛴️💔
Here’s where it gets even gnarlier: this torrential downpour is being declared by NY Governor Kathy Hochul as a “1-in-1,000-year weather event” due to climate crisis. 👩💼🔥 So, for anyone still questioning whether climate change is a ‘thing’…umm, hello?! 🌍💥
Meanwhile, 67 folks have been evacuated from homes, businesses and vehicles, with an additional 17 animals also rescued. 🐶🐱 Hey, anyone remember that 2012 movie where John Cusack is running around trying to save his family from the apocalypse? Yeah, it’s starting to feel a lot like that. 🎥🌋
President Joe Biden has declared an emergency, all the way from Vilnius, Lithuania where he’s attending the annual NATO summit. 🌍🕊️ And the White House is urging people to follow safety protocols – because apparently, ‘safety first’ still applies when you’re in the middle of an unexpected aquatic adventure. 🏛️🏊♀️
To the 13 million people in the US north-east under flood alert, we’re all wishing for a Noah’s Ark sequel right now, aren’t we? 🛳️🙏
So, what’s the moral of the story, folks? Maybe it’s that extreme weather isn’t just something you see on the big screen, or maybe it’s a sign that climate change isn’t waiting for a ticket to the premiere. 🌩️🎟️
As we all sit on the edge of our seats watching this real-life drama unfold, we’re left wondering: how does an event like this change our perspective on the climate crisis? And are we doing enough to prevent these catastrophic events from becoming the new normal? 🤔💡
