Flooding Strikes Massachusetts, Vermont

This is a developing situation in Vermont; New details will emerge and existing details may change

A stalled frontal boundary accompanied by tropical moisture led to heavy downpours and flash flooding across portions of Massachusetts and Vermont Thursday. The first round of rain moved across southern New England in the morning. With a stalled boundary in place, this setup a classic fire hose of moisture.

The only question was where exactly this narrow band of heavy rain would set up over southern New England. That question was answered when training downpours moved across Rhode Island and southeast Massachusetts. A widespread 3-6 inches of rain fell from a strip extending across northern Rhode Island through Boston's southern suburbs.

Below: Estimated rainfall from this morning:

Widespread street flooding was seen in multiple cities to the south of Boston, including, but not limited to Quincy, Walpole, Weymouth, Braintree, Milton, Sharon, Hingham and Norfolk. Interstate 93 was heavily affected by flooding through Thursday morning, at the height of the morning commute. The highway was shut down in both directions for about an hour in Milton. As this section reopened, another section had to be shut down in Quincy. Numerous cars became stranded on the highway, as well as surrounding streets in a handful of cities.

Drivers were rescued from their vehicle in Braintree and surrounding communities, including a veteran who was pulled from their vehicle through the window by police officers and carried to higher ground. Some businesses in Weymouth and Quincy were flooded after the city received over a half foot of rainfall. The area has since dried out and preliminary surveys show minor damage to structures and roads in the area. The main impact from this morning was to the traffic during the busy commute time and water-damaged vehicles.

Below: Photos from Interstate 93 south of Boston and Weymouth:

This batch of rain began to move offshore by mid-morning. Thereafter, a break ensued across New England before the expected second round of active weather in the western part of the region. Scattered thunderstorms began to fire up across Vermont and northern New Hampshire in the early afternoon. Unfortunately, these storms were much slower-moving than expected, which has led to flash flooding being these storm's primary impact.

Flash flood warnings have been issued to the south of Burlington and in the Northeast Kingdom, where an elevated "considerable" threat was active through 7:45pm. Between 3 and 5+ inches of rain have been reported in the Burke/Sutton areas. Swift water rescue teams have been deployed and performed rescues in Sutton, where the first floor of homes have been reported to be underwater. A bridge has been compromised in Lyndonville with reports of people being pulled out of the water near Calendar Brook Road. Evacuations are underway across the Northeast Kingdom this evening. Rivers and brooks have responded rapidly to the 3-5 inches of rainfall.

Flash flooding and road washouts have been reported in Sutton, Orleans and East Haven. Vermont Urban Search and Rescue are en route to Orleans County as of Thursday evening. Swift water rescue teams are staging in nearby Lyndonville and Stowe. A handful of towns in the Northeast Kingdom have reported road damage. Sutton and Burke appear to be the most affected communities at this point.

Below: Images of flooding from the Sutton area (photo credits: Anna Cronin; Pam Newland; Lyndon Rescue):

Flash flood warnings remain in effect for portions of Addison, Caledonia and Essex counties through this evening. Scattered storms continue to move through the state as of writing and this remains a very fluid situation. Details will continue to emerge and change through this evening.

All of this was set up by a frontal boundary that dropped through New England on Tuesday and stalled near southern New England. Today, two additional ingredients were added to the mix that allowed for enhanced flooding chances. The first being tropical moisture from the remnants of Tropical Storm Chantal. Moisture-content was extremely high today with precipitable water values (PWATs) over two inches. PWAT is a measure of water vapor in the atmosphere that could become precipitation.

A PWAT over 2 inches indicates an extremely moisture-rich atmosphere primed for downpours. With the atmosphere primed for downpours, an area of low pressure moved across the boundary to provide forcing and energy to get rainfall going. In Vermont, another area of low pressure moved to the west and north, pulling the boundary northward. With more instability in place, this allowed for scattered thunderstorms to break out.

Below: A graphic we used in this morning's forecast post:

Thursday had been looking like the most active day of the week since Monday. In yesterday's forecast post, we wrote:

"Thursday still looks to be the most active and wettest day across the region during this stretch. A more organized trough will move through the region with the surface boundary remaining south of New England. At the same time, a surface low pressure system will glance the region, lifting north and west of New England into Quebec. This setup will provide stronger forcing for more numerous showers and storms overnight tonight through the day Thursday"

In this morning's article, we warned about the possibility of flooding in northern New England similar to what occurred in southern New England this morning. We wrote:

" Moisture content within the atmosphere remains highly elevated, with precipitable water values (a measure of water vapor in the atmosphere that could become precipitation) remaining well over an inch region-wide. This indicates a moisture-rich atmosphere that will be capable of producing heavy downpours and localized flash flooding. Should multiple storms move over the same area this afternoon, flooding similar to what has been seen south of Boston this morning could develop."

This marks the third straight year an impactful flooding event has occurred in Vermont on July 10th. In 2023, the Great Flood of 2023 struck and inundated a large portion of the state in flooding that was on par with the flooding disaster of Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. Last year, flooding struck on the anniversary of the 2023 flood, bringing major flooding and damage to the northern part of the state. The Northeast Kingdom was also heavily affected by this flood. Impactful flooding has returned to the Northeast Kingdom today, July 10th, 2025.