From the collapse of multiple historic bridges to state-wide flooding, Vermont was hammered by Hurricane Irene and will take some time to recover. The governor is calling it the worst storm to hit Vermont in a century. The precipitation that Irene brought with it was unbelievable. Check out the map of the peak below:
That is an average of 3-5 inches a day not just in one small location but over the entire state! That is a high enough intensity for one drainage basin, let alone an area that large. It set records for multiple cities in Vermont, and the flooding, of course, was disastrous.
2011 in the U.S. has now set a new record for most billion-dollar weather-related disasters. Notice that’s only in the U.S.! The rest of the world has also seen their share of natural disasters this year as well…
Those rainfall amounts are per DAY, not per HOUR.
Thanks for the correction! I knew some of the the record amounts for some places were closer to 4-5 inches total so I should have caught that!