Vermonts in Franklin and Grand Isle counties/AUTO HAIL DAMAGE
By Nancy Remsen
Free Press Staff Writer
STORM UPDATE: Power restored in Grand Isle County
Updated at 9:01 a.m.
Powerful straight-line winds, not a tornado, caused the destruction across the northern Champlain Valley Thursday that resulted in damaged buildings, broken trees, downed power lines and piles of hail, said National Weather Service forecasters in South Burlington.
"We're calling it straight-line wind damage, basically in the Georgia, Fairfax, Milton and Westford areas," said local meteorologist Brooke Taber.
Inspection of the damage by a local National Weather Service survey team made the determination based on the damage pattern, which spread debris in one direction.
A tornado, Taber said, would cause the debris field to be twisted about in a circular pattern.
The National Weather Service had warned of the risk of tornadoes based on Doppler Radar information that indicated a strong rotation within thunderstorm cells, Taber said. However, the rotation in north central Vermont never reached the ground.
Two other survey teams are scheduled to be on the road by 9 a.m. to inspect other damage in Grand Isle and Rutland counties.
Overnight, line crews worked to restore power to Vermonters in Franklin and Grand Isle counties.
Service was restored to 15,000 of the 18,000 Central Vermont Public Service customers who lost power during the storm, CVPS officials said. About 1,260 customers in Franklin County and 960 customers in Rutland County remained without power this morning. Scattered outages were also reported in Windsor and Chittenden counties.
The National Weather Service reported winds up to 90 mph in northern Vermont and up to 70 mph elsewhere.
Free Press Staff Writer
STORM UPDATE: Power restored in Grand Isle County
Updated at 9:01 a.m.
Powerful straight-line winds, not a tornado, caused the destruction across the northern Champlain Valley Thursday that resulted in damaged buildings, broken trees, downed power lines and piles of hail, said National Weather Service forecasters in South Burlington.
"We're calling it straight-line wind damage, basically in the Georgia, Fairfax, Milton and Westford areas," said local meteorologist Brooke Taber.
Inspection of the damage by a local National Weather Service survey team made the determination based on the damage pattern, which spread debris in one direction.
A tornado, Taber said, would cause the debris field to be twisted about in a circular pattern.
The National Weather Service had warned of the risk of tornadoes based on Doppler Radar information that indicated a strong rotation within thunderstorm cells, Taber said. However, the rotation in north central Vermont never reached the ground.
Two other survey teams are scheduled to be on the road by 9 a.m. to inspect other damage in Grand Isle and Rutland counties.
Overnight, line crews worked to restore power to Vermonters in Franklin and Grand Isle counties.
Service was restored to 15,000 of the 18,000 Central Vermont Public Service customers who lost power during the storm, CVPS officials said. About 1,260 customers in Franklin County and 960 customers in Rutland County remained without power this morning. Scattered outages were also reported in Windsor and Chittenden counties.
The National Weather Service reported winds up to 90 mph in northern Vermont and up to 70 mph elsewhere.
Also, the main power line running parallel with U.S. 2, from Grand Isle to the southern end of North Hero has been restored, said Vermont Public Safety officials.
Town crews and electrical crews worked through the night and will continue their work until full power is restored. The majority of debris that has blocked major roadways has been cleared, but there are still secondary and residential driveways that are in need of clearing.
Morning commuters should see little or no traffic disruptions. Motorists should stay alert in their travels as there still may be some minor debris in the road. Also, all down power lines should be considered "live." The public should not touch or drive over any wires that may be crossing the road.
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By Nancy Remsen
Free Press Staff Writer
A powerful, two-fisted thunderstorm punched its way across Vermont on Thursday, leaving behind a trail of damaged buildings, broken trees, downed power lines and piles of hail as it beat its way east.
One fist landed a punch in New York's Clinton County before striking Grand Isle County about 4 p.m. and blasting a path of destruction through Georgia, Fairfax, Westford and on into Lamoille County.
"I came home to assess the damage, and it is devastating," said Jim Lenihan, who lives on the western shore of Grand Isle where the storm first hit Vermont. He estimated he had at least 100 toppled trees. The roof on one section of a log home was torn off and about a dozen windows blown out, he said, but his own home, 50 feet from the log house, wasn't damaged.
"I'm not sure it was a tornado because I wasn't here," Lenihan said, when asked what he thought created such an unsual damage pattern.
The National Weather Service had warned of the risk of tornadoes from the northern arm of the storm as well as its southern counterpart, which struck about 5:30 p.m. in Addison and Rutland counties and pushed its way along U.S. 4 toward New Hampshire.
"What we saw on radar was very strong signs of the potential for a tornado," said Brooke Taber, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Burlington. "There has been no confirmation of any tornado yet," he added, but crews from the weather service were headed out Thursday evening to begin analyzing the damage to determine if the storm spawned any tornadoes.
"We have had lots of reports of rotation in the cloud," Taber said, "but no confirmed report of a cloud or condensation funnel touching the ground."
Mike Saunders on Old Stage Road in Westford said he saw "a swirling mass of clouds coming through, but it wasn't really tight." A lightning bolt set a tree on fire, he added.
Taber invited anyone with photographs of unusual cloud formations to share them with the weather service.
Police scrambled Thursday evening to control traffic on debris-blocked roads so road crews and utility teams could saw up fallen limbs and trees, remove downed power poles and untangle wires.
Central Vermont Public Service reported it had restored power to about 4,800 of the at least 18,000 customers who lost power from the early evening event. Power would be out through the night and into today, the utility said in a late-night update.
Officials opened an emergency shelter at the Grand Isle Rescue Station at 8 p.m. for island residents without power while the Vermont Electric Co-op worked to restore service.
State police said much of the most serious damage was concentrated along U.S 2 in Grand Isle County, around Exit 18 on Interstate 89, along Vermont 128 and the Milton-Westford Road in Westford, in St. Albans and on Vermont 104 and 104A.
Interstate 89 traffic had slowed to a crawl around 4 p.m. as driving winds sprayed blinding rain and small hail on travelers. Many vehicles parked in the rest area on the southbound side of the highway to wait out the downpour. Others pulled onto the shoulder.
A giant pine lay across one lane of the southbound highway north of Exit 18 and another had toppled over a lane and a half just south of the exit. In between, a carpet of leaves and piles of hail covered the road surface.
Taber at the weather service said winds reached 60 to 70 miles per hour in some locations. Rain amounts varied widely from a quick inch or more to less than a quarter inch in the first wave of storms. "We have had reports of hail up to golf-ball size."
Becky Martell of Georgia watched the storm roll in Thursday afternoon. First it rained, then it hailed, then the wind picked up, turning the precipitation into white sheets. Windows popped from their frames, said Martell, wife of Free Press reporter Matt Crawford.
"When I realized we needed to go to the basement was when the kayak that had been in the back yard showed up in the front yard," she said. After the storm passed, Martell found that a 12-foot boat and its trailer had flipped.
Joan Nye of Georgia said she had never seen weather as violent as Thursday's storm, but she noted, "It was very, very local."
"The hail was intense," Nye said, recounting how it beat on the metal roof of her home for more than 10 minutes. "The roar of the wind was incredible," she added. The afternoon sky turned "very, very black."
Three hours after the storm passed, Nye said she could still see piles of hail. The wind had flipped a shed. In a neighbor's cornfield, Nye said, "the hail ripped the leaves right off the corn. It's a bunch of sticks."
Lenihan in Grand Isle tried to survey the damage around his house before darkness arrived. "Debris is everywhere," he said, listing lawn furniture, shingles and insulation from the roof. He said he found one section of the blown-off dormer roof about 50 yards from the house, while another piece landed 400 yards away.
Inside his home, the only damage was a wet ceiling where rain blew upward through windows he'd left open a crack.
A neighbor had phone Lenihan to warn him about the localized pattern of damage from the storm. He said that as he had traveled home from Malletts Bay -- and it took him two hours because of the closed roads -- he'd seen a few trees down, "but nothing like here."
Town crews and electrical crews worked through the night and will continue their work until full power is restored. The majority of debris that has blocked major roadways has been cleared, but there are still secondary and residential driveways that are in need of clearing.
Morning commuters should see little or no traffic disruptions. Motorists should stay alert in their travels as there still may be some minor debris in the road. Also, all down power lines should be considered "live." The public should not touch or drive over any wires that may be crossing the road.
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By Nancy Remsen
Free Press Staff Writer
A powerful, two-fisted thunderstorm punched its way across Vermont on Thursday, leaving behind a trail of damaged buildings, broken trees, downed power lines and piles of hail as it beat its way east.
One fist landed a punch in New York's Clinton County before striking Grand Isle County about 4 p.m. and blasting a path of destruction through Georgia, Fairfax, Westford and on into Lamoille County.
"I came home to assess the damage, and it is devastating," said Jim Lenihan, who lives on the western shore of Grand Isle where the storm first hit Vermont. He estimated he had at least 100 toppled trees. The roof on one section of a log home was torn off and about a dozen windows blown out, he said, but his own home, 50 feet from the log house, wasn't damaged.
"I'm not sure it was a tornado because I wasn't here," Lenihan said, when asked what he thought created such an unsual damage pattern.
The National Weather Service had warned of the risk of tornadoes from the northern arm of the storm as well as its southern counterpart, which struck about 5:30 p.m. in Addison and Rutland counties and pushed its way along U.S. 4 toward New Hampshire.
"What we saw on radar was very strong signs of the potential for a tornado," said Brooke Taber, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Burlington. "There has been no confirmation of any tornado yet," he added, but crews from the weather service were headed out Thursday evening to begin analyzing the damage to determine if the storm spawned any tornadoes.
"We have had lots of reports of rotation in the cloud," Taber said, "but no confirmed report of a cloud or condensation funnel touching the ground."
Mike Saunders on Old Stage Road in Westford said he saw "a swirling mass of clouds coming through, but it wasn't really tight." A lightning bolt set a tree on fire, he added.
Taber invited anyone with photographs of unusual cloud formations to share them with the weather service.
Police scrambled Thursday evening to control traffic on debris-blocked roads so road crews and utility teams could saw up fallen limbs and trees, remove downed power poles and untangle wires.
Central Vermont Public Service reported it had restored power to about 4,800 of the at least 18,000 customers who lost power from the early evening event. Power would be out through the night and into today, the utility said in a late-night update.
Officials opened an emergency shelter at the Grand Isle Rescue Station at 8 p.m. for island residents without power while the Vermont Electric Co-op worked to restore service.
State police said much of the most serious damage was concentrated along U.S 2 in Grand Isle County, around Exit 18 on Interstate 89, along Vermont 128 and the Milton-Westford Road in Westford, in St. Albans and on Vermont 104 and 104A.
Interstate 89 traffic had slowed to a crawl around 4 p.m. as driving winds sprayed blinding rain and small hail on travelers. Many vehicles parked in the rest area on the southbound side of the highway to wait out the downpour. Others pulled onto the shoulder.
A giant pine lay across one lane of the southbound highway north of Exit 18 and another had toppled over a lane and a half just south of the exit. In between, a carpet of leaves and piles of hail covered the road surface.
Taber at the weather service said winds reached 60 to 70 miles per hour in some locations. Rain amounts varied widely from a quick inch or more to less than a quarter inch in the first wave of storms. "We have had reports of hail up to golf-ball size."
Becky Martell of Georgia watched the storm roll in Thursday afternoon. First it rained, then it hailed, then the wind picked up, turning the precipitation into white sheets. Windows popped from their frames, said Martell, wife of Free Press reporter Matt Crawford.
"When I realized we needed to go to the basement was when the kayak that had been in the back yard showed up in the front yard," she said. After the storm passed, Martell found that a 12-foot boat and its trailer had flipped.
Joan Nye of Georgia said she had never seen weather as violent as Thursday's storm, but she noted, "It was very, very local."
"The hail was intense," Nye said, recounting how it beat on the metal roof of her home for more than 10 minutes. "The roar of the wind was incredible," she added. The afternoon sky turned "very, very black."
Three hours after the storm passed, Nye said she could still see piles of hail. The wind had flipped a shed. In a neighbor's cornfield, Nye said, "the hail ripped the leaves right off the corn. It's a bunch of sticks."
Lenihan in Grand Isle tried to survey the damage around his house before darkness arrived. "Debris is everywhere," he said, listing lawn furniture, shingles and insulation from the roof. He said he found one section of the blown-off dormer roof about 50 yards from the house, while another piece landed 400 yards away.
Inside his home, the only damage was a wet ceiling where rain blew upward through windows he'd left open a crack.
A neighbor had phone Lenihan to warn him about the localized pattern of damage from the storm. He said that as he had traveled home from Malletts Bay -- and it took him two hours because of the closed roads -- he'd seen a few trees down, "but nothing like here."
