Governor calls on flood-weary Vermonters to 'stick together' with more thunderstorms on the horizon

LYNDON, Vt. (AP) — Vermont’s governor said Wednesday that the latest storms to hit the state have undone much of the cleanup and recovery work from its last major bout of flooding only weeks ago, and he called on residents to “stick together” amid fears that more bad weather could cause even more damage.

Thunderstorms on Tuesday brought another round of heavy flooding that washed away roads, crushed vehicles, pushed homes off their foundations and required at least two dozen boat rescues in northeastern Vermont. Some areas got more than 8 inches (20 centimeters) of rain.

More downpours arrived Wednesday, with flash flooding possible in some already inundated areas. A National Weather Service flood warning was in effect for parts of central and northeastern Vermont into Wednesday night.

“This time, it’s especially bad after workers spent the past three weeks working furiously to recover from the last flooding, ” Gov. Phil Scott said at the news conference. “It feels much worse than a punch or a kick. It’s simply demoralizing. But we can’t give up. We’ve got to stick together and fight back against the feeling of defeat.”

As of Wednesday, there were no reported deaths caused by the latest storms, but Morrison said “very preliminary information” indicated that 50 homes were destroyed or suffered significant damage. More than half a dozen roads were closed, a lightning strike knocked out water for part of the town of St. Johnsbury, and flooding had contaminated several wells that serve the village of Lyndonville, officials said.

“I get more apprehensive with every storm. All of us are watching the weather,” Scott said. With already-saturated soils and already-damaged infrastructure, “this just adds insult to injury.”

Richard Berry has lived in his home in the northeastern Vermont community of Lyndonville since 1963 but has never experienced such extreme flooding. A brook overflowed and its waters ran down the road, took out a couple of houses, surrounded his house and washed away half of his front lawn, he said Wednesday.

He's seen a couple of floods over the years. “Nothing like this,” Berry said.

Weeks after Lyndonville resident Jason Pilbin watched a driver get swept away by floodwaters, his community was ravaged again. He went outside with a flashlight and headlamp around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday to help some neighbors evacuate and then collected their vital medications about 20 minutes before their house broke in half. After that, he woke up another neighbor to help her to leave her home.

Nearly three weeks ago, Pilbin watched helplessly as a man drowned after getting caught while driving through flooding caused by the remnants of Hurricane Beryl. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to save him, but I was able to save these” people, he said. “I guess that makes up for some of it. It’s been rough.”

Mark Bosma, a spokesperson for the Vermont Emergency Management Agency, said that swift water rescue teams conducted approximately two dozen boat rescues in the hardest-hit areas overnight Monday into Tuesday.

In May, Vermont became the first state to enact a law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a share of the damage caused by extreme weather fanned by climate change. But officials have acknowledged that collecting any money will depend on litigation against the much-better-resourced oil industry.

Although climate change has its impacts, special calculations are needed to determine exactly how much global warming is to blame, if at all, for any single extreme weather event.

“The flooding in Lyndonville is just highlighting that climate change is here and the damage is ongoing and oil companies have so far not been required to pay for any of the damage that their product has caused and that needs to shift,” state Sen. Anne Watson said Wednesday. “The financial burden is increasingly unbearable by Vermonters.”

In St. Johnsbury, Vanessa Allen said she knew rain was possible, but she wasn’t expecting the deluge.

“This is devastating and was completely unexpected,” she said.

Her home was situated between two road washouts, so she was unable to leave. The roads were pockmarked and covered in debris. Nearby, she said, a house had been moved off its foundation and was blocking a road.

“It looks apocalyptic," she said. “We’re trapped. We can’t go anywhere.”

The state experienced major flooding earlier in July caused by what was left of Hurricane Beryl. The flooding destroyed roads and bridges and inundated farms, and it came exactly a year after a previous bout of severe flooding hit Vermont and several other states.

Vermont has experienced four flooding events in the last year, and a combination of climate change and the state’s mountainous geography are to blame, said Peter Banacos, science and operations officer with the weather service. Greater rainfall has made the state and its steep terrain more susceptible to flooding, he said.

The state’s soil is also getting saturated more frequently, which increases the possibility of flooding, Bancos said.

Vermont’s history of heavily manipulating its rivers and streams also plays a role in increased flooding, said Julie Moore, secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources. The increase is “a reflection of having reached our limits of being able to truly manage rivers and hold them in place,” she continued.

Roads, bridges, culverts and wastewater facilities are all especially vulnerable. The state is in the midst of a multi-decade effort to “replace them or refurbish them with our current and future climate in mind,” Moore said.

Vermont is also working to establish statewide floodplain standards.

McCormack reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press reporters David Sharp and Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine, and Julie Walker in New York also contributed to this story.

Trees sit across a roadway destroyed by flash floods in Lyndonville, Vt., Wednesday, July 31, 2024. Parts of the state hit by flooding Monday night and Tuesday are bracing again as a new round of severe thunderstorms moves through the region. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)

Damaged vehicles sit beside a farm in the aftermath of flash floods in Lyndon, Vt., Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitry Belyakov)

Water floods a roadway amid storms in Lyndon, Vt., Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitry Belyakov)

Damaged vehicles sit beside a farm in the aftermath of flash floods in Lyndonville, Vt., Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitry Belyakov)

A cone blocks a washed out roadway in the aftermath of flash floods in Lyndonville, Vt., Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitry Belyakov)

A river flows past a damaged road in the aftermath of flash floods in Lyndonville, Vt., Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitry Belyakov)

A river flows past a damaged road in the aftermath of flash floods in Lyndonville, Vermont, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitry Belyakov)

Trees sit across a roadway destroyed by flash floods in Lyndonville, Vt., Wednesday, July 31, 2024. Parts of the state hit by flooding Monday night and Tuesday are bracing again as a new round of severe thunderstorms moves through the region. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)

Crews clean up debris from flash floods in Lyndonville, Vt., Wednesday, July 31, 2024. Parts of the state hit by flooding Monday night and Tuesday are bracing again as a new round of severe thunderstorms moves through the region. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)

People clean up damage from flash floods in Lyndonville, Vt., Wednesday, July 31, 2024. Parts of the state hit by flooding Monday night and Tuesday are bracing again as a new round of severe thunderstorms moves through the region. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)

Trees and debris sit near a damaged home after flooding in Lyndonville, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)

Damaged cars sit amid flood debris in Lyndon, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitry Belyakov)

A damaged house sits amid flood debris in Lyndon, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitry Belyakov)

A damaged car sits amid flood debris in Lyndon, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitry Belyakov)

Residents walk barefoot away from flood damage in Lyndon, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitry Belyakov)

In this photo provided by the Lyndonville Fire Department, damaged homes sit alongside a river in Lyndonville, Vt., after flash floods hit the area, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Lyndonville Fire Chief Jeff Carrow via AP)

In this photo provided by the Lyndonville Fire Department, damaged homes sit alongside a river in Lyndonville, Vt., after flash floods hit the area, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Lyndonville Fire Chief Jeff Carrow via AP)

Zac Drown, of Lyndon Electric Company, clears debris amid flood damage in Lyndon, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitry Belyakov)

A damaged car sits amid flood debris in Lyndon, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitry Belyakov)

In this screen shot of a National Weather Service alert for a flash flood emergency is shown on a phone near St. Johnsbury, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. Heavy rain has washed out some roads and led to about two dozen rescues in northern Vermont, nearly three weeks after many farmers and residents in the state were hit by flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)

Damage from flash floods are seen on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in St. Johnsbury, Vt. Heavy rain has washed out some roads and led to about two dozen rescues in northern Vermont, nearly three weeks after many farmers and residents in the state were hit by flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl. (Vanessa Allen via AP)

Damage from flash floods is seen on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in St. Johnsbury, Vt. Heavy rain has washed out some roads and led to about two dozen rescues in northern Vermont, nearly three weeks after many farmers and residents in the state were hit by flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl. (Vanessa Allen via AP)

Damage from flash floods is seen on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in St. Johnsbury, Vt. Heavy rain has washed out some roads and led to about two dozen rescues in northern Vermont, nearly three weeks after many farmers and residents in the state were hit by flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl. (Vanessa Allen via AP)

In this image taken from video provided by Deryck Colburn, floods triggered by heavy rain wash out a road in Lyndonville, Vt., during an extreme weather event that led to about two dozen rescues in northern Vermont Tuesday, July 30, 2024, nearly three weeks after many farmers and residents in the state were hit by flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl. (Deryck Colburn via AP)

In this image taken from video provided by Deryck Colburn, floods triggered by heavy rain wash out a road in Lyndonville, Vt., during an extreme weather event that led to about two dozen rescues in northern Vermont Tuesday, July 30, 2024, nearly three weeks after many farmers and residents in the state were hit by flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl. (Deryck Colburn via AP)

A road is closed in St. Johnsbury, Vermont after flooding in the region, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. Heavy rain has washed out some roads and led to about two dozen rescues in northern Vermont, nearly three weeks after many farmers and residents in the state were hit by flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl. The National Weather Service in Burlington says some areas got 6 to 8 inches of rain starting late Monday and saw flash flooding. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)

A damaged house sits on a ledge after flooding in Lyndonville, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)

Trees and debris sit next to a damaged home after flooding in Lyndonville, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)

A crew works on a damaged roadway following flooding in Lyndonville, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)

A crew works on a damaged roadway after flooding in Lyndonville, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)

An all-terrain vehicle drives along a damaged roadway after flooding in Lyndonville, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)

Zac Drown, of Lyndon Electric Company, clears debris amid flood damage in Lyndon, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitry Belyakov)

A damaged car sits amid flood debris in Lyndon, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitry Belyakov)

Damage from flash floods are seen on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in St. Johnsbury, Vt. Heavy rain has washed out some roads and led to about two dozen rescues in northern Vermont, nearly three weeks after many farmers and residents in the state were hit by flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl. (Vanessa Allen via AP)

Zac Drown, of Lyndon Electric Company, clears debris amid flood damage in Lyndon, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitry Belyakov)

Workers clear debris amid flood damage in Lyndon, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitry Belyakov)

An all-terrain vehicle drives along a damaged roadway after flooding in Lyndonville, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)

Residents walk barefoot away from flood damage in Lyndon, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitry Belyakov)

A damaged house sits on a ledge after flooding in Lyndonville, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)

Trees and debris sit next to a damaged home after flooding in Lyndonville, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)

Jason Pilbin stands outside flood-damaged homes in Lyndonville, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. Pilbin helped neighbors evacuate early Tuesday morning before their house broke in half and then helped another neighbor exit her home during the heavy rains overnight, just weeks after witnessed a driver got swept away floodwaters there earlier this month. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)

Jason Pilbin stands outside flood-damaged homes in Lyndonville, Vt., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. Pilbin helped neighbors evacuate early Tuesday morning before their house broke in half and then helped another neighbor exit her home during the heavy rains overnight, just weeks after witnessed a driver got swept away floodwaters there earlier this month. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The last time Khadija Ahidid saw her son, he came to breakfast in 2021 looking “homeless” with big hair so she offered to give him $20 so he could go get a shave or a haircut that day. Hours later, he shot and killed 10 people at a supermarket in the college town of Boulder.

She saw Ahmad Alissa for the first time since then during his murder trial on Monday, saying repeatedly that her son, who was diagnosed after the shooting with schizophrenia, was sick. When one of Alissa’s lawyers, Kathryn Herold, was introducing her to the jury, Herold asked how she knew Alissa. Ahidid responded “How can I know him? He is sick,” she said through an Arabic interpreter in her first public comments about her son and the shooting.

Alissa, who emigrated from Syria with his family as a child, began acting strangely in 2019, believing he was being followed by the FBI, talking to himself and isolating from the rest of the family, Ahidid said. His condition declined after he got Covid several months before the shooting, she said, adding he also became “fat” and stopped showering as much.

There was no record of Alissa being treated for mental illness before the shooting. After the shooting, his family later reported that he had been acting in strange ways, like breaking a car key fob and putting tape over a laptop camera because he thought the devices were being used to track him. Some relatives thought he could be possessed by an evil spirit, or djinn, according to the defense.

No one, including Alissa’s lawyers, disputes he was the shooter. Alissa has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the shooting. The defense says he should be found not guilty because he was legally insane and not able to tell the difference between right and wrong at the time of the shooting.

Prosecutors and forensic psychologists who evaluated him for the court say that, while mentally ill, Alissa knew what he was doing when he launched the attack. They point to the planning and research he did to prepare for it and his fear that he could end up in jail afterward to show that Alissa knew what he was doing was wrong.

Alissa mostly looked down as his mother testified and photographs of him as a happy toddler and a teenager at the beach were shown on screen. There was no obvious exchange between mother and son in court but Alissa dabbed his eyes with a tissue after she left.

The psychiatrist in charge of Alissa's treatment at the state mental hospital testified earlier in the day that Alissa refused to accept visitors during his over two year stay there.

When questioned by District Attorney Michael Dougherty, Ahidid said her son did not tell her what he was planning to do the day of the shooting.

She said she thought a large package containing a rifle that Alissa came home with shortly before the shooting may have been a piano.

“I swear to God we didn’t know what was inside that package,” she said.

Dougherty pointed out that she had told investigators soon after the shooting that she thought it could be a violin.

After being reminded of a previous statement to police, Ahidid acknowledged that she had heard a banging sound in the house and one of her other sons said that Alissa had a gun that had jammed. Alissa said he would return it, she testified.

She indicated that no one in the extended family that lived together in the home followed up to make sure, saying “everyone has their own job.”

“No one is free for anyone,” she said.

FILE - Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, accused of killing 10 people at a Colorado supermarket in March 2021, is led into a courtroom for a hearing, Sept. 7, 2021, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, Pool, File)