Flood & Hurricane Risk in Vermont
Vermont is a landlocked New England state with NO hurricane risk of any kind -- true tropical cyclones require warm ocean water to sustain themselves, and Vermont has no coastline at all -- and this record discloses that directly and honestly rather than forcing this topic into an irrelevant hurricane framing. Vermont's real, current hazard profile instead runs through catastrophic, recurring river-valley flooding tied to extreme rainfall, most severely the July 2023 event and three separate 2024 events, with real, ongoing flood activity continuing into 2025 and 2026.
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Learn moreA genuine, upfront disclosure: no hurricane risk at all, with one real, honest nuance
Vermont is a landlocked state with no coastline of any kind, and this record discloses directly and without qualification that Vermont carries NO hurricane risk -- no storm surge, no hurricane-force coastal wind exposure, and no tropical-system landfall of any kind. The one real, honest nuance this record does not omit: the REMNANTS of a former tropical system -- no longer a hurricane, but a weakened, rain-heavy storm system -- can still reach Vermont and produce extreme rainfall, as the remnants of Hurricane Beryl did on July 10-11, 2024, hitting Barre City, Moretown, Marshfield, Plainfield, and Middlesex particularly hard. A mover from a hurricane-prone coastal state should understand that Vermont's genuine flood risk comes from extreme rainfall along its river valleys -- sometimes fed by a former tropical system's remnants, but never a hurricane making landfall in Vermont, which cannot happen.
The July 2023 flood: Vermont's real, defining, and catastrophic flood event
Catastrophic flooding struck Vermont July 9-12, 2023, tied to extreme, sustained rainfall along the state's river valleys. Several rivers, including the Winooski River through downtown Montpelier specifically, crested at record levels, in some cases exceeding the previous record set by Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. Montpelier's downtown was left mostly underwater, and damage statewide exceeded $600 million, with more than 34 homes destroyed and two fatalities. This record discloses this event as Vermont's real, defining flood-hazard event -- not a hurricane, but a genuinely catastrophic inland flood driven by extreme rainfall.
2024's three separate flood events, and a slow, still-unfinished recovery
The July 2023 flood was not a one-time event Vermont has since recovered from cleanly: in the summer of 2024, three separate flooding events struck roughly half of Vermont's 14 counties, including the real, disclosed flood tied to the remnants of Hurricane Beryl (July 10-11, 2024) that hit Barre City, Moretown, Marshfield, Plainfield, and Middlesex particularly hard. VTDigger's July 2025 reporting found many Vermont towns still 'awash in red ink and repairs' two years after the 2023 flood, with the 2024 flooding described as having destroyed much of what had just been repaired from 2023, and surrounding communities still rebuilding from nearly $1 billion in estimated combined destruction statewide.
A real, current update: four straight years of July flooding, through 2026
This pass's supplemental research found a real, current update beyond Vermont's 2023-2024 flood history: per WCAX's July 10, 2026 reporting, Vermont has now marked four straight years of real July flooding (2023-2026). The 2025 anniversary-date flooding ran real but 'much less widespread and devastating' than 2023 or 2024; the 2026 flooding around the same date ran 'far more localized to the Northeast Kingdom,' with minor flooding and storm damage reported the evening of July 9, 2026. That same reporting found nearly a third of all flash floods the National Weather Service's Burlington office has issued for Vermont between 1986 and 2026 fell in the late-June-to-mid-July window -- a real, disclosed, recurring seasonal risk pattern this record treats as an ongoing, current planning consideration rather than a closed historical chapter.
Key takeaways
- Vermont has NO hurricane risk of any kind -- it is landlocked with no coastline at all -- though the weakened REMNANTS of a former tropical system can still reach Vermont and produce extreme rainfall, as with the July 2024 Hurricane Beryl remnant flood.
- The July 2023 flood was Vermont's defining, catastrophic hazard event: record river crests (including the Winooski River through downtown Montpelier), more than $600 million in statewide damage, 34-plus homes destroyed, and two fatalities.
- 2024 brought three separate flood events across roughly half of Vermont's 14 counties, and VTDigger's July 2025 reporting found many towns still 'awash in red ink and repairs' two years later, with nearly $1 billion in combined estimated destruction.
- Vermont has now marked four straight years of real July flooding (2023-2026) -- nearly a third of all Vermont flash floods since 1986 fall in the late-June-to-mid-July window, a real, recurring seasonal risk pattern to plan around.
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