Beverly-Based Task Force 1 Deployed To Flood-Ravaged Vermont

BEVERLY, MA — The Beverly-based Massachusetts Task Force 1 deployed 45 of its members to Vermont Monday morning as the Green Mountain state faces its gravest flooding concerns in more than a decade.

The members of the emergency-response team — which helps local authorities across the country with logistics, search and rescue and provides engineering assistance during catastrophic emergencies such as wildfires and weather-related destruction — hit the road at about 8:30 a.m.

The Task Force sent 80 members to Louisiana in 2021 to assist in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida and was one of the first support teams to arrive in New York City following the 9-11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare "high risk" of flash flooding in Vermont on Sunday with much of the state susceptible to the worst flooding since Tropical Storm Irene in 2011.

"Serious, life-threatening flooding is occurring today across much of Vermont," Vermont State Police posted on their Twitter account at 11 a.m. "Emergency crews have conducted rescues in multiple communities. About two dozen state roads are closed as of 10 a.m. Flash flood warnings are in effect from the Massachusetts line to the Canadian border."

Up to seven inches of rain were forecast in central and northern parts of the state through Monday night.

The National Weather Service office in Burlington, Vermont, said on Monday to "expect significant to potentially catastrophic widespread flash flooding through Monday evening."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)