The torrential rains began on November 3, 1927.
It had already been a wet October and rivers were swollen and the ground saturated. Nine inches of rain fell in a thirty-six hour period and horrendous flooding began. Though all of New England was affected, Vermont was devastated. The state flooded from Newport to Bennington, with the Winooski River Valleythe hardest hit. Eighty-five people died and 9,000 were left homeless. Many of Vermont’s roads and over 1,200 bridges were washed away. The great Flood of 1927 would change Vermont forever as communities turned to the state, and the state turned to the federal government for assistance.

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