Flash Flood, Essex
- When
- March 31, 2:50 AM EST to 11:59 PM EST
- Where
- Essex County, Countywide
- Injuries
- 3 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $100,000
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 44.728, -71.736 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in Vermont, March 31, 1998
Unseasonably warm weather resulted in dramatic snowmelt with rapid rises on rivers the last few days of March. In addition, showers and thunderstorms with heavy downpours moved across the area on the 30th enhancing runoff into streams and rivers.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 3
- Property damage
- $100,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS BTV wrote it up.
Unseasonably warm weather resulted in dramatic snowmelt with rapid rises on rivers the last few days of March. In addition, showers and thunderstorms with heavy downpours moved across the area on the 30th enhancing runoff into streams and rivers. During the early morning hours of the 31st, flooding occurred between Island Pond and Norton. A train derailled about 7 miles north of Island Pond, Vermont at approximately 545 AM with 2 injuries resulting. There were a number of extensive road washouts between Island Pond and Norton, Vermont. A tractor trailer drove into one washed out section of road and the driver was injured. Field flooding also occured on the Moose River. Flooding in the county continued through the end of the month.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Flash Flood
- Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Damaging Wind in Georgia, March 31, 1998
- Heavy Snow in South Dakota, March 31, 1998
- Blizzard in South Dakota, March 31, 1998
- Damaging Wind in Texas, March 31, 1998
- Heavy Snow in Minnesota, March 31, 1998
- Heavy Rain in New Jersey, March 31, 1998
- Heavy Snow in Minnesota, March 31, 1998
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Mississippi, March 31, 1998
- Funnel Clouds and Waterspouts in California, March 31, 1998
- Heavy Snow in Minnesota, March 31, 1998
- Heavy Rain in Maryland, March 31, 1998
- Heavy Snow in Minnesota, March 31, 1998
More
Every storm in Vermont in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyWarnings in Vermont, March 1998
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5656846.